Azure NAT Gateway
Azure NAT Gateway is a fully managed and highly resilient Network Address Translation (NAT) service in Microsoft Azure that provides outbound internet connectivity for virtual networks. It allows resources in a subnet to communicate with the internet while using a single, static public IP address or a pool of addresses, without exposing inbound connections. It simplifies network management by offloading NAT functionality from virtual machines or load balancers to a dedicated Azure service.
Developers should use Azure NAT Gateway when building secure cloud architectures that require outbound-only internet access for virtual machines, such as for software updates, API calls, or data backups, without allowing inbound traffic. It is particularly useful in scenarios with multiple subnets needing shared outbound connectivity, compliance requirements for static IPs, or high-throughput applications where traditional NAT solutions on VMs might become a bottleneck. This service ensures scalability up to 16 public IPs and 50 Gbps throughput, making it ideal for enterprise workloads.