Article Details

Abstract

NAT Hairpin is a key application scenario of NAT technology, which solves the problem of internal hosts accessing internal servers through public addresses. This paper analyzes the working mechanisms of three mainstream hairpin paradigms, including NAT Hairpin, bidirectional NAT, and NAT Policy, through simulation experiments. It provides core configurations and testing schemes, and systematically compares their performance characteristics. The results show that in terms of performance, NAT Hairpin has the lowest latency, followed by bidirectional NAT, and NAT Policy has the highest latency due to large policy matching overhead. In terms of configuration and security, NAT Policy supports multi-dimensional policy control and has the strongest flexibility; bidirectional NAT improves security through two-way conversion; NAT Hairpin is easy to configure but is limited by device compatibility. The research results provide a theoretical reference and practical guidance for the selection of NAT Hairpin schemes in different network environments.

Keywords

network address translation; simulation experiment; NAT policy; NAT Hairpin

References

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Funding

2024 Jiangsu University "Blue Project" (Su Teacher's Letter [2024] No. 14)

About the authors

Jin Haifeng (1979-), male, Han nationality, from Jiangyin, Jiangsu, associate professor, master's degree, research direction: vocational education and computer network practical teaching.