Understanding NAT 4.1 RevC

Understanding and Configuring NAT
Tech Note
PAN-OS 4.1
Revision C
2012, Palo Alto Networks, Inc. www.paloaltonetworks.com
Contents
Overview ................................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Scope ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Design Consideration ............................................................................................................................................................... 3
Software requirement ........................................................................................................................................................... 3
Hardware requirement ......................................................................................................................................................... 3
NAT with PAN-OS ................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Life of a packet ........................................................................................................................................................................ 4
Address Pools........................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Proxy-ARP for NAT Pools ...................................................................................................................................................... 5
Source NAT ............................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Dynamic-ip-and-port ............................................................................................................................................................ 5
Dynamic-ip........................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Source NAT examples ............................................................................................................................................................. 6
Case 1: Source NAT IP Address and Port Translation.......................................................................................................... 6
Case 1a: Using the Interface IP Address for Translation .................................................................................................. 6
Case 1b: Using an Address Object for Translation ........................................................................................................... 8
Case 2: Source NAT IP Address Translation ........................................................................................................................ 9
Reserving IP Addresses ....................................................................................................................................................... 11
Static NAT: Bi-directional Translation .................................................................................................................................. 11
Destination NAT ................................................................................................................................................................... 15
Case1: One-to-one mapping ............................................................................................................................................... 15
Case 2: Destination IP and Port Translation ...................................................................................................................... 19
Case 3: One-to-Many Mapping.......................................................................................................................................... 20
Case 4: Server Access for Internal Users or U-turn NAT .................................................................................................... 22
Case 5: Server in the Same Zone as the Clients .................................................................................................................. 23
Translating source and destination IP address ....................................................................................................................... 24
Virtual Wire NAT ................................................................................................................................................................. 26
Source NAT ....................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Static NAT ......................................................................................................................................................................... 27
Destination NAT ................................................................................................................................................................ 28
NAT with IPSec VPN ............................................................................................................................................................ 29
Verifying NAT rules .............................................................................................................................................................. 29
NAT Exemptions ................................................................................................................................................................... 29
NAT interaction with applications ........................................................................................................................................ 30
Summary ................................................................................................................................................................................ 30
Revision History ................................................................................................................................................................... 30
2012, Palo Alto Networks, Inc.
[2]
Overview
Network address translation (NAT) was designed to address the depletion of the IPv4 address space. Since then NAT is not
only used to conserve available IP addresses, but also as a security feature to hide the real IP addresses of hosts, securely
providing private LAN users access to the public addresses. NAT is also sometimes used to solve network design challenges,
enabling networks with identical IP subnets communicate with each other.
Scope
The purpose of this application note is to explain Palo Alto Networks PAN-OS NAT architecture, and to provide several
common configuration examples. This paper assumes that the reader is familiar with NAT and how it is used in both service
provider and enterprise networks.
Design Consideration
Software requirement
Virtual wire NAT requires PAN-OS 4.1
Hardware requirement
PA-5000, PA-4000, PA-2000 and PA-500 series of firewalls
NAT with PAN-OS

PAN-OS provides a mechanism for translating both the source IP addresses/port numbers and destination IP addresses/port
numbers. PAN-OS uses rules to configure NAT. These rules are separate entities, and not configured as part of the
allow/drop security rules. NAT rules are configured to match on:
Source and destination zone
Destination interface (optional)
Source and destination addresses
Service
The configurable fields in the NAT rule are as follows:
There can be multiple NAT rules configured on a PAN-OS device. NAT rules are evaluated top down like security rules.
Once a packet matches a NAT rule, any other NAT rules configured are skipped for processing. Therefore, more specific
NAT rules must be at the top to the rule list.
[3]
Life of a packet
The following diagram captures the packet processing sequence when NAT is involved. For the sake of simplicity the
APP-ID, Content- ID and User- ID processing is not shown in the flow chart.
Packet received
Ingress interface/zone determined
Update session timer,

and forward packet
Yes
Existing
session?
No
Route lookup
Fail
Success
Egress interface/zone determined
DST NAT rule?
No
Yes
Translate destination address
No
Route lookup
Success
Source NAT
match?
Egress
interface/zone
determined
matched
Yes
Translate source address
No
Security rule
allow?
Yes
Create session
[4]
Fail
Drop Packet
The translated addresses are determined after a packet matches the NAT rule. It is very important to note that the IP address
and port translation happens only when the packet egresses the firewall. Hence the NAT rules and security rules always refer
to the original IP addresses in the packet (i.e. the pre-NAT addresses).
Address Pools
In PAN-OS, the IP address (also commonly referred to as IP address pools) used for address translation is configured as an
address object. The address object can be a host IP address, IP subnet or IP address range. Because the address objects are
used both in the security policies and NAT rules, it is recommended to use names that identify the address objects
specifically used as NAT address pools. For example the names of address objects used in NAT rules begin with prefix
NAT-<name>.
Proxy-ARP for NAT Pools

