IP Masquerading is a form of Linux networking process that allows one or more computers in a network to communicate without assigned IP addresses with the Internet using the Linux server’s assigned IP address. The IPMASQ server acts as a gateway, and the other devices are indiscernible behind it; consequently the outgoing traffic appears to other machines on the Internet to be coming from the IPMASQ server and not the internal PCs. While IPMASQ is a generic technology the server can be connected to other computers through LAN technologies like Ethernet, FDDI, Token Ring, as well as dial-up connections such as SLIP or PPP.

For instance, if a Linux host is connected to the Internet via PPP, Ethernet, etc, the IP Masquerade feature allocates other internal computers connected to this Linux box to reach the Internet. Linux IP Masquerading allows for this functionality although these internal machines don’t have an officially assigned IP address.

MASQ allows a set of machines to access the Internet via the MASQ gateway indiscernibly and the outgoing traffic will emerges to be from the IP MASQ Linux server itself to other machines on the Internet. Additionally as the added functionality, IP Masquerade provides the foundation to create a profoundly a secured networking environment hence to break the security of a well configured masquerading system and internal LAN should be considerably difficult to accomplish with a well-built firewall.

Who Can use IPMASQ?

* If you are on Linux host and connected to the Internet and you have few computers running TCP/IP connected to a Linux box on a local subnet.

* And/or if your Linux host has additional modem and acts as a SlIP or PPP server connecting other computers, which don’t have official or public assigned IP addresses.

* And if you want to save money and let those machines to communicate to the Internet without spending extra bucks for obtaining additional Public / Official TCP/IP addresses from your ISP.