Tcp Ip Protocol Questions Medium
Network Address Translation (NAT) and port forwarding are both techniques used in the TCP/IP protocol to enable communication between devices on different networks.
NAT is a method that allows multiple devices within a private network to share a single public IP address. It works by translating the private IP addresses of devices within the network into a single public IP address when communicating with devices outside the network. This allows the devices within the private network to access the internet using a single public IP address, conserving the limited number of available public IP addresses.
Port forwarding, on the other hand, is a technique used to redirect incoming network traffic from a specific port on a public IP address to a specific port on a device within a private network. It is commonly used to enable remote access to devices within a private network, such as accessing a web server or a security camera from outside the network. By configuring port forwarding, incoming traffic on a specific port of the public IP address is forwarded to the corresponding port on the device within the private network, allowing external devices to communicate with the specific service or application running on that device.
In summary, NAT allows multiple devices within a private network to share a single public IP address, while port forwarding enables incoming traffic to be directed to specific devices within the private network based on the port number. Both NAT and port forwarding are essential techniques in the TCP/IP protocol to facilitate communication between devices on different networks.