Network Address Translation
Network Address Translation (NAT) is the process where a network device, usually a router, assigns a public address
to a computer (or group of computers) inside a private network. The main use of NAT is to limit the number of public
IP addresses an organization or company must use, for both economy and security purposes.
Network Address Translation allows a single device, such as a router, to act as an agent between the Internet (or
"public network") and a local (or "private") network. This means that only a single, unique IP address is required to
represent an entire group of computers.
The private network uses private addresses. The router that connects the network to the global address uses one
private address and one global address.
NAT is like the receptionist in a large office. Let's say you have left instructions with the receptionist not to forward
any calls to you unless you request it. Later on, you call a potential client and leave a message for that client to call
you back. You tell the receptionist that you are expecting a call from this client and to put her through.
The client calls the main number to your office, which is the only number the client knows. When the client tells the
receptionist that she is looking for you, the receptionist checks a lookup table that matches your name with your
extension. The receptionist knows that you requested this call, and therefore forwards the caller to your extension.
Address Translation
All of the outgoing packets from private network go through the NAT router which replaces the source address in the
packet with the global NAT address. All incoming packets also pass through the NAT router, which replaces the
destination address in the packet (router global address) with the appropriate private address.
Translation Table
NAT router uses a translation table to map between private address and router address. The table has only two
columns: the private address and the external address.
Static NAT - Mapping an unregistered IP address to a registered IP address on a one-to-one basis. Particularly useful
when a device needs to be accessible from outside the network.
In static NAT, the computer with the IP address of [Link] will always translate to [Link]
Dynamic NAT - Maps an unregistered IP address to a registered IP address from a group of registered IP addresses.
In dynamic NAT, the computer with the IP address [Link] will translate to the first available address in the
range from [Link] to [Link].
Overloading - A form of dynamic NAT that maps multiple unregistered IP addresses to a single registered IP address
by using different ports. This is known also as PAT (Port Address Translation),
In overloading, each computer on the private network is translated to the same IP address ([Link]), but
with a different port number assignment.
ARP - Address Resolution Protocol - is the method for finding a network host's MAC address (it's data link layer
address) when only it's network layer address is known. While it is primarily used for IP to MAC translation due to
the prevalence of IPv4, it can be used to translate a wide range of network layer addresses to MAC addresses, and is
therefore very useful.
NAT - Network Address Translation - is the modification of network addresses on incoming data packets to ensure
they reach the correct destination on another network. For example a data packet coming to your router may be
addressed to [Link], but your local machine might be [Link] and so the network address will need to be
modified for the packet to reach you.