What is a default setting for NAT Translated Packets when the destination NAT translation is selected as Dynamic IP (with session distribution)?

Question

Options

• AIP Hash
• BSource IP Hash
• CRound Robin
• DLeast Sessions

• A
  5% (2)
• B
  2% (1)
• C
  93% (41)

Explanation

When Destination NAT is configured with Dynamic IP and session distribution enabled (as seen in Palo Alto Networks firewalls), Round Robin is the default distribution method because it is the simplest load-balancing algorithm - it cycles through the available translated IP addresses sequentially without requiring any additional state tracking or computation.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A (IP Hash) and B (Source IP Hash) are hash-based methods that pin sessions to a specific translated IP based on packet/source IP values - useful for session persistence, but not the default.
• D (Least Sessions) requires the firewall to track active session counts per IP before making a routing decision, which is more resource-intensive and is not selected by default.

Memory tip: Think "Round Robin = Default" because it's the most neutral and stateless option - no calculation, no tracking, just take turns. When in doubt on exam questions asking for defaults, Round Robin is almost always the "out-of-the-box" choice for dynamic load distribution.

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