NATfriendly
NATfriendly is a term used to describe networking designs, protocols, and software that are optimized to operate effectively behind network address translation (NAT) devices. NATfriendly approaches aim to minimize reliance on globally routable IP addresses and to enable peers and services to establish and maintain communication even when direct inbound connectivity is restricted by NAT.
NATfriendly techniques include using outbound-initiated connections, maintaining periodic keep-alives, and employing NAT traversal methods such as
Applications of NATfriendly design appear in real-time communications and peer-to-peer ecosystems. WebRTC, for example, relies on
Limitations include added latency from relay paths, dependence on intermediary servers, and variability across NAT types
See also NAT traversal, NAT, STUN, ICE, TURN, UPnP, NAT-PMP.