Manage NAT for virtual datacenters

Display NAT rules

When the Network Address Translation (NAT) integration is available in your environment, to display NAT IPs and NAT rules:

1. Go to Virtual datacenters → select virtual datacenter → Network → NAT
   

To display NAT rules for a VM:

1. Go to Virtual datacenters → select VM → go to VM control panel → select NAT

To manage NAT rules for a VM:

1. Go to Virtual datacenters → edit VM → Networks → NAT

Create a virtual datacenter with NAT

To create a virtual datacenter with NAT, create a virtual datacenter as usual and optionally select the NAT network and IP address to use for the default SNAT rule.

Or the platform will automatically add a NAT IP and create an SNAT rule for all outgoing traffic. The default SNAT IP address is marked with a star.

To change this default to another IP address, select the new address and click the star button.

For each VM, you can also create DNAT rules to send incoming traffic from a NAT IP to a private IP on the VM. And you can additional SNAT rules to override the default, sending outgoing traffic through other NAT IPs.

Use a NAT IP for a load balancer

You can use a NAT IP as a public IP address for load balancing. 

The platform will automatically create a NAT rule to match the port mappings of the routing rule of the load balancer.

Obtain an additional NAT IP 

In addition to the NAT IP assigned to the virtual datacenter, you can obtain NAT IPs for creating additional NAT rules.

To obtain a NAT IP

1. Click the + Add button on the top right-hand side of the screen
2. Select the NAT network and click Accept

The platform will reserve an IP and allocate it to your virtual datacenter.

You can then use the NAT IP as the public IP address for a load balancer or to provide access to a private IP address.

Create DNAT rules

To enable VMs outside your VDC to connect to a VM with a private IP address, after you obtain a NAT IP, you can create a destination NAT rule. 

To create a NAT rule:

1. Go to Virtual datacenters → Virtual appliances.
2. Edit your VM
3. If your VM does not yet have an IP, go to Network → NICs and add a private IP
4. Go to Network → DNAT
5. Click the + button on the top right-hand side of the tab

6. Enter the details of the DNAT rule

   Field	Description
   Original (NAT IP)	Select the IP address for external connections
   Protocol	Select the protocol for the connection, which can include TCP, UDP, any, ICMP
   Translated (private iP)	Select the private IP that is attached to the VM
   Use all ports	Mark this checkbox to create a NAT rule for all ports
   Original port	Enter the port for external connections. You cannot use the Original port for the NAT IP in more than one NAT rule. The platform will display the ports that are already used in other rules for the selected NAT IP.
   Translated port	Enter the port on the VM

7. Click Add
8. Save the VM

Create SNAT rules

To send outgoing traffic through a NAT IP that is not the default one, you can add an additional SNAT rule on the SNAT tab.

Modify and delete NAT rules

From the NAT tabs you can also select a NAT rule to edit or delete it.