The address pools are not bound to any interfaces. If the address pool is in the same subnet as the egress/ingress interface IP
address, the firewall will respond to ARP requests received on that interface for the IP addresses configured in the pool. If
the address pool is not in the same subnet as the egress interface IP address, you must configure the necessary routes on the
upstream devices in order to ensure the response traffic after address translation is routed back to the firewall.
Source NAT
PAN-OS supports the following options for source translation:
Dynamic-ip-and-port
Dynamic-ip
Static IP
Dynamic-ip-and-port
This method allows for translation of the source IP address and port numbers to:
Interface IP address
IP address
IP subnet
Range of IP addresses
Dynamic-ip
This method allows for translation of only the source IP address to:
IP address
IP subnet, or
Range of IP addresses
The size of the dynamic-ip pool defines the number of the hosts that can be translated. If all the IP addresses in the dynamicip pool are used, any new connections that require address translation will be dropped. As sessions terminate, and IP
addresses in the pool become available, these addresses can be used to translate new connections.
Note: Dynamic-IP does not guarantee IP addresses reservation by default.
[5]
Source NAT examples

We shall discuss different scenarios where source NAT can be used to translate the source IP address and/or port numbers.
Because the security policies always match the original IP address in the IP packet, for the sake of simplicity a generic
security policy between the zones trust-l3 and untrust-l3 is applied to the device for all NAT configuration used in this
document unless otherwise noted.
Topology
Case 1: Source NAT IP Address and Port Translation

For translating both the source IP address and port numbers dynamic-ip-and-port type of translation must be used. This
form of NAT is also commonly referred to as interface-based NAT or network address port translation (NAPT).
Case 1a: Using the Interface IP Address for Translation
In this example all the traffic from the subnet 192.168.1.0/24 is translated to the egress interface ethernet1/1 IP address
1.1.1.1/24:
Configuration
The NAT rule for this configuration would look as follows:
[6]
Verification
The show session command can be used to view the session table. Notice that the source IP address and port of the hosts
192.168.1.250 and 192.168.1.100 are both translated to the interface IP 1.1.1.1 and to unique port numbers:
admin@PA-5060> show session all

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------ID
Application
State
Type Flag Src[Sport]/Zone/Proto (translated IP[Port])
Vsys
Dst[Dport]/Zone (translated IP[Port])
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------2359304 ssh
ACTIVE FLOW NS
192.168.1.250[59534]/trust-l3/6 (1.1.1.1[50219])
vsys1
1.1.1.10[22]/untrust-l3 (1.1.1.10[22])
2359303 ssh
ACTIVE FLOW NS
192.168.1.100[50034]/trust-l3/6 (1.1.1.1[51650])
vsys1
1.1.1.10[22]/untrust-l3 (1.1.1.10[22])
admin@PA-5060>
The show session id command can be used to view more details about the session. Note in the server to client flow, the
response is to the IP address 1.1.1.1 on port 50219, which is the translated address of the host 192.168.1.250:
admin@PA-5060> show session id 2359304

Session
2359304
c2s flow:
source:
dst:
proto:
sport:
state:
src user:
dst user:
192.168.1.250 [trust-l3]
1.1.1.10
6
59534
dport:
ACTIVE
type:
unknown
unknown
s2c flow:
source:
dst:
proto:
sport:
state:
src user:
dst user:
1.1.1.10 [untrust-l3]
1.1.1.1
6
22
dport:
ACTIVE
type:
unknown
unknown
start time
timeout
time to live
total byte count
:
:
:
:
50219
FLOW
Fri Apr 8 10:26:33 2011

432000 sec
431845 sec
5686
_______________ output truncated_______________________
22
FLOW
[7]
Case 1b: Using an Address Object for Translation

You can also translate the source IP address and port numbers to a single IP address instead of using the egress interface IP
address. In this example all the traffic from the subnet 192.168.1.0/24 will be translated to the IP address 1.1.1.20.
Configuration:
An address object referring to the NAT IP address of 1.1.1.20 must be created as shown in the following rule:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------ID
Application
State
Vsys
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------2359306 ssh
ACTIVE FLOW NS
192.168.1.250[50964]/trust-l3/6 (1.1.1.20[7987])
vsys1
1.1.1.10[22]/untrust-l3 (1.1.1.10[22])
2359305 ssh
ACTIVE FLOW NS
192.168.1.100[50426]/trust-l3/6 (1.1.1.20[43853])
vsys1
1.1.1.10[22]/untrust-l3 (1.1.1.10[22])
admin@PA-5060>
Note: You can also use a pool of IP addresses for dynamic-ip-and-port source translation.
[8]
Case 2: Source NAT IP Address Translation
For translating only the source IP address, the dynamic-ip type of source translation must be used. In this form of NAT,
the original source port number is left intact. Only the source IP address will be translated.
Note: When using the dynamic-ip type of source NAT, the size of the NAT pool must be equal to the
number of the internal hosts that require address translation. If all the IP addresses in the pool are in
use, any connections from new hosts cannot be address translated and hence will be dropped. New
sessions from hosts with established sessions with NAT will be allowed.
Configuration:
In this example an address pool of eleven IP addresses is created. The address pool is defined as an address object as follows:
Network>address
The NAT rule would look as follows:
[9]
Verification
Run the show session command; note that the source port is not translated:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------ID
Application
State
Vsys
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------2359311 ssh
ACTIVE FLOW NS
192.168.1.100[51298]/trust-l3/6 (1.1.1.21[51298])
vsys1
1.1.1.10[22]/untrust-l3 (1.1.1.10[22])
2359310 ssh
ACTIVE FLOW NS
192.168.1.250[43409]/trust-l3/6 (1.1.1.20[43409])
vsys1
1.1.1.10[22]/untrust-l3 (1.1.1.10[22])
Troubleshooting tip:
If all the addresses in the pool are in use, any new connections will not be translated and instead the packets will be dropped.
Use the following command to see if any sessions have failed due to NAT IP allocation:
show counter global filter aspect session severity drop | match nat
Debug output from a NAT allocation failure is shown below:

