What is NAT?
At the moment, there are thought to be around 100 million hosts and 350 million users actively using the Internet. This number is doubling each year. An Internet Protocol (IP) address is needed for computers to communicate with other computers or web servers. IP works by finding out exactly where your computer is and sending information to you. The actual number of IP addresses available is around 3.3 billion. With the huge growth in the Internet, there are simply not enough addresses available. This is where Network Address Translation (NAT) comes into play. It allows a single device to act as an intermediary between the Internet and a local network. This effectively means that a single IP address can be used for an entire group of computers. NAT was developed by Cisco. It is used by an appliance, such as a computer or firewall, which sits between an internal network and the outside world of networks. The NAT works in many different ways. There is the Static NAT, which directs an unre
The Windows Server 2003 Routing and Remote Access implementation of NAT provides the following solutions to problems faced by small- or medium-sized networks: • Reusing IP addresses • Bundling NAT, DHCP, and DNS functionality for small networks • Providing firewall protection to the NAT-enabled router • Providing Internet access to remote access clients • Providing PPPoE broadband Internet access
NAT is “Network Address Translation” and is the method Routers use to share the Internet to multiple computers, and it also creates a fairly effective Firewall as a side benefit. When anything connects to the Internet, the ISP will issue a unique IP address to it, whether it’s a computer, router or whatever. IP addresses have different classes depending on whether they’re for use on the Internet or for local internal Network use, and public (Internet use) IP addresses cost money. What NAT does is allow multiple computers using internal class IP addresses to share one public IP address to access the Internet. The Firewall effect occurs naturally because any potential hackers scanning the public IP address can’t see past it to any particular computer so they just bounce off the Router and get frustrated. In my opinion, NAT provides a sufficient level of security for most home users as it’s effective, simple to use and less likely to conflict with recreational applications like online gam
