No Route to Host error and solution

Posted on in Categories Debian Linux, Gentoo Linux, Linux, Networking, RedHat/Fedora Linux, Tips, Troubleshooting, Ubuntu Linux last updated May 5, 2006

I am getting error that read as No Route to Host. I am trying to ping my ISP gateway as well as DNS server but I am getting this error. How do I solve this problem?

This problem indicate networking conflicts or some sort of networking configuration problem.

Here are things to check:

Can you ping to your local router interface (such as 192.168.1.254)?

Make sure your card (eth0) is properly configured with correct IP address and router address. Use ifconfig command to configure IP address and route command to setup correct router address. If you prefer to use GUI tools:

  • redhat-config-network – Works on Red Hat and Fedora Linux/Cent OS.
  • network-admin – Debian and Other Linux distribution use this GUI too

Use above two GUI tools to setup correct IP address, DNS address and router address.

b) Make sure firewall is not blocking your access

iptables is default firewall on Linux. Run following command to see what iptables rules are setup:
# /sbin/iptables -L -n

You can temporary clear all iptables rules so that you can troubleshoot problem. If you are using Red Hat or Fedora Linux type command:
# /etc/init.d/iptables save
# /etc/init.d/iptables stop

If you are using other Linux distribution type following commands:
# iptables -F
# iptables -X
# iptables -t nat -F
# iptables -t nat -X
# iptables -t mangle -F
# iptables -t mangle -X

c) Finally make sure you are using a router and not a proxy server. Proxy servers are good for Internet browsing but not for other work such as ftp, sending ICMP request and so on.

See also:

Posted by: Vivek Gite

The author is the creator of nixCraft and a seasoned sysadmin and a trainer for the Linux operating system/Unix shell scripting. He has worked with global clients and in various industries, including IT, education, defense and space research, and the nonprofit sector. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+.

Share this on (or read 32 comments/add one below):

32 comment

  1. I’m using Redhat 7.3 and running sendmail for my email but the emails are not getting out the email server which is my linux 7.3 box and if I run the command # sendmail -v -q from the command prompt, it tries to send but with an error message saying “no route to host” ?

    SOS

  2. Make sure you have correct routing setup. Also check file /var/log/message for details.

    Make sure you have correct DNS setup. Finally some ISP do block access to 3rd party SMTP server to avoid spam.

    On a side note RH7.2 is outdated get latest version such as CentOS 4.x or Fedora Core.

  4. with regards to your suggestion “Make sure you have correct routing setup. Also check file /var/log/message for details.” above, could you tell me how to look and setup routing.
    Thanks
    Kumar

  5. In the error logs I see this.
    bound to 192.168.0.165 — renewal in 294 seconds.

    Do I have to make any changes in the DHCP server.

    Thanks

  7. here it is, i have 2 Computer, 2 ip address A (10.32.11.1) and ip address B (10.32.11.6). i can ping 10.32.11.1 but not 10.32.11.6, i cannot ssh 10.32.11.6 directly but yes i can directly remote ssh to 10.32.11.1 please help mee, what hapen to my network ???

    # 3Com Corporation 3c905C-TX/TX-M [Tornado]
    DEVICE=eth0
    BOOTPROTO=static
    BROADCAST=10.32.11.255
    HWADDR=00:01:03:41:63:4C
    IPADDR=10.32.11.6
    NETMASK=255.255.255.0
    NETWORK=10.32.11.0
    ONBOOT=yes

  8. sir, i cannot run default page in local host. i am using windows 2003 server-OS. can you please help?

  10. Monsieur,I just installed Tor ,when it’s started connecting,stopped and showed (no route to host)….Can u tell me how to work that out,please?thanks…

  11. Thanks a lot. I just cleared the iptables and nfs started working.
    thanks a ton……… 🙂

  12. Dear Sir
    getting problem with yahoomail acconut errer show certificate errer and
    navigation

  13. help please. i recently installed a new cisco router at one of our branches. i am able to ping the head office router and other hosts on the head office lan except the sco unix server. i added a route to the new site in the etc/hosts file but still i cannot telnet or ping the new remote site form the unix server. is there anything i need to do before i get fired

    1. FYI /etc/hosts is just a hosts file to help point your hostname to ip or vice versa without relying on dns. it does not do any routing or adding a route.

