Mastering pfSense - Second Edition

Port forwarding

Port forwarding is probably the most commonly used form of NAT. It is commonly used when we have a single public IP address and several resources that must be made accessible to the internet. As a result, instead of assigning a single public IP address to every resource, instead we use one public IP address and assign a separate port to each resource.

Port forwarding is rarely used in corporate networks; in fact, higher-end routers do not have easily configurable ways of setting up port forwarding. Fortunately, however, pfSense is designed to be used on a variety of different networks. Port forwarding is usually a feature found on consumer grade routers, and the inclusion of port forwarding in pfSense is an acknowledgement ...