# ELK application running on my VM. Can I send a link to someone outside my network to access the localhost:5601 webpage?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [January 10, 2020, 10:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681 "2020-01-10T22:48:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mehak\_Bhargava](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mehak_bhargava/32/54750_2.png) [@Mehak\_Bhargava](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mehak_Bhargava)\
**Post date:** [January 10, 2020, 10:48pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/1 "2020-01-10T22:48:16Z")

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I have ES, Logstasha nd Kibana running on my Virtual machine. I want to send a link accessible by someone outside my network to see the discover tab in Kibana I have running on localhost:5601. is it possible and how?

In past, I have tried ways that disturbed my pipeline setting and I want to avoid breaking everything i have been building by messing the port forwarding or something.

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**Author:** ![sidhusaab](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/sidhusaab/32/60034_2.png) [@sidhusaab](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sidhusaab)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2020, 12:58am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/2 "2020-01-11T00:58:53Z")

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Are you running elk stack on docker or is it a standalone installation?

Also localhost or 127.0.0.1 is not routable on lan. Are your VMs on private network only available on your host or NAT/Bridged networking stack as your machine?

If its on NAT'ed network then you can forward your laptop port for kibana to the Kibana VM IP address. Anyone looking up your host\_ip\_addr:5601 should be able to see Kibana GUI as long as your host firewall allows.

If the VMs are on Bridged network, then they should be visible on the network just as your host is and anyone should be able to get to it.

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**Author:** ![Mehak\_Bhargava](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mehak_bhargava/32/54750_2.png) [@Mehak\_Bhargava](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mehak_Bhargava)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2020, 1:12am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/3 "2020-01-11T01:12:19Z")

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Hi @sidhusaab,

> [@sidhusaab](#):
>
> Are you running elk stack on docker or is it a standalone installation?

It is a standalone installation.

> [@sidhusaab](#):
>
> Are your VMs on private network only available on your host or NAT/Bridged networking stack as your machine?

I think its only available on my host. I am not sure what this question means? What should I check to answer this?

How to check I am on NAT'ed network?

How to forward kibana to kibana VM IP address? Is it just port forwarding?

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**Author:** ![sidhusaab](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/sidhusaab/32/60034_2.png) [@sidhusaab](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sidhusaab)\
**Post date:** [January 11, 2020, 1:29pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/4 "2020-01-11T13:29:26Z")

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What program are you using for virtualization? Vmware workstation, virtualbox, fusion etc?

In workstation it looks like this:

 ![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/e/1/e1dbbd2003a4af24c7be02b04724a4a4351c8576.png)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mehak\_Bhargava](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mehak_bhargava/32/54750_2.png) [@Mehak\_Bhargava](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mehak_Bhargava)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2020, 6:49pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/5 "2020-01-13T18:49:08Z")

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I am using oracle's VM VirtualBox Manager.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sidhusaab](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/sidhusaab/32/60034_2.png) [@sidhusaab](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sidhusaab)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2020, 6:52pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/6 "2020-01-13T18:52:50Z")

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Are you able to confirm how the VM network is setup?

I would also say this - IMO, this is probably not the best way to host the application. If you can run it on cloud or on a server that people can publicly (within network) can access then explore that route. WIthout knowing too much about your laptop/desktop, you would be limited to resources and availability of the application.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mehak\_Bhargava](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mehak_bhargava/32/54750_2.png) [@Mehak\_Bhargava](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mehak_Bhargava)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2020, 6:55pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/7 "2020-01-13T18:55:48Z")

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@sidhusaab, When I go in Settings-\> Network, It says "Attached to NAT" and a box with "Cable connected" is ticked off and option of Port Forwarding is below it.

Thanks for the advise! I will look into such options. In future I plan to host it on a server.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mehak\_Bhargava](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mehak_bhargava/32/54750_2.png) [@Mehak\_Bhargava](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mehak_Bhargava)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2020, 6:56pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/8 "2020-01-13T18:56:27Z")

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> [@sidhusaab](#):
>
> If its on NAT'ed network then you can forward your laptop port for kibana to the Kibana VM IP address. Anyone looking up your host\_ip\_addr:5601 should be able to see Kibana GUI as long as your host firewall allows.

