Single Ip Address Operation Using Nat - NETGEAR WGR826V - 54 Mbps Wireless Router Reference Manual

Reference Manual for the 54 Mbps Wireless Router with Phone Adapter WGR826V

Single IP Address Operation Using NAT

In the past, if multiple computers on a LAN needed to access the Internet simultaneously, you had
to obtain a range of IP addresses from the ISP. This type of Internet account is more costly than a
single-address account typically used by a single user with a modem, rather than a router. The
WGR826V Wireless Router employs an address-sharing method called Network Address
Translation (NAT). This method allows several networked computers to share an Internet account
using only a single IP address, which may be statically or dynamically assigned by your ISP.
The router accomplishes this address sharing by translating the internal LAN IP addresses to a
single address that is globally unique on the Internet. The internal LAN IP addresses can be either
private addresses or registered addresses. For more information about IP address translation, refer
to RFC 1631, The IP Network Address Translator (NAT).
The following figure illustrates a single IP address operation.
192.168.0.2
192.168.0.3
192.168.0.4
192.168.0.5
Figure B-3: Single IP Address Operation Using NAT
This scheme offers the additional benefit of firewall-like protection because the internal LAN
addresses are not available to the Internet through the translated connection. All incoming
inquiries are filtered out by the router. This filtering can prevent intruders from probing your
system. However, using port forwarding, you can allow one computer (for example, a Web server)
on your local network to be accessible to outside users.
B-8
Private IP addresses
assigned by user
192.168.0.1 172.21.15.105
202-10051-01, March 2005
IP addresses
assigned by ISP
Internet
7786EA
Network, Routing, and Firewall Basics