• SonicOS 7.1 Rules and Policies
• Overview
  • About SonicOS
  • SonicOS Workflow
  • How to Use the SonicOS Administration Guides
  • Guide Conventions
• Settings
  • Configuring App/Match/Malware
  • Configuring Content Filtering Service (CFS)
    • SonicWall CFS
    • CFS Custom Category
  • Geo-IP
    • Custom List
      • Editing a Custom List Entry
      • Deleting Custom List Entries
    • Using Geo-IP Diagnostics
  • Botnet
    • Configuring Botnet Settings
    • Creating Custom Botnet Lists
    • Viewing Dynamic Botnets Lists
    • Configuring a Dynamic Botnet List Server
    • Using Botnet Diagnostics
  • Decryption (DPI-SSL)
    • Certificate
    • Common Name
    • SSL Servers
  • Decryption (DPI-SSH)
  • Signature Update
• Security Policy
  • User & Country
  • App/URL/Custom Match
• NAT Policy
  • About NAT in SonicOS
  • About NAT Load Balancing
    • Determining the NAT LB Method to Use
    • Caveats
    • How Load Balancing Algorithms are Applied
    • Sticky IP Algorithm Examples
      • Example One - Mapping to a Network
      • Example Two - Mapping to an IP Address Range
  • About NAT64
    • Use of Pref64::/n
  • About FQDN-based NAT
  • About Source MAC Address Override
  • Viewing NAT Policy Entries
    • Changing the Display
    • Filtering the Display
  • Adding or Editing NAT or NAT64 Rule Policies
  • Deleting NAT Policies
  • Creating NAT Rule Policies: Examples
    • Creating a One-to-One NAT Policy for Inbound Traffic
    • Creating a One-to-One NAT Policy for Outbound Traffic
    • Inbound Port Address Translation via One-to-One NAT Policy
    • Inbound Port Address Translation via WAN IP Address
    • Creating a Many-to-One NAT Policy
    • Creating a Many-to-Many NAT Policy
    • Creating a NAT Load Balancing Policy for Two Web Servers
• Routing
  • About Routing
    • About Metrics and Administrative Distance
      • About Metrics
      • About Administrative Distance
    • Route Advertisement
    • ECMP Routing
    • Policy-based Routing
    • Policy-based TOS Routing
    • PBR Metric-based Priority
    • Policy-based Routing and IPv6
    • OSPF and RIP Advanced Routing Services
      • About Routing Services
        • Protocol Type
        • Maximum Hops
        • Split-Horizon
        • Poison Reverse
        • Routing Table Updates
        • Subnet Sizes Supported
        • Autonomous System Topologies
      • OSPF Terms
    • Drop Tunnel Interface
    • App-based Routing
  • Rules and Policies >
    • Configuring
      • Adding Static Routes
      • Probe-Enabled Policy-based Routing Configuration
• Decryption Policy
  • Client-side SSL Rules
  • Server-side SSL Rules
  • SSH Rules
  • Setting up the Decryption Policy Table
    • Managing the Decryption Policy Toolbars
    • Changing the Policy Priority
    • Creating Decryption Policies
      • Adding Decryption Policies
      • Editing Decryption Policies
      • Deleting Decryption Policies
• DoS Policy
  • Setting up the DoS Policy Table
    • Managing the DoS Policy Toolbars
    • Changing the DoS Policy Priority
    • Creating DoS Policies
      • Adding DoS Policies
      • Editing DoS Policies
      • Deleting DoS Policies
• DNS Policy
  • Creating DNS Policies
    • Adding DNS Policies
    • Editing DNS Policies
    • Deleting DNS Policies
  • DNS Doctoring
• Endpoint Policy
• Shadow
• SonicWall Support
  • About This Document

Adding or Editing NAT or NAT64 Rule Policies

You cannot edit default NAT Rule policies.

For examples of different types of NAT Rule policies, see Creating NAT Policies: Examples.

To create or edit a NAT or NAT64 Rule policy

1. Navigate to POLICY | Rules and Policies > .

2. Do one of the following:

   • To create a new NAT Rule policy, click +Add at the bottom of the page. The Adding NAT Rule dialog displays.