Packet received at slowpath stage
Packet info: len 74 port 17 interface 1
wqe index 229345 packet 0x0x8000000416fef0e6
Packet decoded dump:
L2:
00:15:17:dd:9f:bb->00:1b:17:2c:c2:01, type 0x0800
IP:
192.168.1.250->1.1.1.10, protocol 6
version 4, ihl 5, tos 0x00, len 60,
id 49401, frag_off 0x4000, ttl 64, checksum 46357
TCP:
sport 49099, dport 22, seq 3586889157, ack 0,

reserved 0, offset 10, window 5840, checksum 61035,
flags 0x0002 ( SYN), urgent data 0
TCP option:
00000000: 02 04 05 b4 04 02 08 0a
.gU<....
fd 67 55 3c 00 00 00 00
00000010: 01 03 03 07
........
....
Session setup: vsys 1

PBF lookup (vsys 1) with application ssh
Session setup: ingress interface vlan egress interface ethernet1/1 (zone
5)
NAT policy lookup, matched rule index 0
Policy lookup, matched rule index 0
[10]
DP2 is selected to process this session.

Allocated new session 203.
Packet dropped, source NAT IP/port allocation failed
k Packet dropped, Session setup failed
Reserving IP Addresses
Dynamic-IP address pools can be configured to reserve IP addresses for translation. By default, the IP reservation setting,
reserve-ip, is disabled. If reserve-ip is set to yes, reserve-time must also be set to a value between 1-604800
seconds (30 days). If set, the dynamic IP rules will support reserving an IP address up to the user specified reserve-time after
all sessions of that original source IP address translation expire. For example, if reserve-time is set to 8 hours, when the
last session of the original source IP expires, the translated IP will be reserved for another 8 hours. During this time the IP
address is reserved for the original source IP address. This means that other hosts will not be able to get a translated IP
address from the pool even if there are active sessions because all translated IP addresses are reserved. IP reservation is
configured from the CLI as follows:
set setting nat reserve-ip <yes/no>

set setting nat reserve-time < 1-604800 secs>
Static NAT: Bi-directional Translation

Static NAT is used for translating a range of IP addresses or a subnet to another IP address range or subnet. The size of the
static NAT pool must be same as the size of the source addresses to be translated. Static NAT also offers the benefit of
bi-directional translation, where the destination IP can also be translated for inbound connections. Static NAT is commonly
used to access servers behind a firewall from the outside. The following diagram shows static NAT use case.
The server 10.1.1.100 is mapped to IP 1.1.1.100. With a static NAT configuration, all connections initiated from the server
will be translated to 1.1.1.100 as follows:
If the bi-directional setting is configured for static NAT, then all connections to the IP address of 1.1.1.100 will be translated
to the real IP address of the server 10.1.1.100:
[11]
Configuration:
In this example, the server 10.1.1.100 is mapped to IP 1.1.1.100. Static NAT is configured for bi-directional NAT.
The following address objects are required for this setup:
Address object for the real IP address of the server
Address object for the translated IP address of the server
The following shows the configured address objects on the firewall:
The NAT rules would look as follows. Note that the NAT rule Int Source NAT is required for translating hosts other than
10.1.1.100:
Configuration Tip: Static NAT does not have precedence over other forms of NAT. Therefore the
order of the NAT rules is very important. For static NAT to work, the static NAT rules must above
all configured NAT rules
Security Policy configuration
For outbound access from the host 10.1.1.100, the generic security policy to permit any from the dmz-l3 zone to the
untrust-l3 zone is required. In order to allow inbound access from outside hosts, the security policy must match the
following:
1. Source and destination IP address as seen in the original packet
2. Source zone: Incoming zone of the packet to the server
3. Destination zone: zone where the server is physically connected
The configured security policy to provide access to the server from the untrust-l3 zone would look as follows:
[12]
Configuration Tip: The destination address in the policy is 1.1.1.100 and NOT 10.1.1.100.
Verification
The connection initiated from host 10.1.1.100 is translated to 1.1.1.100. The port numbers remain unchanged.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------ID
Application
State
Vsys
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------2359314 ssh
ACTIVE FLOW NS
10.1.1.100[54121]/dmz-l3/6 (1.1.1.100[54121])
vsys1
1.1.1.10[22]/untrust-l3 (1.1.1.10[22])
admin@PA-5060>
In the following connection from host 1.1.1.10 to 1.1.1.100, the destination IP address is translated to 10.1.1.100.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------ID
Application
State
Vsys
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------524291 ssh
ACTIVE FLOW ND
1.1.1.10[60616]/untrust-l3/6 (1.1.1.10[60616])
vsys1
1.1.1.100[22]/dmz-l3 (10.1.1.100[22])
Note: The bi-directional option in the static NAT configuration must be enabled for the outside host 1.1.1.10 to access the
server. This function creates a hidden NAT rule, allowing the destination translation to the static NAT host.
admin@PA-5060> show running nat-policy

