Network Address Translation
Design and Implementation
Abstract—This is the final report for a research project covering network address translation (NAT). Research topics include: the history and necessity for NAT, overall design, implementation, the different types, and examples of its use.
Keywords—NAT; networking; project; research
Necessity
IP addresses were originally designed to be globally unique. In an IP network, each computer is allocated a unique IP address. In the current version of IP protocol (IPv4) an IP address is 4 bytes, and because an address is 4 bytes, the total number of available addresses is 2 to the power of 32, which is 4,294,967,296. This represents the total theoretical number of computers that
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RFC 1287 also discussed possible ways to extend IP address space. The first suggested a direction similar to current NATs:
Replace the 32-bit field with a field of the same size but with a different meaning. Instead of being globally unique, it would be unique only within some smaller region. Gateways on the boundary would rewrite the address as the packet crossed the boundary.
Shortly after RFC 1287 was published, RFC 1335 introduced a clearer description of the use of internal IP addresses as a solution to IP address exhaustion. The NAT idea was first described in the article “Extending the IP Internet through Address Reuse” which appeared in the January 1993 issue of ACM Computer Communication Review and was later published as RFC 1631. The invention of the Web in the early 1990s underlined the urgency to take action toward solving both the routing scalability and the address shortage problems. Long-term solutions require a long lead time to develop; therefore efforts began to develop both a short-term and a long-term solution to those problems.
As a short term solution, Classless Inter-domain Routing (CIDR) was proposed, which removes the class boundaries embedded in the IP address structure. This enables more efficient address allocation, helping to extend the lifetime of IP address space. Address space was poorly utilized with the "Classful" addressing approach, CIDR helped in extending the lifetime of
When setting up a network that will consist of many host computers, one of the first things that an administrator must do is to determine what class of networks that they must administer to a given business. This is the point where every administrator must know how to implement classful and classless IP addressing. A classful network is a network addressing architecture used in the internet from 1981 until the introduction of Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) in 1993. Classful IP addressing divides the addtess space on the internet into five address classes. Each class is coded in the first four bits of the address. Today
Primary function of IP protocol = identify individual hosts and groups of hosts using the address
With admirable foresight, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) initiated as early as in 1994, the design and development of a suite of protocols and standards now known as Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6), as a worthy tool to phase out and supplant IPv4 over the coming years. There is an explosion of sorts in the number and range of IP capable devices that are being released in the market and the usage of these by an increasingly tech savvy global population. The new protocol aims to effectively support the ever-expanding Internet usage and functionality, and also address security concerns.
With the rapid growth of the Internet after commercialization in the 1990s, it became evident that far more addresses than the IPv4 address space has available were necessary to connect new devices in the future. By 1998, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) had formalized the successor protocol. IPv6 uses a 128-bit address, allowing 2128, or approximately 3.4×1038 addresses, or more than 7.9×1028 times as many as IPv4, which uses 32-bit addresses and provides approximately 4.3 billion addresses. The two protocols are not designed to beinteroperable, complicating the transition to IPv6. However, several IPv6 transition mechanisms have been devised to permit communication between IPv4 and IPv6
classless interdomain routing (CIDR)- One of the short-term solutions to the IPv4 address exhaustion problem that actually helped solve the problem for a much longer time frame. CIDR allows more flexibility in how many addresses IANA assigns to a
The two authors follow the story from the conception of the idea of "packet switching" in the early 1960s to the creation and development of the Internet. We see how one idea led to another and how the intelligent people around the circumstances influenced the developments.
The TCP/IP protocols are the heart and soul of the Internet, and they describe the fundamental rules that govern all communications in the network. The original address system of the Internet is Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4). The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) developed IPv6 to deal with the long-anticipated problem of IPv4 address exhaustion. However, IPv6 is not foreseen to supplant IPv4 instantaneously.
