Manage NAT for virtual datacenters

Display NAT rules

When the Network Address Translation (NAT) integration is available in your environment, the NAT tab will display the NAT IPs and NAT rules for your virtual datacenters. From here you can manage NAT IPs and within the VM you can manage NAT rules.

The platform also displays the NAT rules that apply to each VM on the VM control panel on the Network tab.

Create a virtual datacenter with NAT

To create a virtual datacenter with NAT, create a virtual datacenter as usual, and 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. You can change this default to another address by selecting the new address and clicking 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
   
   1. 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.
7. Click Add
8. Save the VM

Create SNAT rules

If you need to send traffic through a NAT IP that is not the defaut one, you can add an 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.