"Static NAT" {
from dmz-l3;
source 10.1.1.100;
to untrust-l3;
to-interface ;
destination any;
service any/any;
translate-to "src: 1.1.1.100 (static-ip) (pool idx: 2)";
}
"Static NAT" {
from any;
source any;
to untrust-l3;
to-interface ;
destination 1.1.1.100;
service any/any;
translate-to "dst: 10.1.1.100";
}
System generated NAT rule
[13]
With these settings, connections from any zone to the server are permitted. This requires creating the security policy to allow
traffic to the destination zone where the server is connected.
In the following topology, in order to allow hosts from partner-l3 zone to access the server, the security policy in the
previous configuration is modified to allow connections from any host in the partner-l3 zone.
The modified security policy would look as follows:
Verification

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------ID
Application
State
Vsys
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------524297 ssh
ACTIVE FLOW ND
172.16.1.10[56970]/partner-l3/6 (172.16.1.10[56970])
vsys1
1.1.1.100[22]/dmz-l3 (10.1.1.100[22])
524298 ssh
ACTIVE FLOW ND
1.1.1.10[46504]/untrust-l3/6 (1.1.1.10[46504])
vsys1
1.1.1.100[22]/dmz-l3 (10.1.1.100[22])
admin@PA-5060>
[14]
Destination NAT
Destination NAT is used to translate the destination IP address and/or the destination IP address and port number of packet.
This form of NAT can also be used to map one IP address to multiple internal host IP addresses. In this case, the destination
port numbers are used to identify the destination host.
NAT and Security Rule Interaction with Destination NAT
The most common mistake in configuring the NAT and security rules are the references to the zones and address objects.
The addresses used in destination NAT rules always refer to the original IP address in the packet (i.e. the pre-translated
address). The destination zone in the NAT rule is determined after the route lookup of the destination IP address on the
original packet (i.e. the pre-NAT destination IP address).
The addresses in the security policy also refer to the IP address in the original packet (i.e. the pre-NAT address). However,
the destination zone is the zone where the end host is physically connected. The other way to look at it is the destination
zone in the security rule is determined after the route lookup of the post NAT destination IP address.
Case1: One-to-one mapping
Configuration
In this example, users from zone untrust-l3 access the server 10.1.1.100 in zone dmz-l3 using the IP address 1.1.1.100.
Before configuring the NAT rules, let us walk through the sequence of the events for this flow:
1. Host 1.1.1.250, sends an ARP request for the address 1.1.1.100.
2. The firewall receives the ARP request packet for destination 1.1.1.100 on the interface ethernet1/1 and processes the
request. The firewall responds to the ARP request with its own MAC address because of the destination NAT rule
configured.
3. The NAT rule is evaluated for a match. For the destination IP address to be translated, a destination NAT rule from
zone untrust-l3 to zone untrust-l3 must be created to translate the destination IP of 1.1.1.100 to 10.1.1.100.
4. After the translated address is determined, a route lookup for destination 10.1.1.100 is performed to determine the
egress interface. In this example the egress interface will be ethernet1/2 in zone dmz-l3.
5. A security policy lookup is performed to see if the traffic is permitted from zone untrust-l3 to dmz-l3. It is
important to note, the direction of the policy matches the ingress zone and the zone where the server is physically
located. Also note that the security policy refers to the IP addresses in the original packet, which has a destination
address of 1.1.1.100.
6. The packet is then forwarded out to the server via the egress interface ethernet1/2. The destination address is
changed to 10.1.1.100 as the packet leaves the firewall.
[15]
Configuration
Address object for the real IP address of the server
The configured address objects would look like this:
And the configured NAT rules would look like this:
Configuration tip: The direction of the NAT rules is based on the result of route lookup. Also note that the security policy
refers to the IP addresses in the original packet, which has a destination address of 1.1.1.100.
The configured security policy to provide access to the server from the untrust-l3 zone would look as follows:
Configuration tip: The direction of the security policy matches the ingress zone and the zone where the server is physically
located. Also note that the security policy refers to the IP addresses in the original packet, which has a destination address of
1.1.1.100.
Verification
Verify the sender IP address and target IP address in the ARP request packet:
Packet received at ingress stage

