Mikrotik Source NAT

One of the most important tasks among others that are performed by the router is the NAT function. 

The Mikrotik router can perform the Source NAT (Src NAT) as well as Destination NAT (Dst NAT) also. Using this Source NAT feature, we can share one public IP address among so many users.

In this tutorial, we are going to talk about how to configure the Mikrotik router for Src NAT function. We will perform this task using the “Winbox” tool.

We will go through the step by step process. First of all, open your Winbox tool and go to the IP-Firewall-Nat section. In there, create a new rule.

Now go to the "General" tab. Select "src-net" from the chain field. Write the local network address for which you are going to configure the NAT function. in this tutorial, we are using 192.168.1.0/24 as our local network address.

Now we will go to the "Action" tab. From there we can select "src-nat" or "masquerade" as our action value to perform the NAT function for our local network. If we select "src-nat" as our action value, then we have to specify the public IP address into the "To Addresses" field. We assume that our public IP address is 1.1.1.1.

If we select "masquerade" as our action value, then there is nothing left we have to do. Just select the "masquerade" as an action value and click on the "apply" button.

If we have more than one local address as well as public IP address then we will use the "src-nat" as an action value. Because by using this way, we can manipulate the NAT process as our requirements or for any advanced functions. For any home uses or a single local network, there are no extra requirements other then internet connection, we can use "masquerade" as an action value. 

That's it. After click on the "Apply" and "OK" button, our NAT rule will be added to our NAT list.