NAT and Same Security Level Interfaces

NAT is not required between same security level interfaces even if you enable NAT control. You can optionally configure NAT if desired. However, if you configure dynamic NAT when NAT control is enabled, then NAT is required. See the "NAT Control" section for more information. Also, when you specify a group of IP address(es) for dynamic NAT or PAT on a same security interface, then you must perform NAT on that group of addresses when they access any lower or same security level interface (even when NAT control is not enabled). Traffic identified for static NAT is not affected.

See the "Allowing Communication Between Interfaces on the Same Security Level" section on page 7-6 to enable same security communication

Bypassing NAT When NAT Control is Enabled

If you enable NAT control, then inside hosts must match a NAT rule when accessing outside hosts. If you do not want to perform NAT for some hosts, then you can bypass NAT for those hosts (alternatively, you can disable NAT control). You might want to bypass NAT, for example, if you are using an application that does not support NAT (see the "When to Use Application Protocol Inspection" section on page 25-2 for information about inspection engines that do not support NAT).

You can configure traffic to bypass NAT using one of three methods. All methods achieve compatibility with inspection engines. However, each method offers slightly different capabilities, as follows:

•Identity NAT (nat 0 command)—When you configure identity NAT (which is similar to dynamic NAT), you do not limit translation for a host on specific interfaces; you must use identity NAT for connections through all interfaces. Therefore, you cannot choose to perform normal translation on real addresses when you access interface A, but use identity NAT when accessing interface B. Regular dynamic NAT, on the other hand, lets you specify a particular interface on which to translate the addresses. Make sure that the real addresses for which you use identity NAT are routable on all networks that are available according to your access lists.

For identity NAT, even though the mapped address is the same as the real address, you cannot initiate a connection from the outside to the inside (even if the interface access list allows it). Use static identity NAT or NAT exemption for this functionality.

•Static identity NAT (static command)—Static identity NAT lets you specify the interface on which you want to allow the real addresses to appear, so you can use identity NAT when you access interface A, and use regular translation when you access interface B. Static identity NAT also lets you use policy NAT, which identifies the real and destination addresses when determining the real addresses to translate (see the "Policy NAT" section for more information about policy NAT). For example, you can use static identity NAT for an inside address when it accesses the outside interface and the destination is server A, but use a normal translation when accessing the outside server B.

•NAT exemption (nat 0 access-list command)—NAT exemption allows both translated and remote hosts to initiate connections. Like identity NAT, you do not limit translation for a host on specific interfaces; you must use NAT exemption for connections through all interfaces. However, NAT exemption does let you specify the real and destination addresses when determining the real addresses to translate (similar to policy NAT), so you have greater control using NAT exemption. However unlike policy NAT, NAT exemption does not consider the ports in the access list.