  14. Way to go man………………..
    It worked

    I checked everything except the firewall settings….

    With this help I was abe to solve the problem of ftp connection…..

    such a small thing but it almost dumbed me

    Thanks

  15. Thank you so much, flushing the iptables worked, although of what it means and if it has long-term effects are a mystery to me… All I know is that I can use a SSH between my laptop and desktop, just the way I wanted! Thank you guys for the help, was looking for an entire day on how to find out how to do it. Fedora is pretty cool, but I think Ubuntu is much simpler

  18. Hi there,

    We have a cluster that has Ubuntu 10.04 installed. The cluster was working fine i.e. we were able to connect to all the compute nodes fine. But recently after some restarts, I get the following error when I try to log into the compute nodes from the head node:
    [email protected]:~$ ssh deepblue-1-8
    ssh: connect to host deepblue-1-8 port 22: No route to host

    I looked up the iptables command and this was my output
    [email protected]:~$ sudo /sbin/iptables -L -n
    [sudo] password for vbharadwaj:
    Chain INPUT (policy ACCEPT)
    target prot opt source destination

    Chain FORWARD (policy ACCEPT)
    target prot opt source destination

    Chain OUTPUT (policy ACCEPT)
    target prot opt source destination

    I have also physically checked if the head node and compute nodes are connected to the network switch and if the compute nodes are switched on and working ok.

    I have also checked the /etc/hosts file and it has all the ip addresses listed for the head node and compute nodes.
    I am new to cluster administration and would be glad to receive any advise as to what could be wrong with the system.

    Thank you.

  19. I am trying to obtain this error(it could be one of my exam questions). what do i have to do(on debian)?

  20. sir i tried the above solutions its worked for me , so thanks a lo sir ….. but i m not getting the solutions persistent across the reboot , again it is showing no route to host after reboot ….. please help me

    1. iptables commands are not persistent across reboots. You need to set them up in a script, such as an initscript, to have them stay persistent.

  21. We are getting error in Axis2

    org.apache.axis2.AxisFault: No route to host
at org.apache.axis2.AxisFault.makeFault(AxisFault.java:430)
at org.apache.axis2.transport.http.HTTPSender.sendViaPost(HTTPSender.java:193)
at org.apache.axis2.transport.http.HTTPSender.send(HTTPSender.java:75)
at org.apache.axis2.transport.http.CommonsHTTPTransportSender.writeMessageWithCommons(CommonsHTTPTransportSender.java:371)
at org.apache.axis2.transport.http.CommonsHTTPTransportSender.invoke(CommonsHTTPTransportSender.java:209)
at org.apache.axis2.engine.AxisEngine.send(AxisEngine.java:448)
at org.apache.axis2.description.OutInAxisOperationClient.send(OutInAxisOperation.java:401)
at org.apache.axis2.description.OutInAxisOperationClient.executeImpl(OutInAxisOperation.java:228)
at org.apache.axis2.client.OperationClient.execute(OperationClient.java:163)

    please suggest solution.

  24. when i execute this command ” puppetd –verbose –waitforcert 60 –server_name –noop ” i’m getting error as “Could not prepare for execution: Could not create PID file: /var/run/puppet/agent.pid”… please let me know about the solution.

  27. i was trying to mount one filesystem from one system to another and on the second system i got the error no route to host .
    steps took
    1 )checked if i am able to ping one server from another and vice versa(if yes then the routes are good and the packet reaches the second server successfully … so no routing issues)

    2) check the firewall and flushed the iptables on both the servers .

    problem was solved and then i was able to mount the nfs filesystem to the second server .

    please correct me if i am wrong . … but the problem got solved .

    thanks for the post . guys .

  29. I am getting error when I signed up and I ping one box then I read error gateway timeout and No Route to Host . I’m trying to fix it but I don’t know how do I solve this problem

Comments are closed.

Tagged as: Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , ,