Why Your Cloud VM Has No Internet Access (And How to Fix It)

You’ve deployed a cloud virtual machine, but it cannot access the internet.

The VM is running, its network interface is active, and it has an IP address. So what’s wrong?

Here are five areas I would check when troubleshooting this issue.

1. Check the Default Route

First, verify whether the VM has a default gateway.

On Linux:

bash

ip route

Look for a route similar to:

text

default via 192.168.1.1 dev eth0

Without a valid default route, the VM may be unable to reach destinations outside its local subnet.

A private IP address alone does not guarantee internet access.

Depending on your cloud architecture, outbound connectivity may require:

Check that the subnet’s route table directs internet-bound traffic to the appropriate next hop.

Security policies may block outbound traffic.

Verify the cloud security group, network ACLs (if applicable), and the operating system firewall.

Pay particular attention to outbound TCP ports 80 and 443, DNS traffic, and return traffic.

Sometimes the VM has internet connectivity, but DNS resolution is failing.

Try:

bash

getent hosts example.com

Then test connectivity to an IP address:

bash

curl -I --connect-timeout 5 https://1.1.1.1

If IP-based connectivity works but domain resolution fails, investigate the configured DNS servers and resolver settings.

Inspect the network interface and assigned addresses:

bash

ip addr
ip route

Confirm that the interface is up, the IP configuration is correct, and the expected gateway is reachable.

When troubleshooting cloud connectivity, I prefer working through the network path systematically:

VM → Subnet → Route Table → NAT/Internet Gateway → External Network

This approach helps narrow down the problem instead of randomly changing firewall rules or network settings.