wqe index 229341 packet 0x0x8000000416ffe0e0
L2:
a4:ba:db:ba:3f:07->ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff, type 0x0806
ARP:
hardware type 0x0001
protocol type 0x0800
hardware size 6
protocol size 4
opcode REQUEST
sender mac address a4:ba:db:ba:3f:07
sender ip address 1.1.1.250
target mac address 00:00:00:00:00:00
target ip address 1.1.1.100
No flow lookup for packet, continue with forwarding
Forwarding lookup, ingress interface 16
L3 mode, virtual-router 1
Enqueue packet to ARP process
[16]
Flow debug
Packet received at fastpath stage

wqe index 229320 packet 0x0x8000000416fe70e6
L2:
a4:ba:db:ba:3f:07->00:1b:17:01:4a:10, type 0x0800
IP:
1.1.1.250->1.1.1.100, protocol 6
TCP:
flags 0x0018 ( ACK PSH), urgent data 0
TCP option:
Flow fastpath, session 15
NAT session, run address/port translation
session 15 packet sequeunce old 13 new 14
== Jun 07 10:43:07 ==
Packet received at forwarding stage
wqe index 229333 packet 0x0x8000000416fe70e6
L2:
a4:ba:db:ba:3f:07->00:1b:17:01:4a:10, type 0x0800
IP:
1.1.1.250->10.1.1.100, protocol 6
TCP:
flags 0x0018 ( ACK PSH), urgent data 0
TCP option:
Route lookup in virtual-router 1, IP 10.1.1.100
Route found, interface ethernet1/2, zone 19
Resolve ARP for IP 10.1.1.100 on interface ethernet1/2
ARP entry found on interface 17
Transmit packet on port 17
admin@PA-2050# run show session all

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------ID
Application
State
Vsys
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------30
web-browsing
ACTIVE FLOW ND
1.1.1.250[53079]/untrust-l3/6 (1.1.1.250[53079])
vsys1
1.1.1.100[80]/dmz-l3 (10.1.1.100[80])
[17]
Case 1a:
In this example, the firewall is configured to use a destination NAT IP address that does not belong to any of its connected
interfaces. The upstream router must be configured to route the traffic to the destination NAT address to the firewall. In this
example, the traffic to destination 3.1.1.100 must be routed to the firewall for address translation.
The following is a snapshot of the routing table on the firewall:
admin@PA-2050> show routing fib

total virtual-router shown :
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------virtual-router name: VR1

interfaces:
ethernet1/1 ethernet1/2 ethernet1/3 tunnel.1
route table:
flags: u - up, h - host, g - gateway
maximum of fib entries for device:
number of fib entries for device:
maximum of fib entries for this fib:
number of fib entries for this fib:
number of fib entries shown:
5000
5
5000
5
5
id
destination
nexthop
flags interface
mtu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------113
0.0.0.0/0
0.0.0.0
ug
ethernet1/1
1500
112
1.1.1.0/24
0.0.0.0
u
ethernet1/1
1500
111
1.1.1.1/32
0.0.0.0
uh
ethernet1/1
1500
38
10.1.1.0/24
0.0.0.0
u
ethernet1/2
1500
37
10.1.1.1/32
0.0.0.0
uh
ethernet1/2
1500
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Before configuring the NAT rules, let us walk through the sequence of the events for this flow:
1. The router forwards the packet with destination IP address 3.1.1.100 to the firewall. The ingress interface for this
packet is ethernet1/1, which is in the zone untrust-l3.
2. The firewall does a route lookup to determine the egress interface. The best route match is the default route, route id
113.
3. The packet is then forwarded back on to the interface ethernet1/1. The egress zone for this packet is same as ingress
zone: untrust-l3.
4. The NAT rule is evaluated for a match. In order for the destination IP address to be translated, a destination NAT
rule from zone untrust-l3 to zone untrust-l3 must be created to translate the destination IP of 3.1.1.100 to
10.1.1.100.
[18]
6. A security policy lookup is performed to see if the traffic is permitted from zone untrust-l3 to dmz-l3. It is
important to note, the direction of the policy matches the ingress zone and the zone where the server is physically
located. Also note that the security policy refers to the IP addresses in the original packet, which has a destination
address of 3.1.1.100.
Configuration:
This configuration requires the following address objects:
The NAT rules and the security policies are configured similar to Case1:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------ID
Application
State
Vsys
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------146
web-browsing
ACTIVE FLOW ND
5.1.1.250[58820]/untrust-l3/6 (5.1.1.250[58820])
vsys1
3.1.1.100[80]/dmz-l3 (10.1.1.100[80])
Case 2: Destination IP and Port Translation

