What is Network Address Translation (NAT) primarily used for?

Network Address Translation (NAT) is primarily used to translate private addresses into public addresses. This process is essential because private IP addresses, which are used within local networks, are not routable on the internet. NAT enables multiple devices on a local network to share a single public IP address for accessing the internet.

When a device on a private network sends a request to the internet, NAT modifies the outgoing packets by replacing the private IP address of the device with the public IP address of the NAT router. This allows for proper routing of responses back to the originating device. Essentially, NAT provides a way to conserve the limited number of available public IP addresses and adds a layer of security by keeping internal addresses hidden from external networks.