Saying "firewall" is sort of like saying "beverage." There are all
kinds, of varying cost, flavor, effect, and application. A NAT (Network
Address Translation) device is essentially just one type of firewall.
Now, from the "more than you asked for" department...
Anytime a host has a private IP address (typically 192.168.x.x or
10.x.x.x--see <http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1918.html>) but can still
connect to internet resources, there's a NAT in front of that host
translating the private IP(s) to one or more public IPs. There might be
hundreds of hosts behind the NAT with private addresses, but the rest
of the world sees one or more public addresses.
In a default configuration, a typical NAT device--such as an AirPort
base station or any other typical cable/dsl soho router--uses a single
public IP, and prevents incoming connections to hosts behind the NAT,
which provides reasonable security. Enough, at least, to allow the
installation of Windows on a networked host--something that is
virtually impossible nowadays without some sort of firewall. Most NAT
devices can be configured to forward certain ports to certain hosts, or
all ports to a default host (either statically or dynamically), in
which case the respective port(s) on the respective host(s) are
directly exposed to the internet.
<><
Jon L. Gardner '89, Director of Computing Operations
Texas A&M University at Qatar <http://www.tamu.edu/Qatar/>
Office: +974-492-7357 * Mobile: +974-581-3072 * AIM: email@hidden
On Sep 15, 2004, at 10:45 AM, Paul Sargent wrote:
Just wanting in increase my knowledge on the subject, what is it that
differentiates a NAT box and a firewall?
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