19216811.liveChapter 9 Network Address Translation (NAT)
P-660HN-TxA User’s Guide
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9.6
NAT Technical Reference
This chapter contains more information regarding NAT.
9.6.1
NAT Definitions
Inside/outside denotes where a host is located relative to the ZyXEL Device, for
example, the computers of your subscribers are the inside hosts, while the web
servers on the Internet are the outside hosts.
Global/local denotes the IP address of a host in a packet as the packet traverses a
router, for example, the local address refers to the IP address of a host when the
packet is in the local network, while the global address refers to the IP address of
the host when the same packet is traveling in the WAN side.
Note that inside/outside refers to the location of a host, while global/local refers to
the IP address of a host used in a packet. Thus, an inside local address (ILA) is the
IP address of an inside host in a packet when the packet is still in the local
network, while an inside global address (IGA) is the IP address of the same inside
host when the packet is on the WAN side. The following table summarizes this
information.
NAT never changes the IP address (either local or global) of an outside host.
9.6.2
What NAT Does
In the simplest form, NAT changes the source IP address in a packet received from
a subscriber (the inside local address) to another (the inside global address)
before forwarding the packet to the WAN side. When the response comes back,
NAT translates the destination address (the inside global address) back to the
inside local address before forwarding it to the original inside host. Note that the
IP address (either local or global) of an outside host is never changed.
The global IP addresses for the inside hosts can be either static or dynamically
assigned by the ISP. In addition, you can designate servers, for example, a web
server and a telnet server, on your local network and make them accessible to the
Table 47
NAT Definitions
ITEM
DESCRIPTION
Inside
This refers to the host on the LAN.
Outside
This refers to the host on the WAN.
Local
This refers to the packet address (source or destination) as the packet travels
on the LAN.
Global
This refers to the packet address (source or destination) as the packet travels
on the WAN.