One of the main reasons why the Landlady is not a horror story is because in the house the setting is very colorful; that sets a different mood.Bright and cheerful colors do not intimidate or scare the reader. In the horror stories the setting is normally in a dark place like the woods. For the story to be horror it would have to be dark, quiet, and more.
Hello Olga, I can relate with you stating that you underestimated your proficiency in informatics. I equally expected the self-assessment indicating very poor knowledge and skills in nurse informatics. But the results were quite encouraging. An organization I worked for offered classes for super users at the facility after paper charting was no longer in effect. Despite the fact that electronic health record (EHR) is meant to improve patient safety and provide and improve quality of care, users tend to encounter challenges with the system (Yuan, Bradley, & Nembhard, 2015). In this era, use of EHR has become a necessity in the healthcare system. Most of the seasoned and older nurses tend to have difficulty learning and adjusting to the new era of technology. The use of electronic health records is unavoidable as it has become a means of creating, storing and retrieving information pertinent to patient care (Samadbeik, Gorzin, Khoshkam & Roudbari, 2015). Some of the concerns expressed has been in relation to forgetting their password, inability to navigate through the system and the fear of losing information (Samadbeik et al., 2015).
3 Not being a technical person, I am heavily relying on our text and other related literature. The fundamental to network addressing and numbering in an environment, despite the size or location, is following a structured model. A network designer should carefully develop, plan, manage, and document the network layer addresses. Since no accurate mechanisms exist for assigning network or subnet numbers dynamically, the network layer address numbers need to be well-planned, administered, and documented. There are benefits to observing this approach. The network will be easily managed, maintained, troubleshooting narrowed and isolated to the location, and the network will be scalable (Oppenheimer, p. 169, 2011).
The Network Address Translation overload or PAT is an excellent way to go if a situation where to arise and there was a shortfall of public IP’s. Port Address Translation is just an annex to NAT that allows many devices on a LAN to be drawn to one IP address. The main objective of PAT is to preserve IP addresses, so in a LAN lots of users are
Some people have trouble trying to say what is on their mind by putting it into words when speaking or writing. The reason for this is due to the realization that their words may not get the point across to the listener or audience in the best way. What is their second option? If possible, they will most likely turn their thoughts into actions. Benjamin Franklin’s quote, “Well done is better than well-said,” signifies that the more effective way to show your thoughts is through activity, rather than telling with words. I agree with this quote, as I find that this applies to countless people throughout generations.
The internet matured in the 1970's as a result of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), which is sill used today. It was adopted by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1980, and universally adopted in 1983. The usage of TCP/IP is what unites all elements of the net. Both public domain and commercial implementations of the roughly one hundred protocols of the TCP/IP protocol suite became available in the 1980's. During the early 1990's, Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) protocol implementations also became available by the end of 1991, the Internet has grown to include some 5,000 networks in over three dozen countries, serving over 700,000 host computers used be over 4,000,000 people. By December 1996, about 627,000 Internet domain names had been registered and now there are more than 30 million registered.
When connecting your internal network to the internet the need route the packets between the two networks happens inside a router. This translation between the two different networks is known as network address translation (NAT). There are advantages when using NAT as well as disadvantages to the end user, network administrators and overall functionality of the network. We also have to understand the differences between IPv4, IPv6, and the need for NAT in each as they are different protocols and will operate differently ("Network Address Translation," 2015).
Network Address Translation, also known as NAT, is the virtualization of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. NAT is a useful tool when it comes to network migrations, mergers, server load sharing, and creating virtual servers. The very first time NAT was recognized to have several advantages was in February 1996. NAT exists because in the early days of the internet, not many devices were in use, but around 1991 the concern of IP address space became a problem. The problem was that any device that connects to the internet must have its own personal IP address in order to be connected and receive data. With the internet being used by more and more people, IP addresses must be given to all and can not be the same. NAT was able to be introduced into the public by making a sort of wall between the internet and a user 's device. This provides users with the ability to use a very large amount of Public IP addresses to connect to the internet.