Networking Intermediate

What is NAT (Network Address Translation)?

A method of mapping private IP addresses to public IP addresses, allowing multiple devices to share a single public IP.

NAT allows devices on a private network to access the internet through a shared public IP address. Your home router performs NAT, translating private addresses (192.168.x.x) to your public IP for outgoing traffic.

Types include Static NAT (one-to-one), Dynamic NAT (pool of public IPs), and PAT/NAPT (port-based, most common). NAT also provides a basic security layer by hiding internal network structure.

Related Terms

VLAN (Virtual LAN)

A logical grouping of network devices that creates separate broadcast domains on the same physical network infrastructure.

The latest version of the Internet Protocol with 128-bit addresses, designed to replace IPv4 and solve address exhaustion.

HTTPS Everywhere

The practice of securing all web traffic with TLS encryption, ensuring data integrity and privacy between browsers and servers.

DNS Record Types

Different types of DNS entries that map domain names to various information like IP addresses, mail servers, and verification strings.

Token Bucket Algorithm

A rate limiting algorithm that allows burst traffic by accumulating tokens at a fixed rate and consuming them per request.

Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A geographically distributed network of servers that caches and delivers web content from locations closest to users for faster load times.

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