In this example, the web server is configured to listen for HTTP traffic on port 8080. The clients access the web server using
the IP address 1.1.1.100 and TCP port 80. The destination NAT rule is configured to translate both IP and port to 10.1.1.00
and TCP port 8080.
Configuration:
The following NAT and security rules must be configured on the firewall:
[19]
NAT rule
Security rule
Verification
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------ID
Application
State
Vsys
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------80
web-browsing
ACTIVE FLOW ND
1.1.1.250[55077]/untrust-l3/6 (1.1.1.250[55077])
vsys1
1.1.1.100[80]/dmz-l3 (10.1.1.100[8080])
Case 3: One-to-Many Mapping
In this example, one IP address maps to two different internal hosts. The application is used to identify the internal host to
which the firewall will forward the traffic.
All HTTP traffic is sent to the host 10.1.1.100 and SSH traffic is sent to the server 10.1.1.101 as follows:
[20]
Configuration
Address object for the real IP address of the web server
Address object for real IP address of the SSH server
The configured address objects would look like this:
The NAT rules would look like this:
And the security rules would look like this:
Verification
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------ID
Application
State
Vsys
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------75
web-browsing
ACTIVE FLOW ND
1.1.1.250[54863]/untrust-l3/6 (1.1.1.250[54863])
vsys1
1.1.1.100[80]/dmz-l3 (10.1.1.100[80])
74
ssh
ACTIVE FLOW ND
1.1.1.250[54862]/untrust-l3/6 (1.1.1.250[54862])
vsys1
1.1.1.100[22]/dmz-l3 (10.1.1.101[22])
[21]
Case 4: Server Access for Internal Users or U-turn NAT

In the scenario, destination NAT is configured for outside users to access the server in the dmz-l3 zone using the address
3.1.1.100. This example shows the configuration to allow the internal users to access the same server using the IP address
3.1.1.100.
The routing configuration on the firewall:
admin@PA-2050> show routing fib

total virtual-router shown :
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------virtual-router name: VR1

interfaces:
ethernet1/1 ethernet1/2 ethernet1/3 tunnel.1
route table:
flags: u - up, h - host, g - gateway
maximum of fib entries for device:
number of fib entries for device:
maximum of fib entries for this fib:
number of fib entries for this fib:
number of fib entries shown:
5000
5
5000
5
5
id
destination
nexthop
flags interface
mtu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------113
0.0.0.0/0
0.0.0.0
ug
ethernet1/1
1500
112
1.1.1.0/24
0.0.0.0
u
ethernet1/1
1500
111
1.1.1.1/32
0.0.0.0
uh
ethernet1/1
1500
38
10.1.1.0/24
0.0.0.0
u
ethernet1/2
1500
37
10.1.1.1/32
0.0.0.0
uh
ethernet1/2
1500
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Packet flow sequence:

1. The firewall receives the packet for destination 3.1.1.100 on the interface ethernet1/15 and does a route lookup to
determine the egress interface.
2. The packet is forwarded on to the interface etherenet1/1.
3. The NAT rule is evaluated for a match. In order for the destination IP address to be translated, a destination NAT
rule from zone trust-l3 to zone untrust-l3 must be created to translate the destination IP of 3.1.1.100 to 10.1.1.100.
[22]
5. A security policy lookup is performed to see if the traffic is permitted from zone trust-l3 to dmz-l3. It is important
to note, the direction of the policy matches the ingress zone and the zone where the server is physically located. Also
note that the security policy refers to the IP address in the original packet, which has a destination address of
3.1.1.100.
Configuration:
NAT rule
Security rule
Verification
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------ID
Application
State
Vsys
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------187
web-browsing
ACTIVE FLOW ND
172.16.1.250[60848]/trust-l3/6 (172.16.1.250[60848])
vsys1
3.1.1.100[80]/dmz-l3 (10.1.1.100[80])
Case 5: Server in the Same Zone as the Clients
In this example, the clients and the server are in same network/zone. The clients access the server using the public IP address
of 3.1.1.100. The response from the server is also routed back through the firewall.
[23]
Configuration:
The NAT rule required for this configuration is similar to the previous example. The NAT rule is required to match traffic
from the trust-l3 zone to the untrust-l3 zone. Because the response from the server is also routed back through the firewall,
source NAT must also be enabled on the rule.
NAT rule
After translation, security policy is matched. In this example, because the clients and the server are in the same
network/zone, no security policy is needed.
Translating source and destination IP address

In this example, we will configure NAT rule to translate both the source and destination IP address of the packet.
The following address objects are created

