Connect to Ubuntu VM (run from virtualbox) from mobaxterm over SSH

[Bhaskar Bantupalli]

I have installed(set up) ubuntu 20.04 in Oracle  virtualbox with:
Shared clipboard - Bidirectional
Drag and drop - Bidirectional
Network > Enable Network Adapter -  Attached to(NAT), Cable connected(check), Port forwarding(none)

To connect over SSH from Mobaxterm, do I need to add any more settings? or I dont need to connect to SSH at all?

What I am trying is to avoid installing a new server edition of Ubuntu. and use existing Ubuntu full version to use as server version in mobaxterm

[Roland Mueller]

For NAT you need to setup port forwarding to make the ssh server iinside the VBox VM accessible from your host.

[Tim Holloway]

I believe that the VirtualBox GUI console will let you log in directly.

If you wish to use an SSH client, the following are required:

1. A running SSH server on the target machine (systemctl status sshd)
2. A firewall open on the SSH port (default port is 22). If using firewall-cmd, use service name "ssh".
3, A Linux account that will accept remote logins. Note that in many installations, you cannot log in as root directly but must log in as an ordinary user and "sudo" to get root privileges. Such systems generally ask you for a user name and password as part of the installation process.
4. A network path to the server's public IP address/hostname from the external client.

Port forwarding and drag/drop/clipboard are not required (or for the most part even used) for SSH.

[Roland Mueller]

Original poster was asking about ssh connection rather than gui.

For ssh you of course need an ssh server running inside the VM.

However port forwarding is needed unless you have only NAT net connection.

[Tim Holloway]

Rolan Mueller wrote: Original poster was asking about ssh connection rather than gui.

Bhaskar Bantupalli wrote:or I dont need to connect to SSH at all?

GUI console is a way to connect without SSH.

[Bhaskar Bantupalli]

@Roland Mueller I set up port forwarding to port 22 on host and port 22 on guest
@Tim Holloway I installed openssh-server on ubuntu
Also, without port forwarding, it rejected the connection
I am connecting to vm on the same machine.

After setting them up and only after starting ubuntu gui, I was able to login to ubuntu on mobaxterm

What I was looking for was, without installing ubuntu-server, and may be starting ubuntu-gui vm as ubuntu-server and connecting to ubuntu-server on mobaxterm.

[Roland Mueller]

Does Mobaterm support RDP? I don't know Mobaterm just saw it in some Teams meetings with colleagues from India.

However, in VBox manual it is promised that RDP can be used after installing some required VBox extension.

Please note that extension packages for VBox are not opensource - as VBox itself - and can be only used by paying for them or for private usage!

https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch03.html#settings-display

3.6.2. Remote Display Tab

On the Remote Display tab, if the VirtualBox Remote Display Extension (VRDE) is installed, you can enable the VRDP server that is built into Oracle VM VirtualBox. This enables you to connect to the console of the virtual machine remotely with any standard RDP viewer, such as mstsc.exe that comes with Microsoft Windows. On Linux and Oracle Solaris systems you can use the standard open source rdesktop program. These features are described in Section 7.1, “Remote Display (VRDP Support)”.

   Enable Server: Select this check box and configure settings for the remote display connection.