NAT is sometimes used as a Security tool and is often implemented in Security firewalls since machines on one side of the NAT logic can only address messages to those on the other as allowed by the NAT mappings. Some NAT implementations also map FTP and other ports in much the same way as NAT maps IP addresses. NAT is defined in RFC 1631
Use of NAT can have unexpected side affects. For example it may not be possible for two players to log into the same on-line game from different PCs if both are communicating to the game server through the same NAT interface.
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