Access to Tomcat from remote PC

Question

Hi,

I've developed a web application using servlet and tomcat. When I try to use this application from the server everything is rigth (i.e. http://localhost:8080/app_name/init.html).

However I'm having a hard time trying to access to this application from another PC. The server PC and client PC are connected using a router, there are no more computers in this network.

If, for example, the router assigns the IP 192.168.1.4 to the server PC what I write in a browser in the client PC is: http://192.168.1.4:8080/app_name/init.html

I can't run the application on the remote PC by doing this, could it an issue regarding Tomcat configuration or router configuration. I think it might be a port issue. I can provide router info if you need it.

Thanks to all

Answer 1

Sounds like your tomcat server is not configured to accept connections other than from localhost. This is a common (and sensible) default for servers.

Alternatively it may be a firewall issue on the server. If your server is running XP, there is a firewall enabled by default which will block port 8080. You can enable the port like this:

control panel -> security center -> firewall - > exceptions -> open up port 8080

Answer 2

I think this is probably a port forwarding issue. Assuming you are accessing the remote machine over the internet, the router will need to be configured to forward port 8080 to the server. Exactly how to do this will depend on the router, but it should be fairly obvious via the admin interface.