What is NAT?

Network Address Translation (NAT) is a method by which IP addresses in a private network are mapped to public IP addresses. For example, a large organization may have an internal network, and the hosts in the internal network may not need public IP addresses. In this scenario, the organization may use NAT to map the private IP addresses of the hosts in the internal network with public IP addresses so that hosts inside the internal network can access the Internet.

• What is NAT?

• Why do we need NAT?

• How does NAT work?

• How does NAT bind private IP addresses with public IP addresses?

  • Static Address Assignment

  • Dynamic Address Assignment

• What are the different types of NAT?

  • Traditional NAT or Outbound NAT

    • Basic NAT

    • Network Address Port Translation (NAPT)

  • Bi-directional NAT or Two-Way NAT

  • Twice NAT

  • Multihomed NAT

• Limitations of NAT