RFC 2993 (rfc2993) - Page 1 of 29

Architectural Implications of NAT

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Network Working Group                                           T. Hain
Request for Comments: 2993                                    Microsoft
Category: Informational                                   November 2000


                   Architectural Implications of NAT

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
   memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   In light of the growing interest in, and deployment of network
   address translation (NAT) RFC-1631, this paper will discuss some of
   the architectural implications and guidelines for implementations. It
   is assumed the reader is familiar with the address translation
   concepts presented in RFC-1631.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction................................................... 2
   2.  Terminology.................................................... 4
   3.  Scope.......................................................... 6
   4.  End-to-End Model............................................... 7
   5.  Advantages of NATs............................................. 8
   6.  Problems with NATs............................................ 10
   7.  Illustrations................................................. 13
    7.1 Single point of failure...................................... 13
    7.2.  ALG complexity............................................. 14
    7.3. TCP state violations........................................ 15
    7.4.  Symmetric state management................................. 16
    7.5.  Need for a globally unique FQDN when advertising public
          services................................................... 18
    7.6.  L2TP tunnels increase frequency of address collisions...... 19
    7.7.  Centralized data collection system report correlation...... 20
   8.  IPv6.......................................................... 21
   9.  Security Considerations....................................... 22
   10.  Deployment Guidelines........................................ 23
   11.  Summary...................................................... 24
   12.  References................................................... 27




Hain                         Informational
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