1. Server-Pre-NAT: 80.80.80.80
2. Server-post-NAT: 10.2.133.15
Screen shot of the NAT policy is as shown
[24]
Verification
admin@santaclara-1> show session all filter destination 80.80.80.80
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------ID
Application
State
Vsys
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------24351
ssh
ACTIVE FLOW NB
192.168.1.11[50281]/l3-trust/6 (10.16.1.103[23707])
vsys1
80.80.80.80[22]/l3-untrust (10.2.133.15[22])
admin@santaclara-1>
The output of the relevant debug is shown below with ICMP traffic is shown below
== Oct 26 17:16:52 ==
Packet received at slowpath stage
Packet info: len 74 port 17 interface 266 vsys 1
wqe index 178615 packet 0x0x80000000b6dce0c6
L2:
5c:26:0a:45:e7:b6->b4:0c:25:f5:8b:01, type 0x0800
IP:
192.168.1.11->80.80.80.80, protocol 1
ICMP:
type 8, code 0, checksum 19769, id 1, seq 34
Session setup: vsys 1
PBF lookup (vsys 1) with application ping
Session setup: ingress interface vlan.1 egress interface ethernet1/1 (zone 9)
NAT policy lookup, matched rule index 0
Destination NAT, translated IP 10.2.133.15
PBF lookup (vsys 1) with application ping
Session setup: egress zone 9 for natted IP
Translated IP in zone 9, egress id 16
Policy lookup, matched rule index 0
DP0 is selected to process this session.
Allocated new session 24411.
Packet matched vsys 1 NAT rule 'Server NAT' (index 1),
source translation 192.168.1.11/1 => 10.16.1.103/1
destination translation 80.80.80.80/34 => 10.2.133.15/34
Created session, enqueue to install
---__pan_debug_tag=5---pan_sys_up_ticks=559796534266160--== Oct 26 17:16:52 ==
Packet received at fastpath stage
L2:
5c:26:0a:45:e7:b6->b4:0c:25:f5:8b:01, type 0x0800
IP:
192.168.1.11->80.80.80.80, protocol 1
[25]

ICMP:
Flow fastpath, session 24411
NAT session, run address/port translation
---__pan_debug_tag=5---pan_sys_up_ticks=559796534454301--== Oct 26 17:16:52 ==
Packet received at forwarding stage
L2:
5c:26:0a:45:e7:b6->b4:0c:25:f5:8b:01, type 0x0800
IP:
10.16.1.103->10.2.133.15, protocol 1
ICMP:
Route lookup in virtual-router 1, IP 10.2.133.15
Route found, interface ethernet1/1, zone 9, nexthop 10.16.0.1
Resolve ARP for IP 10.16.0.1 on interface ethernet1/1
ARP entry found on interface 16
Transmit packet on port 16
Virtual Wire NAT

With PAN-OS version 4.1, it is possible to configure NAT for interfaces configured in a virtual wire. The following types of
NAT configurations are supported in virtual wire NAT:
Source NAT
o Dynamic IP
o Dynamic IP and port
o Static NAT
Destination NAT
Note:
Because interfaces in a virtual wire do not have an IP address assigned, it is not possible to
translate an IP address to an interface IP address. You must configure IP address pool.
The firewalls will not proxy ARP for NAT addresses. Ensure that routes are configured on
the upstream and downstream devices.
Proper routing must be configured on the upstream and downstream routers in order for the
packets to be translated in virtual wire mode.
Virtual wire NAT policies do allow using ANY as the destination zone.
Some of the virtual wire NAT scenarios are discussed in the sections that follow. The security policies for both source NAT
and static NAT are configured to be from virtual wire zones vw-trust to vw-untrust.
Source NAT
Virtual wire deployment of a Palo Alto Networks firewall provides the benefit of providing security transparently to the end
devices. In the following topology example, two routers are configured to provide connectivity between the subnets
1.1.1.0/24 and 3.1.1.0/24 respectively. The link between the routers is configured in subnet 2.1.1.0/30. Static routing is
configured on both the routers to establish connectivity between the networks.
[26]
Route on R1:
Destination
Next hop
3.1.1.0/24
2.1.1.2
Route on R2:
Destination
Next hop
1.1.1.0/24
2.1.1.1
In this example, the firewall is deployed in virtual wire mode between two layer 3 devices. All connections from clients in
network 1.1.1.0/24 accessing servers in network 3.1.1.0/24 will be translated to IP range of 2.1.1.9-2.1.1.14. A NAT IP
address pool with range 2.1.1.9-2.1.1.14 is configured on the firewall.
All connections from the clients in subnet 1.1.1.0/24 will arrive at the router R2 with translated source address in the range
2.1.1.9-2.1.1.14. The response from servers will be directed to these addresses. In order for source NAT to work, proper
routing must be configured on router R2. The table below shows the modified routing table on router R2. This will ensure
the traffic to the destination 2.1.1.9-2.1.1.14 i.e. subnet 2.1.1.8/29, will be sent back via the firewall to router R1.
Route on R2:
Destination
Next hop
2.1.1.8/29
2.1.1.1
Static NAT
In this example, host 1.1.1.100 is statically translated to address 2.1.1.100. Static NAT with the bi-directional option is also
supported in virtual wire mode. In this example, with the bi-directional option enabled, system generated NAT policy is
generated from the vw-untrust zone to vw-trust zone. Clients on the vw-untrust zone access the server using the IP address
2.1.1.100, which will be translated by the firewall to 1.1.1.100. Any connections initiated by the server at 1.1.1.100 will be
translated to source IP address 2.1.1.100.
[27]
Route on R2:
Destination
Next hop
2.1.1.100/32
2.1.1.1
NAT policy
Destination NAT
Clients in the vw-untrust zone access the server using the IP address 2.1.1.100, which will be translated by the firewall to
1.1.1.100. Both the NAT and security policy must be configured from vw-untrust zone to vw-trust zone.
Route on R2:
Destination
Next hop
2.1.1.100/32
2.1.1.1
[28]
NAT policy
NAT with IPSec VPN

