Full Cone vs Symmetric NAT

[HarryMuscle]

Is there an explanation available somewhere that goes into detail about which NAT type (full cone vs symmetric) is best used for what types of traffic? Is one considered more secure than the other?

Thanks,
Harry

 

[glens]

Wikipedia "NAT".

 

[drinkingbird]

Is there an explanation available somewhere that goes into detail about which NAT type (full cone vs symmetric) is best used for what types of traffic? Is one considered more secure than the other?

Thanks,
Harry

I think you need to become familiar with google......

Those are STUN NAT types for UDP traffic. The built in hide NAT functionality on the Asus will take care of UDP just fine with default settings.

 

[BreakingDad]

Full Cone or Symetric NAT

Could someone explain the differences in basic terms of the above setting? I could find little information online, my understanding from what I could find is the Full Cone leaves permanently open ports to devices, whereas symetric closes the ports except when required by upnp / portforwarding...

www.snbforums.com

What is full cone Nat and should I enable it?

Was just going through the settings of my router. Its a TP link W9980. I came accross an option for Full Cone Nat. I've been having issues with connecting to private chat on Xbox 360 and getting into lobbys on BO3 on PS4 because of moderate or strict nat. Will enabling Full Cone Nat help or...

forums.overclockers.co.uk

What do Full Cone NAT and Symmetric NAT mean when dealing with STUN and TURN Protocols?

When we talk about Stun Protocol used for NAT traversal in voip environment, the common term used when talking about the Type of NAT that is compatible with Stun is “Full Cone NAT”, the…

ipdemystify.com

 

[HarryMuscle]

Thanks for all the links and suggestions to Google this but none of them actually go into detail about under what circumstances you should use one vs the other NAT type. Everything in Wikipedia and else where when Googling just describes how these two NAT types work which I already know. What I don't know is when to use one vs the other.

And just to add to the links about NAT here's one of the better ones I've found: https://doc-kurento.readthedocs.io/en/latest/knowledge/nat.html

 

[glens]

What I don't know is when to use one vs the other.

Based upon your needs.

 

[drinkingbird]

Thanks for all the links and suggestions to Google this but none of them actually go into detail about under what circumstances you should use one vs the other NAT type. Everything in Wikipedia and else where when Googling just describes how these two NAT types work which I already know. What I don't know is when to use one vs the other.

And just to add to the links about NAT here's one of the better ones I've found: https://doc-kurento.readthedocs.io/en/latest/knowledge/nat.html

What isn't working with standard overload NAT that you are trying to fix?

 

[BreakingDad]

Is one considered more secure than the other?

Yes Symetric is more secure, full cone leaves ports permanently open, but it is also considered "optimal" for gamers, although I think the effect is placebo.

"It is worth mentioning the important role that the NAT filtration plays in how UPnP will behave. For example, you may see that despite enabling UPnP, the NAT Type remains on Strict (Level 3) and this can happen if the router uses Symmetric NAT filtering which basically means that the inbound traffic is allowed only from the same external IP address and the port used as the destination. The solution is to use Full Cone NAT filtering, so if the incoming traffic towards your console doesn’t originate from the same IP address, then it will still arrive at its destination (it’s obviously the less secure option)."

 

[HarryMuscle]

Based upon your needs.

Sounds like no one really knows.

 

[drinkingbird]

Sounds like no one really knows.

If you have a game or other application that requires it or benefits from it, use it. If not, don't, since it is a security risk.

 

[dyer4789]

Is there an explanation available somewhere that goes into detail about which NAT type (full cone vs symmetric) is best used for what types of traffic? Is one considered more secure than the other?

Thanks,
Harry

I dont really know myself but I can tell you that I have two xbox ones and if I don't have it on full cone, the xboxes report NAT type strict, but when I put it on full cone it says open. So that's all I can offer