What are some ways to resolve IPv4 address shortages?

Network Address Translation (NAT) is a technique that helps alleviate IPv4 address shortages by allowing multiple devices on a local network to share a single public IP address. Essentially, NAT translates private IP addresses used within a local network to a single public IP address, enabling multiple devices to access the internet simultaneously while appearing as one address externally. This is particularly useful for home and small office networks, where many devices need internet access but can operate on a small number of public IP addresses.

In environments where the availability of IPv4 addresses is limited, NAT serves as an efficient solution, extending the usability of the existing address pool. Notably, NAT does not eliminate the shortage, but it mitigates the immediate impact by maximizing the utilization of assigned addresses.

This makes NAT a widely adopted and practical approach in transitioning towards managing the network address shortage while the gradual shift to IPv6 addresses occurs, which provide a substantially larger address space.