NAT can be configured to translate packets before they are encrypted. For configuration examples, refer to the document at
https://live.paloaltonetworks.com/docs/DOC-1594.
Verifying NAT rules

With multiple NAT rules configured on the device, the order of the NAT rules is important for address translation. NAT
rule processing can be verified from the CLI using the operational mode test nat-policy-match command.
test nat-policy-match <options>
+ destination
destination IP address
+ destination-port
Destination port
+ from
From zone
+ protocol
IP protocol value
+ source
source IP address
+ source-port
Source port
+ to
To zone
+ to-interface
Egress interface to use
For example:
admin@FW> test nat-policy-match from l3-untrust source 10.1.1.1 destination 66.151.149.20
destination-port 443 protocol 6
Destination-NAT: Rule matched: CA2-DEMO
66.151.149.20:443 => 192.168.100.15:443
NAT Exemptions
Both source NAT and destination NAT rules can be configured to disable address translation. This is used in scenarios
where NAT has to be disabled for certain hosts in a subnet, or when NAT is not required for traffic exiting a specific
interface. This is accomplished by setting the source NAT translation type to NONE as follows:
[29]
NAT interaction with applications

Dynamic-IP address translation works with only TCP- and UDP-based applications. Traceroute is not supported with
dynamic-IP translation.
Summary
PAN-OS rule-based NAT offers a very flexible way of implementing address translation to meet challenging network
requirements while offering increased ease of use. When combined with application visibility, application control and threat
prevention, Palo Alto Network firewalls offer the best of breed in security and networking functions.
Revision History
Date
8/26/2012
Revision
C
6/15/2012
10/10/2011
B
A
Comment
Editorial updates and included scenario with source and
destination NAT
Updated with new flow chart, example on U turn NAT
First draft
[30]

Understanding NAT 4.1 RevC

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What are the different types of NAT supported by PAN-OS?

What are the different types of NAT supported by PAN-OS?

How does NAT processing work on the firewall?

How does NAT processing work on the firewall?

Understanding and Configuring NAT

2012, Palo Alto Networks, Inc. www.paloaltonetworks.com

2012, Palo Alto Networks, Inc.

NAT with PAN-OS

2012, Palo Alto Networks, Inc.

Ingress interface/zone determined

Update session timer,

DST NAT rule?

2012, Palo Alto Networks, Inc.

Proxy-ARP for NAT Pools

2012, Palo Alto Networks, Inc.

Source NAT examples

Case 1: Source NAT IP Address and Port Translation

Case 1a: Using the Interface IP Address for Translation

2012, Palo Alto Networks, Inc.

admin@PA-5060> show session all

admin@PA-5060> show session id 2359304

Fri Apr 8 10:26:33 2011

_______________ output truncated_______________________

2012, Palo Alto Networks, Inc.

Case 1b: Using an Address Object for Translation

admin@PA-5060> show session all

2012, Palo Alto Networks, Inc.

Case 2: Source NAT IP Address Translation

The NAT rule would look as follows:

2012, Palo Alto Networks, Inc.

admin@PA-5060> show session all

Debug output from a NAT allocation failure is shown below:

00:15:17:dd:9f:bb->00:1b:17:2c:c2:01, type 0x0800

sport 49099, dport 22, seq 3586889157, ack 0,

Session setup: vsys 1

2012, Palo Alto Networks, Inc.

DP2 is selected to process this session.

set setting nat reserve-ip <yes/no>

Static NAT: Bi-directional Translation

2012, Palo Alto Networks, Inc.

2012, Palo Alto Networks, Inc.

admin@PA-5060> show session all

admin@PA-5060> show session all

admin@PA-5060> show running nat-policy

2012, Palo Alto Networks, Inc.

System generated NAT rule

The modified security policy would look as follows:

admin@PA-5060> show session all

2012, Palo Alto Networks, Inc.

NAT and Security Rule Interaction with Destination NAT

Case1: One-to-one mapping

And the configured NAT rules would look like this:

Packet received at ingress stage

2012, Palo Alto Networks, Inc.

Packet received at fastpath stage

admin@PA-2050# run show session all

2012, Palo Alto Networks, Inc.

The following is a snapshot of the routing table on the firewall:

admin@PA-2050> show routing fib

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------virtual-router name: VR1

_ output truncated_________