Router NAT Table
Ever wondered how a router routes your internet traffic? It all comes down to the NAT (Network Address Translation) table.
Think of a router as a postman delivering mail to different houses in a neighborhood. Each house has its own unique address, just like the devices on your network have their own unique IP addresses. When a device (let's call it Device A) on your network wants to access the internet, it sends a request to the router. The router, being the postman, looks at the request and sees that it's coming from Device A and needs to go to a specific website's address.
But wait, there's a problem! The website's address is not a local address that the router recognizes, It's an internet address. That means it needs to change Device A's IP address to the router's external IP address by using the NAT table.
The NAT table is basically a master list of all the devices on your network and their unique IP addresses. When a request comes in, the router looks at the NAT table and changes the source IP address to its own external IP address. It then sends the request to the internet destination, which sends back a response to the router using the router's external IP address. The router then uses the NAT table again to change the destination IP address to Device A's IP address and sends it on its way back to the original requester.
So, there you have it – the NAT table is how a router routes internet traffic in a neighborhood of devices. It may not be as exciting as receiving mail or packages, but it's just as important!