Nat Definitions; What Nat Does - ZyXEL Communications VMG Series User Manual

13.8.1 NAT Definitions

Inside or 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 or 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 or 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.
Table 95 NAT Definitions
ITEM
Inside
Outside
Local
Global
NAT never changes the IP address (either local or global) of an outside host.

13.8.2 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 outside world. If you do not define any servers (for Many-to-
One and Many-to-Many Overload mapping), NAT offers the additional benefit of firewall protection.
With no servers defined, your Zyxel Device filters out all incoming inquiries, thus preventing intruders from
probing your network. For more information on IP address translation, refer to RFC 1631, The IP Network
Address Translator (NAT).
Chapter 13 Network Address Translation (NAT)
DESCRIPTION
This refers to the host on the LAN.
This refers to the host on the WAN.
This refers to the packet address (source or destination) as the packet travels on the LAN.
This refers to the packet address (source or destination) as the packet travels on the WAN.
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