   • To edit an existing NAT Rule policy, click the Edit icon in the Configure column for the NAT Rule policy. The Editing Rule dialog displays.

     The two dialogs are identical, although some changes cannot be made to some options in the Editing Rule dialog. The options change when NAT64 Only is selected for Type.

     

3. At the top of the main screen, configure these settings:

• Name: Enter a descriptive, unique name to identify the NAT policy.
• Tags: You can add up to three tags that would help identify the policy for use in Search strings or identification. Use commas to separate your entries.
• Comment: This field can be used to describe your NAT policy entry. The field has a 32-character limit, and after being saved, can be viewed on the main POLICY | Rules and Policies > NAT Rules page by running the mouse over the Comment icon of the NAT policy entry. Your comment appears in a pop-up dialog as long as the mouse is over the Comment icon.

• Type: Select the IP version:

  The IP Version cannot be changed in the Edit NAT Policy dialog.

  • IPv4 (default)

  • IPv6

  • NAT64

  The options on the Adding NAT Rule dialog change when NAT64 is selected and the High Availability view is not available.

• Enable: By default, this slider is selected, meaning the new NAT policy is activated the moment it is saved. To create a NAT policy entry but not activate it immediately, clear this slider.

Original / Translated

Original

• Source: This drop-down menu setting is used to identify the Source IP address(es) in the packet crossing the firewall, whether it is across interfaces, or into/out of VPN tunnels. You can:

  • Select predefined address objects

  • Select Any

  • Create your own address objects

    These entries can be single host entries, address ranges, or IP subnets. FQDN address objects are supported.

    For IPv6, only IPv6 address objects are shown in the drop-down menu or can be created.

• Destination: This drop-down menu setting identifies the Destination IP address(es) in the packet crossing the firewall, whether it be across interfaces, or into/out of VPN tunnels. When creating outbound NAT policies, this entry is usually set to Any as the destination of the packet is not being changed, but the source is being changed. However, these address object entries can be single host entries, address ranges, or IP subnets. FQDN address objects are supported.

  For Pref64, this is the original destination of the NAT policy. Only IPv6 network address objects are shown in the drop-down menu or can be created. Pref64 is always pref64::/n network, as this is used by DNS64 to create AAAA records.
  You can select Well-Known Pref64 or configure a network address object as Pref64.
  

• Service: This drop-down menu setting identifies the IP service in the packet crossing the firewall, whether it is across interfaces, or into/out-of VPN tunnels. You can use the predefined services on the firewall, or you can create your own entries. For many NAT policies, this field is set to Any, as the policy is only altering source or destination IP addresses.

  For IP Version NAT64 Only, this option is set to ICMP UDP TCP and cannot be changed.

• Inbound Interface: This drop-down menu setting specifies the entry interface of the packet. The default is Any.

  When dealing with VPNs, this is usually set to Any (the default), as VPN tunnels aren’t really interfaces.

• Outbound Interface: This drop-down menu specifies the exit interface of the packet after the NAT policy has been applied. This field is mainly used for specifying to which WAN interface to apply the translation.

  Of all fields in a NAT policy, this one has the most potential for confusion.

  When dealing with VPNs, this is usually set to Any (the default), as VPN tunnels are not really interfaces. Also, as noted in Creating NAT Policies: Examples, when creating inbound one-to-one NAT Policies where the destination is being remapped from a public IP address to a private IP address, this field must be set to Any.

Translated

• Source or IPv4 Source: This drop-down menu setting is to what the specified Original Source is translated upon exiting the firewall, whether it is to another interface, or into/out of VPN tunnels. You can:

  • Specify predefined address objects

  • Select Original

  • Create your own address objects entries.

    These entries can be single host entries, address ranges, or IP subnets.

• Destination: This drop-down menu setting is to what the firewall translates the specified Original Destination upon exiting the firewall, whether it is to another interface or into/out-of VPN tunnels. When creating outbound NAT policies, this entry is usually set to Original, as the destination of the packet is not being changed, but the source is being changed. However, these address objects entries can be single host entries, address ranges, or IP subnets.

