Palo Alto Networks Certified Network Security Engineer (PCNSE)Plan and DesignMedium
A network administrator needs to design a NAT policy for a segment of internal servers that must initiate connections to the internet. These servers have private IP addresses and require their source IP addresses to be translated to a single public IP address from a pool for outbound connections. What type of NAT should be configured on the Palo Alto Networks firewall?
- ADynamic IP and Port (DIPP) Source NAT
- BStatic Destination NAT
- CDynamic Destination NAT
- DStatic Source NAT
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: A. Dynamic IP and Port (DIPP) Source NAT
Dynamic IP and Port (DIPP) Source NAT is the appropriate choice. It translates multiple private source IP addresses to a single public IP address (or a small pool) using different port numbers, which is ideal for allowing internal servers to access the internet while conserving public IP addresses.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Static Destination NAT (also known as Port Forwarding or 1:1 NAT) maps a public IP/port to a specific internal server, used for inbound access, not outbound.
- C. Dynamic Destination NAT is used for inbound connections to internal servers, where the destination IP is translated, not for outbound source translation.
- D. Static Source NAT translates a private IP to a specific public IP on a one-to-one basis, which is not suitable for multiple servers sharing a single public IP.
Dynamic IP and Port (DIPP) Source NAT
A form of Source NAT where multiple internal private IP addresses are translated to a single public IP address (or a small pool) using different source port numbers for outbound connections. This is also commonly referred to as PAT (Port Address Translation).
- Many-to-one translation
- Conserves public IP addresses
- Used for outbound connections
Memory trick: NAT: Translating addresses for network harmony.