Access Oracle Apex from remote machine - linux

Question

Hi all I have successfully installed Oracle 11g Express addition on a Linux VM (google cloud compute)
I have sqlplus working and I can query data.
The listener is also working.
But as there is no GUI with Linux servers I cannot try local host and external machines have the connection refused.
My Questions are:
1) Does Apex come pre-installed on Oracle XE it used to but not mentioned anywhere.
2) if the ip address of the server is 123.123.123 what url would I use to get to apex from a remote machine? I have tried
http://123.123.123:8080/apex/
http://123.123.123/apex/
https://123.123.123:8080/apex/
3) How can I tell if it is the server or Oracle refusing the connection?
Firewall
$ netstat -ant
Active Internet connections (servers and established)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State
tcp 0 0 0.0.0.0:22 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:25 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
tcp 0 0 10.128.0.3:50776 169.254.169.254:80 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 10.128.0.3:43548 10.128.0.3:1521 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 10.128.0.3:50722 169.254.169.254:80 CLOSE_WAIT
tcp 0 0 10.128.0.3:50814 169.254.169.254:80 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 0 10.128.0.3:50774 169.254.169.254:80 ESTABLISHED
tcp 0 64 10.128.0.3:22 74.125.41.105:38312 ESTABLISHED
tcp6 0 0 :::40070 :::* LISTEN
tcp6 0 0 :::8080 :::* LISTEN
tcp6 0 0 :::1521 :::* LISTEN
tcp6 0 0 :::22 :::* LISTEN
tcp6 0 0 ::1:25 :::* LISTEN
tcp6 0 0 10.128.0.3:1521 10.128.0.3:43548 ESTABLISHED
Listener
$ lsnrctl status
LSNRCTL for Linux: Version 11.2.0.2.0 - Production on 22-AUG-2017 02:59:51
Copyright (c) 1991, 2011, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=IPC)(KEY=EXTPROC_FOR_XE)))
STATUS of the LISTENER
------------------------
Alias LISTENER
Version TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 11.2.0.2.0 - Production
Start Date 22-AUG-2017 02:00:17
Uptime 0 days 0 hr. 59 min. 33 sec
Trace Level off
Security ON: Local OS Authentication
SNMP OFF
Default Service XE
Listener Parameter File /u01/app/oracle/product/11.2.0/xe/network/admin/listener.ora
Listener Log File /u01/app/oracle/diag/tnslsnr/centossmallblockpro/listener/alert/log.xml
Listening Endpoints Summary...
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=EXTPROC_FOR_XE)))
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=centossmallblockpro.c.sincere-destiny-176110.internal)(PORT=1521)))
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=centossmallblockpro.c.sincere-destiny-176110.internal)(PORT=8080))(Presentation=HTTP)(Session=RAW))
Services Summary...
Service "PLSExtProc" has 1 instance(s).
Instance "PLSExtProc", status UNKNOWN, has 1 handler(s) for this service...
Service "XE" has 1 instance(s).
Instance "XE", status READY, has 1 handler(s) for this service...
Service "XEXDB" has 1 instance(s).
Instance "XE", status READY, has 1 handler(s) for this service...
The command completed successfully
SQLPLUS working
sqlplus
SQL*Plus: Release 11.2.0.2.0 Production on Tue Aug 22 03:03:51 2017
Copyright (c) 1982, 2011, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Enter user-name: system
Enter password:
Connected to:
Oracle Database 11g Express Edition Release 11.2.0.2.0 - 64bit Production
SQL> select * from dual;
D
-
X
.
Telnet XX.XXX.XXX.XX 8080
Telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: Connection timed out

Answer 1

1) Oracle XE (11g) comes with APEX version 3.2 I think. This is a very old APEX release. Follow the instructions how to drop this old version and get the latest from otn.oracle.com. Latest version should also work with 11g XE.
2) Tunnel
You can create a ssh-tunnel from your desktop machine to the end-point server where your services are running. Now you can access services on remote machine from your desktop environment aka. sqlplus, SQL Developer, Firefox, etc..
# Access Your Database Remotely Through an SSH Tunnel
# ssh -L [local port]:[database host]:[remote port] [username]#[remote host]
# console 1: 9998 is just an arbitrary port > 1024. Can be anything.
ssh -N -L 9998:10.128.0.3:1521 -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa user#35.184.136.98
# console 2:
sqlplus user/pwd#localhost:9998/XE
# firefox:
http://localhost:9998/apex

Answer 2

Great answers to 1 and 2 from Bjarte but the actual problem was not the Linux firewall but the Compute engine firewall.
I didn't know it even existed, when you select the check box to open Http it created a rule to TCP:80 but I needed TCP:8080.
Here is the article that solved it for me cant open port on google compute engine ...