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As a network application developer I haven't felt much pain from NAT - I need to run a central server to relay connections, but that's about it. And oftentimes
by geofft 8y ago
As a network application developer I haven't felt much pain from NAT - I need to run a central server to relay connections, but that's about it. And oftentimes I need to run a central server anyway for discovery or authentication. (A few years ago I worked at a startup that enabled secure remote access to corporate networks, as in you could connect from a roaming laptop or mobile app into the network, browse the web, access network file shares, etc. We had a straightforward and uncomplicated proxy server with access control that we asked people to install and forward a port on their NAT for; it worked fine. We prototyped a relay server that customers could run in AWS, where our proxy server would connect outbound. I don't think any customers absolutely needed it. And we definitely preferred having one of our servers involved somehow as an intermediary so that customers weren't exposing Windows file shares to the public internet and hoping Windows authentication was enough....)
What do you find as searing pain?
- magila 8y agoYou're right some some applications are more effected than others. It sounds like you were dealing with business customers, "asked people to...forward a port on their NAT" is not a viable strategy when dealing with consumers. I work on P2P applications, so NAT is the bane of my existence.
- Gibbon1 8y agoI've always thought that facebook wouldn't exist if you had workable P2P for consumers.
- vvanders 8y agoIf you use UDP for anything you'll run into a bunch of fun issues. We hit it all the time back when I did networking in gamedev.
- pixl97 8y ago>we asked people to install and forward a port on their NAT for At this point I no longer believe you. Having worked in the ISP industry for quite some time, only a very small portion of the more technically advanced users can do this successfully. Most users dont remember their passwords to even get in their device. Just because windows firewall security is balls doesn't justify writing a nat helper or proxy for every protocol their is. You have just accepted the abuse that nat doles out as a norm.
- vetinari 8y agoIncreasingly, even those who know how to do it are unable to do so, because they are behind CGNAT and the PCP doesn't work or is not implemented at all.