Access webrick/rails from another computer on local network

Question

I have a rails application running on localhost:3000. I wish to access it from another computer on the same network. I feel like i've done this before with ease, but it's giving me some grief. I can ping the IP of the computer just fine, but hitting ip:3000 in the browser doesnt work. I tried launching rails s -b ipaddress as well, and no luck.

Suggestions?

Answer 1

After making sure your server side firewall is open to the incoming connection on high ports (this is normally true and the default port is 3000, so you probably don't have to do anything) you must also start the server like this:

rails server -b 0.0.0.0

which binds it to the universal address. It binds to localhost by default.

Using this method you don't have to bind to port 80, but you can like this:

rails server -b 0.0.0.0 -p 80

(If you're using rvm then you may need to use rvmsudo)

---

To make this change more permanent edit your config/boot.rb and add this:

require 'rails/commands/server'
module Rails
  class Server
    def default_options
      super.merge(Host:  '0.0.0.0', Port: 3000)
    end
  end
end

Then you should only have to use rails s

_{Source: https://stackoverflow.com/a/29562898/1795429}

Answer 2

rails server -b 0.0.0.0 -p 8000

This worked for me. No firewall issues, and no need to give super user permissions.

Answer 3

1. Yes, this was a good answer in general:

   rails server -b 0.0.0.0
   

2. If you use Ubuntu, you probably have to open the port in the firewall:

   sudo ufw allow 3000
   

3. If your system is running in VirtualBox, you have to check your Network Settings.

   In the case of network mode NAT you have to click to the extended options and there to Port Forwarding. Add a rule for TCP protocoll, host port 3000 (or any other), and guest port 3000.

Answer 4

Assuming Webrick starts without issue, this is 100% a firewall issue. You should provide some specifications, like what operating system your host is running and whether or not you have administrator privileges as far as controlling the firewall.

If you're on Linux and running the iptables firewall service, you need to add a rule to accept traffic over port 3000. It would look something like:

iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 3000 -j ACCEPT

That command would be a one-time-only solution though, you'd need to extend your current iptables rules script to make it permanent every time your system boots or logs in.

If you're running Windows, depending on whether you're running XP or Vista/7, you'd need to do something similar. I'm going to assume you're in the Vista/7 environment, and you would just need to follow the steps provided through this guide http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Open-a-port-in-Windows-Firewall.