Use this pane to set up a default host on your network, and to enable NAT port mapping protocol.

A default host is a computer on your network that is exposed to the Internet and receives all inbound traffic. A default host may be useful if you use a computer on your AirPort network to play network games, or want to route all Internet traffic through a single computer.

NAT Port Mapping Protocol (NAT-PMP) is an Internet Engineering Task Force Internet Draft, an alternative to the more common Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) protocol implemented in many network address translation (NAT) routers. NAT-PMP allows a computer in a private network (behind a NAT router) to automatically configure the router to allow parties outside the private network to contact this computer.

Included in the protocol is a method for retrieving the public IP address of a NAT gateway, allowing a client to make this public IP address and port number known to peers that may wish to communicate with it. This protocol is implemented in current Apple products, including Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, AirPort Extreme and AirPort Express networking products, and Bonjour for Windows.

To set NAT options, your base station must be set up to share its Internet connection using DHCP and NAT.

See also