neo4j-shell "connection refused" error

Question

I'm running 2.0.0 M06 on a Mac (ML)

Neo4j is running and the web console works fine. But when I try to connect via Neo4j-shell it fails. Everything was fine on Wednesday, but after attempting a Postgres install (part of the MusicBrainz Neo4j project) this problem came up:

sneedham-pd:neo4j-community-2.0.0-M06 username$ **bin/neo4j start**
Using additional JVM arguments:  -server -XX:+DisableExplicitGC -Dorg.neo4j.server.properties=conf/neo4j-server.properties -Djava.util.logging.config.file=conf/logging.properties -Dlog4j.configuration=file:conf/log4j.properties -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC -XX:+CMSClassUnloadingEnabled
Starting Neo4j Server...WARNING: not changing user
process [694]... waiting for server to be ready..... OK.
http://localhost:7474/ is ready.

sneedham-pd:neo4j-community-2.0.0-M06 username$ **bin/neo4j-shell -v**
ERROR (-v for expanded information):
    Connection refused
java.rmi.ConnectException: Connection refused to host: 172.16.31.31; nested exception is: 
    java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused
    at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPEndpoint.newSocket(TCPEndpoint.java:619)
    at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPChannel.createConnection(TCPChannel.java:216)
    at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPChannel.newConnection(TCPChannel.java:202)
    at sun.rmi.server.UnicastRef.invoke(UnicastRef.java:128)
    at java.rmi.server.RemoteObjectInvocationHandler.invokeRemoteMethod(RemoteObjectInvocationHandler.java:194)
    at java.rmi.server.RemoteObjectInvocationHandler.invoke(RemoteObjectInvocationHandler.java:148)
    at com.sun.proxy.$Proxy1.welcome(Unknown Source)
    at org.neo4j.shell.impl.AbstractClient.sayHi(AbstractClient.java:206)
    at org.neo4j.shell.impl.RemoteClient.findRemoteServer(RemoteClient.java:63)
    at org.neo4j.shell.impl.RemoteClient.<init>(RemoteClient.java:55)
    at org.neo4j.shell.impl.RemoteClient.<init>(RemoteClient.java:43)
    at org.neo4j.shell.ShellLobby.newClient(ShellLobby.java:165)
    at org.neo4j.shell.StartClient.startRemote(StartClient.java:289)
    at org.neo4j.shell.StartClient.start(StartClient.java:167)
    at org.neo4j.shell.StartClient.main(StartClient.java:119)
Caused by: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused
    at java.net.PlainSocketImpl.socketConnect(Native Method)
    at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.doConnect(AbstractPlainSocketImpl.java:339)
    at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connectToAddress(AbstractPlainSocketImpl.java:200)
    at java.net.AbstractPlainSocketImpl.connect(AbstractPlainSocketImpl.java:182)
    at java.net.SocksSocketImpl.connect(SocksSocketImpl.java:391)
    at java.net.Socket.connect(Socket.java:579)
    at java.net.Socket.connect(Socket.java:528)
    at java.net.Socket.<init>(Socket.java:425)
    at java.net.Socket.<init>(Socket.java:208)
    at sun.rmi.transport.proxy.RMIDirectSocketFactory.createSocket(RMIDirectSocketFactory.java:40)
    at sun.rmi.transport.proxy.RMIMasterSocketFactory.createSocket(RMIMasterSocketFactory.java:146)
    at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPEndpoint.newSocket(TCPEndpoint.java:613)
    ... 14 more

 -host      Domain name or IP of host to connect to (default: localhost)
 -port      Port of host to connect to (default: 1337)
 -name      RMI name, i.e. rmi://<host>:<port>/<name> (default: shell)
 -pid       Process ID to connect to
 -c         Command line to execute. After executing it the shell exits
 -file      File containing commands to execute. After executing it the shell exits
 -readonly  Connect in readonly mode
 -path      Points to a neo4j db path so that a local server can be started there
 -config    Points to a config file when starting a local server

Example arguments for remote:
    -port 1337
    -host 192.168.1.234 -port 1337 -name shell
    -host localhost -readonly
    ...or no arguments for default values
Example arguments for local:
    -path /path/to/db
    -path /path/to/db -config /path/to/neo4j.config
    -path /path/to/db -readonly

Answer 1

In your neo4j.conf you have to uncomment the lines related to using the neo4j-shell

# Enable a remote shell server which Neo4j Shell clients can log in to.
dbms.shell.enabled=true
# The network interface IP the shell will listen on (use 0.0.0.0 for all interfaces).
dbms.shell.host=127.0.0.1
# The port the shell will listen on, default is 1337.
dbms.shell.port=1337

This fixed the issue for me

Answer 2

The point is that server is bound to localhost (127.0.0.1) and the shell tries to connect to 172.16.31.31, that is another network interface, not loopback. That is the reason why you get here connection refused.