Network address translation in a distributed switch

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions to:

• receive, by a first network device in a distributed switch, information indicating allocation of a public Internet Protocol (IP) address and a subset of NAT ports available for a network address translation (NAT) instance deployed in the distributed switch, wherein the distributed switch comprises a plurality of network devices operating as a single switch, and wherein the subset of the NAT ports corresponds to a number of NAT sessions associated with the first network device;
• maintain, by the first network device, a first set of address mappings of the public IP address and the subset of the NAT ports, wherein a respective network device of the distributed switch maintains address mappings of a corresponding subset of the NAT ports;
• generate a first mapping between a first private IP address of a user device and a first protocol port and the public IP address and a first NAT port from the subset of the NAT ports, wherein the first mapping is in the first set of address mappings;
• receive, by the first network device, a packet destined to the public IP address and the first NAT port from a second network device of the distributed switch based on a forwarding rule indicating that the subset of the NAT ports is allocated to the first network device;
• replace, using the NAT instance, the public IP address with the first private IP address and the first NAT port with the first protocol port in the packet based on the first mapping;
• and
• forward the packet to the user device based on the first private IP address.

A computer system, comprising:

• one or more processing resources;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processing resources cause the computer system to:
• receive information indicating allocation of a public Internet Protocol (IP) address and a subset of NAT ports available for a network address translation (NAT) instance deployed in a distributed switch, wherein the distributed switch comprises a plurality of devices, which includes the computer system, operating as a single switch, and wherein the subset of the NAT ports corresponds to a number of NAT sessions associated with the computer system;
• maintain a first set of address mappings of the public IP address and the subset of the NAT ports, wherein a respective device of the distributed switch maintains address mappings of a corresponding subset of the NAT ports;
• generate a first mapping between a first private IP address of a user device and a first protocol port and the public IP address and a first NAT port from the subset of the NAT ports, wherein the first mapping is in the first set of address mappings;
• receive a packet destined to the public IP address and the first NAT port from a second computer system of the distributed switch based on a forwarding rule indicating that the subset of the NAT ports is allocated to the computer system;
• replace, using the NAT instance, the public IP address with the first private IP address and the first NAT port with the first protocol port in the packet based on the first mapping;
• and
• forward the packet to the user device based on the first private IP address.