In FortiGate, what is used to redirect traffic from one IP to another?

The use of Destination NAT (Network Address Translation) in FortiGate is essential for redirecting traffic from one IP address to another. This process allows an incoming connection to be redirected to a different IP address, facilitating communication with servers or devices that may not be directly accessible from the public network.

For example, if you have a server in your internal network with a private IP address, you can use Destination NAT to map a public IP address to this private IP. When external users send traffic to the public IP, FortiGate employs Destination NAT to forward that traffic to the private IP address, ensuring that the intended recipient can respond appropriately.

This capability is vital in scenarios where services hosted on private networks need to be accessible from the outside, or when you want to reroute traffic for load balancing or redundancy purposes. By effectively managing how IP addresses translate in inbound traffic, Destination NAT plays a crucial role in network security and accessibility.