User`s guide
Chapter 13 Network Address Translation (NAT) Screens
LAN-Cell 2 User’s Guide
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13.6 NAT Technical Reference
This technical reference contains the following sections:
• Inside/outside and Global/locall
• What NAT Does
• How NAT Works
• NAT Application
• Port Restricted Cone NAT
Inside/outside and Global/local
Inside/outside denotes where a host is located relative to the LAN-Cell. 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.
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 outside world. Although you can make
designated servers on the LAN accessible to the outside world, it is strongly recommended
Table 112 NAT Definitions
TERM 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.