Network Address Translation - Client-Server connection This translation takes place on a NAT-enabled router which typically operates on the border of a stub network. Network Address Translationįor a device configured with a private address to access the internet or a remote network, the address must be translated into a public routable address. If there is a need for such devices to connect to the internet, their private addresses must be translated to public addresses using Network Address Translation (NAT). The documentation defines a set of network addresses assigned to an organization’s internal network so that devices can communicate locally. So, an administrator is expected to use private IP addresses as defined in RFC 1918 documentation.

Some devices in an organization’s network may not need to connect to the internet when building such a network. These two standards work closely together, allowing organizations to assign private addresses to their internal network, while translating them to public addresses and allowing them to connect to the internet.

The major limitation of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is its address exhaustion issue.Īs a short-term solution, various protocols such as private addressing and Network Address Translation (NAT) were introduced. While, private addresses are not routable and no traffic can be sent to them or by them over the internet. Public addresses are routable addresses that are used on the internet, these addresses allow the users to access resources on a computer network located anywhere in the world. Public and private IP addressĪll IPv4 addresses can be divided further into public (global) and private (local) addresses. IPv4 defines an IP address as a 32-bit number, while IPv6 defines an IP address as a 128-bit number. Table of contentsĪccording to Wikipedia, an Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication. You can download the Cisco packet tracer here. This tutorial uses the Cisco packet tracer. By the end of this article, the reader will have learned what NAT is, the different types of NAT, and how to configure different types of NAT on a Cisco router.Īs a prerequisite, foundational knowledge of Cisco command-line interface (CLI) and access control list (ACL) would help the readers understand the article better. In this article, we will learn how to implement Network Address Translation (NAT) on a Cisco router.

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