Advantages of NAT
Overall, NAT is a useful tool for managing IP addresses, enhancing security, and improving network efficiency. Some advantages of using NAT are:
- IP address conservation: NAT allows multiple devices to share a single public IP address, which conserves IP address space.
- Improved security: NAT can act as a firewall by hiding internal IP addresses from external networks, making it difficult for attackers to access internal resources directly.
- Network flexibility: NAT enables the renumbering of an entire network without changing the IP addresses of individual devices, making it easier to restructure a network. This is extremely helpful when two companies merge and have overlapping IP address space.
- Cost savings: NAT can reduce the cost of acquiring public IP addresses, as only a limited number of public IP addresses are needed to support many devices.