  For Type NAT 64, this option is set to Embedded IPv4 Address and cannot be changed.

• Service: This drop-down menu setting is to what the firewall translates the Original Service upon exiting the firewall, whether it be to another interface, or into/out of VPN tunnels. You can use the predefined services in the firewall, or you can create your own entries. For many NAT Policies, this field is set to Original, as the policy is only altering source or destination IP addresses.

  For Type NAT64, this option is set to Original and cannot be changed.

Advanced / Actions

To configure NAT load balancing options, click Advanced / Actions.

Except for the Source Port Remap option, the options on this screen can only be activated when a group is specified in one of the drop-down menus on the General screen. Otherwise, the NAT policy defaults to Sticky IP as the NAT Method.

• On the Advanced / Actions screen under NAT Method, select one of the following from the NAT Method drop-down menu:

  • Sticky IP – Source IP always connects to the same Destination IP (assuming it is alive). This method is best for publicly hosted sites requiring connection persistence, such as web applications, web forms, or shopping cart applications. This is the default mechanism, and is recommended for most deployments.
  • Round Robin – Source IP cycles through each live load-balanced resource for each connection. This method is best for equal load distribution when persistence is not required.
  • Block Remap/Symmetrical Remap – These two methods are useful when you know the source IP addresses/networks (for example, when you want to precisely control how traffic from one subnet is translated to another).
  • Random Distribution – Source IP connects to Destination IP randomly. This method is useful when you wish to randomly spread traffic across internal resources.
• If the NAT Method is set to anything other than Sticky IP, FQDN-based address objects cannot be used for Original Source or Original Destination.

• Optionally, to force the firewall to only do IP address translation and no port translation for the NAT policy, deselect the Source Port Remap checkbox. SonicOS preserves the source port of the connection while executing other NAT mapping. This option is available when adding or editing a NAT policy when the source IP address is being translated. This option is already selected by default.

  This option is unavailable and dimmed when the Translated Source (on the Original / Translated view) is set to Original.

  You can select this option to temporarily take the interface offline for maintenance or other reasons. If connected, the link goes down. Clear the checkbox to activate the interface and allow the link to come back up.

• Enable DNS Doctoring: Selecting this check box enables the firewall to change the embedded IP addresses in the Domain Name System response so clients might have the correct IP addresses of servers. Refer to DNS Doctoring.

• Create a reflexive policy: When you select this checkbox, a mirror outbound or inbound NAT policy for the NAT policy you defined in the Adding NAT Rule dialog is automatically created. This option is not selected by default.

  Some Advanced / Actions options do not display when NAT64 is selected as the Type or when an FQDN address object/group is selected for either Original Source or Original Destination.

  

High Availability

• In the High Availability section, optionally select Enable Probing. When checked, SonicOS uses one of two methods to probe the addresses in the load-balancing group, using either a simple ICMP ping query to determine if the resource is alive, or a TCP socket open query to determine if the resource is alive. Per the configurable intervals, the firewall can direct traffic away from a non-responding resource, and return traffic to the resource after it has begun to respond again.

  When Enable Probing is selected, the following options become available:

• Probe Interval (n seconds): Specify the interval between host probes. The default is 5 seconds.

• Probe Type: Select the probe type, such as TCP, from the drop-down menu. The default is Ping (ICMP).

• Port: Specify the port. The default is 80.

• Reply time out: Specify the maximum length of time before a time out. The default is 1 second.

• Deactivate host after n missed intervals: Specify the maximum number of intervals that a host can miss before being deactivated. The default is 3.

• Reactivate host after n successful intervals: Specify the minimum number of successful intervals before a host can be reactivated. The default is 3.

• Enable Port Probing: Select to enable port probing using the Probe Type selected above. Selecting this option enhances NAT to also consider the port while load balancing. This option is disabled by default.

• RST Response Counts As Miss: Select to count RST responses as misses. The option is selected by default if Enable Probing is selected.

  If probing is enabled, FQDN based address objects cannot be used for Original Source or Original Destination.

• Click Add to add the NAT policy or click OK if editing a policy.