Should I follow this path and what is the step to forward my laptop port for kibana to kibana VM IP address?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sidhusaab](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/sidhusaab/32/60034_2.png) [@sidhusaab](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sidhusaab)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2020, 8:36pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/9 "2020-01-13T20:36:18Z")

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Look up "port forwarding \<insert\_os\_version\>" and you'll be able to find steps on it. For example:

> <https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11525703/port-forwarding-in-windows>

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mehak\_Bhargava](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mehak_bhargava/32/54750_2.png) [@Mehak\_Bhargava](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mehak_Bhargava)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2020, 9:04pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/10 "2020-01-13T21:04:54Z")

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@sidhusaab, thanks for the link. But that is not for VMs but local systems.

So in port forwarding, what should be the Host Port? 5601? and guest IP should be what my VM's IP is? And guest port should be?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sidhusaab](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/sidhusaab/32/60034_2.png) [@sidhusaab](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sidhusaab)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2020, 9:24pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/11 "2020-01-13T21:24:11Z")

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The port forwarding needs to be performed on your local system so that any incoming request to your laptop on port 5601 is forwarded to the VM's port 5061.

`Switch --> Laptop:5601 -- Port Forward --> VM:5601`

Here is a link that has more information. Scroll down a bit to the NAT'ing section to see Port Forwarding.

> **[How to Forward Ports to a Virtual Machine and Use It as a Server](https://www.howtogeek.com/122641/how-to-forward-ports-to-a-virtual-machine-and-use-it-as-a-server/)**
>
> VirtualBox and VMware both create virtual machines with the NAT network type by default. If you want to run server software inside a virtual machine, you’ll need to change its network type or forward ports through the virtual NAT.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sidhusaab](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/sidhusaab/32/60034_2.png) [@sidhusaab](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sidhusaab)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2020, 9:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/12 "2020-01-13T21:25:07Z")

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Also, this link can be useful:

[http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch06.html#natforward](http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch06.html#natforward)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mehak\_Bhargava](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mehak_bhargava/32/54750_2.png) [@Mehak\_Bhargava](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mehak_Bhargava)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 11:42pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/13 "2020-01-15T23:42:34Z")

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@sidhusaab, I tried to do port forwarding and added 10.0.2.xx as host ip, guest port as 22, and host port as 2281. But still kibana cant be seen. Kibana runs on localhost: 5601. So Am I adding the wrong port? should I add guest port too?

I did ifconfig and got the inet as 10.0.2.xx

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mehak\_Bhargava](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mehak_bhargava/32/54750_2.png) [@Mehak\_Bhargava](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mehak_Bhargava)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 12:48am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/14 "2020-01-16T00:48:41Z")

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@sidhusaab And these ways only add port open to forwarding. How do I still get out my kibana's link to someone outside network?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sidhusaab](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/sidhusaab/32/60034_2.png) [@sidhusaab](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sidhusaab)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 7:58pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/15 "2020-01-16T19:58:59Z")

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On your laptop's web browser, if you opened kibana via 10.0.2.x:5601 does it work?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mehak\_Bhargava](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mehak_bhargava/32/54750_2.png) [@Mehak\_Bhargava](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mehak_Bhargava)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 8:33pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/16 "2020-01-16T20:33:23Z")

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Yes I can open 10.0.2.x:5601. But it doesnt have the same content as my actual localhost:5601 shows which is 127.0.x.x:5601. So should that be my guest IP?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mehak\_Bhargava](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mehak_bhargava/32/54750_2.png) [@Mehak\_Bhargava](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mehak_Bhargava)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/17 "2020-01-16T20:55:21Z")

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@sidhusaab I was thinking of using port forwarding where traffic from VM is forwarded to host. So what should be in host Ip, host port, guest Ip and guest port?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mehak\_Bhargava](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mehak_bhargava/32/54750_2.png) [@Mehak\_Bhargava](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mehak_Bhargava)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 11:33pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/18 "2020-01-16T23:33:16Z")

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Got it working! ports rae kibana's and host ip is local hosts ip and guest is Vm's ip.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sidhusaab](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/sidhusaab/32/60034_2.png) [@sidhusaab](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sidhusaab)\
**Post date:** [January 17, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/19 "2020-01-17T16:11:36Z")

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Awesome, and apologies for not being able to respond yesterday.

Curious to know what link did you end up giving others so they could see the kibana UI?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Mehak\_Bhargava](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mehak_bhargava/32/54750_2.png) [@Mehak\_Bhargava](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Mehak_Bhargava)\
**Post date:** [January 20, 2020, 6:24pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681/20 "2020-01-20T18:24:53Z")

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I gave IP and kibana's port!

[Next page](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elk-application-running-on-my-vm-can-i-send-a-link-to-someone-outside-my-network-to-access-the-localhost-5601-webpage/214681.md?page=2)
