7.6. How does IP Masquerade differ from Proxy or NAT services?

Proxy:  Proxy servers are available for: Win95, NT, Linux, Solaris, etc.

            Pro:    + (1) IP address ; cheap
                    + Optional caching for better performance (WWW, etc.)

            Con:    - All applications behind the proxy server must both SUPPORT 
                      proxy services (SOCKS) and be CONFIGURED to use the Proxy 
                      server
                    - Screws up WWW counters and WWW statistics

         A proxy server uses only (1) public IP address, like IP MASQ, and acts  
         as a translator to clients on the private LAN (WWW browser, etc.).
         This proxy server receives requests like TELNET, FTP, WWW, 
         etc. from the private network on one interface.  It would then in turn,
         initiate these requests as if someone on the local box was making the
         requests.   Once the remote Internet server sends back the requested
         information, it would re-translate the TCP/IP addresses back to the 
         internal MASQ client and send traffic to the internal requesting host.  
         This is why it is called a PROXY server.  

                Note:  ANY applications that you might want to use on the 
                        internal machines *MUST* have proxy server support 
                        like Netscape and some of the better TELNET and FTP 
                        clients.  Any clients that don't support proxy servers 
                        won't work.

         Another nice thing about proxy servers is that some of them
         can also do caching (Squid for WWW).  So, imagine that you have 50 
         proxied hosts all loading Netscape at once.  If they were installed 
         with the default homepage URL, you would have 50 copies of the same 
         Netscape WWW page coming over the WAN link for each respective computer.  
         With a caching proxy server, only one copy would be downloaded by the 
         proxy server and then the proxied machines would get the WWW page from 
         the cache.  Not only does this save bandwidth on the Internet 
         connection, it will be MUCH MUCH faster for the internal proxied 
         machines.



MASQ:    IP Masq is available on Linux and a few ISDN routers such
 or      as the Zytel Prestige128, Cisco 770, NetGear ISDN routers, etc.
1:Many
 NAT     
                Pro:    + Only (1) IP address needed (cheap)
                        + Doesn't require special application support
                        + Uses firewall software so your network can become
                          more secure

                Con:    - Requires a Linux box or special ISDN router
                          (though other products might have this..  )
                        - Incoming traffic cannot access your internal LAN
                          unless the internal LAN initiates the traffic or
                          specific port forwarding software is installed.
                          Many NAT servers CANNOT provide this functionality.
                        - Special protocols need to be uniquely handled by
                          firewall redirectors, etc.  Linux has full support
                          for this (FTP, IRC, etc.) capabilty but many routers
                          do NOT (NetGear DOES). 

         Masq or 1:Many NAT is similar to a proxy server in the sense that the 
         server will perform IP address translation and fake out the remote server 
         (WWW for example) as if the MASQ server made the request instead of an 
         internal machine.  
        
         The major difference between a MASQ and PROXY server is that MASQ servers
         don't need any configuration changes to all the client machines.  Just 
         configure them to use the linux box as their default gateway and everything 
         will work fine.  You WILL need to install special Linux modules for things 
         like RealAudio, FTP, etc. to work)!  

         Also, many users operate IP MASQ for TELNET, FTP, etc. *AND* also setup a 
         caching proxy on the same Linux box for WWW traffic for the additional 
         performance.


NAT:     NAT servers are available on Windows 95/NT, Linux, Solaris, and some 
         of the better ISDN routers (not Ascend)         

                Pro:    + Very configurable
                        + No special application software needed

                Con:    - Requires a subnet from your ISP (expensive)

         Network Address Translation is the name for a box that would have a pool of 
         valid IP addresses on the Internet interface which it can use.  Whenever the
         Internal network wanted to go to the Internet, it associates an available 
         VALID IP address from the Internet interface to the original requesting 
         PRIVATE IP address.  After that, all traffic is re-written from the NAT 
         public IP address to the NAT private address.  Once the associated PUBLIC 
         NAT address becomes idle for some pre-determined amount of time, the 
         PUBLIC IP address is returned back into the public NAT pool.  

         The major problem with NAT is, once all of the free public IP addresses are
         used, any additional private users requesting Internet service are out of
         luck until a public NAT address becomes free.