Modify Hosts file for full access to SOA/BPM Domain on Oracle Virtual Machine Image

Use case:

I installed an Oracle Virtual Machine image on Oracle Virtual Box which consisted of the 11g Fusion Middle ware stack (Oracle DB, WebLogic Server, SOA + BPM Suite, OSB, BAM and WebCenter. Link to image)

I ran all the servers and was able to access the running server Middleware application such as WebLogic Console, Enterprise Manager, BPM Workspace etc through my browser on my local machine.

Issue
However, there was an instance where when I deployed a BPM application and launched a Human Task page, I got the following error:

Why does this happen?
This happens because within the BPM Workspace application, you are opening a Human Task page and it tries to directly reference the address through the domain name, rather than through localhost. The servers in the VM are exposed for access via 'localhost', when opening the human task, instead of accessing the page with 'localhost', it tries to reference it with the direct domain name which in this instance is 'soabpm-vm'. This would only accessible if you was accessing it in a browser inside the server.

Solution
So to resolve this issue, we need to add the domain name it references to your system's hosts file. We insert the name of the domain, and map it to localhost. So when the domain name is requested, it automatically routes and resolves it to 'localhost'.

The location of your hosts file will vary depending on your Operating System. Use this link to find out where your hosts file is located and then open it to edit.

My Operating System is Windows 7 and have opened the hosts file for modification:

1. Add another entry to map the name of your domain name to 127.0.0.1, as shown below:

2. Save the hosts file and close the window.

3. Now, try opening your Human task page again and it should have resolved to the correct address: