How Does the SOHO 6 Process Information?

Port numbers

The port numbers are used by computers at both the sending and receiving end to determine the particular program or application for each connection.

How Does the SOHO 6 Process Information?

Services

A service is the combination of protocol(s) and port numbers associated with a specific program or application type. To simplify configuration of your SOHO 6, WatchGuard configured versions of several common services are available for your use.

Network Address Translation

All outgoing connections through a SOHO 6 automatically use a feature called dynamic NAT (Network Address Translation). Without dynamic NAT, your trusted, private addresses are passed along the Internet to their destination.

In addition, the SOHO 6 protects your trusted network by disguising private IP addresses. During an Internet connection, all traffic passed between computers includes IP address information. However, because of the dynamic NAT feature, applications and servers on the Internet only see the public, external IP address of the SOHO 6 itself and are never aware of the addresses in your trusted, network address range.

Imagine that you install a computer behind the SOHO 6 with the IP address 206.253.208.100. If this address were broadcast to the Internet, hackers could easily direct an attack on the computer itself. Instead, the SOHO 6 converts the address automatically to

User Guide

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WatchGuard Technologies SOHO 6.1 manual How Does the Soho 6 Process Information?, Port numbers, Services