Word of the Day: Network Address Translation

Word of the Day Daily updates on the latest technology terms |June 29, 2017

Network Address Translation Network Address Translation (NAT) is the virtualization of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. NAT is described in general terms in IETF RFC 1631. It conserves the number of globally valid IP addresses a company needs, and in combination with Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR), has done a lot to extend the useful life of IPv4. NAT gateways sit between two networks, the inside network and the outside network. Systems on the inside network are typically assigned IP addresses that cannot be routed to external networks (e.g., networks in the 10.0.0.0/8 block). A few externally valid IP addresses are assigned to the gateway and the gateway makes outbound traffic from an inside system appear to be coming from one of the valid external addresses. The NAT mechanism ("natting") is a router feature, and is often part of a corporate firewall. NAT gateways can map IP addresses in several ways: From a local IP address to one global IP address statically; From a local IP address to any of a rotating pool of global IP addresses a company may have; From a local IP address plus a particular TCP port to a global IP address or one in a pool of ports; From a global IP address to any of a pool of local IP addresses on a round-robin basis. A newer role for NAT focuses on translating IPv4 addresses to IPv6, and vice versa, to provide integration of IPv4 infrastructure and end-nodes into IPv6 environments and allow IPv6 services to interact with IPv4 systems. Quote of the Day "If you have NAT, you still need a firewall. No one is going to say NAT protects you to the point where you don't need a firewall." - John Curran   Trending Terms CIDR IPv6 STUN netfilter private IP address   Learning Center Overcome common IP address issues during a cloud migration IP address issues can complicate a workload migration from a data center to the public cloud. Ensure a smooth transition with these management tips. John Curran explains the importance of IPv6 connectivity ARIN chief John Curran explains IPv6 benefits and the importance of IPv6 connectivity a year after depletion of the IPv4 address space. Paul Vixie on IPv6 NAT, IPv6 security and Internet of Things Paul Vixie, Internet pioneer and architect of key DNS extensions, spoke with SearchSecurity about IPv6 NAT, IPv6 and the Internet of Things. Container networking offers opportunity to simplify networks Container networking is still evolving, but experts and early adopters say they can help reduce complexity in data center networks. Managing asymmetrical network traffic flows Bloggers examine complexity stemming from network traffic flows, telemetry for Broadcom Trident and boosting cloud security as part of data protection strategy. Writing for Business The _________ change in IPv6 is the increase of address space. a. principle b. principal Answer       Stay In Touch For feedback about any of our definitions or to suggest a new definition, please contact me at: mrouse@techtarget.com   Visit the Word of the Day Archives and catch up on what you've missed!   FOLLOW US About This E-Newsletter This e-newsletter is published by the TechTarget network. To unsubscribe from Whatis.com, click here. Please note, this will not affect any other subscriptions you have signed up for. TechTarget, Whatis, 275 Grove Street, Newton, MA 02466. Contact: webmaster@techtarget.com Copyright 2016 TechTarget. All rights reserved.