19.7. Setting Up Network Address Translation

If you have several systems in your home or office connected by a LAN and only one Internet IP address, network address translation can be used to give all those systems almost complete Internet access. NAT hides the addresses of all systems on the internal LAN behind a single Internet address, converting addresses and ports back and forth as needed. This allows all internal systems to make connections to any host on the Internet, such as web servers, DNS servers, POP3 servers, and so on. The only limitation is that internal systems cannot receive connections from other Internet hosts, which can cause some protocols (such as Internet telephony and network games) to fail.

Because of this limitation, ...

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