Forwards one port on a frontend IP to the NIC of a single VM. No backend pool, load-balancing rule or health probe is needed, but the same frontend port cannot be used by two rules on one frontend IP.
Read more: Microsoft Learn
In the Ultra Transcenders books
Each book explains Inbound NAT rule in context, with comparison tables and the common traps.
Terms in this definition
- NIC
Network interface card, the network interface of a VM; NSGs can be associated with it.
- Backend pool
Targets of a load balancer, identified by IP address or NIC IP configuration. A pool can't span VNets, and a Standard load balancer won't accept a VM that has a Basic public IP.
- Load-balancing rule
In Azure Load Balancer, the rule that links a frontend IP and port to a backend pool, checked by a health probe. Traffic not covered by a rule is not forwarded.
- Health probe
A TCP, HTTP or HTTPS check a load balancer uses to decide whether backends are healthy. For an HTTP probe, its path has to return HTTP 200.