Firewall NAT rules process only the first packet of each connection.

MikroTik’s NAT (Network Address Translation) is part of the connection tracking mechanism. NAT rules are applied only to the first packet of a connection. Subsequent packets belonging to the same connection are automatically handled by the connection tracking module using the same translation mappings established by that first packet.

Option Analysis:

A.✔True – NAT is evaluated only on the first packet of a new connection.

B.✘False – Subsequent packets are not re-evaluated against NAT rules.

Extract from Official MTCNA Course Material – Firewall & NAT Section:

“NAT rules apply to the first packet in a connection. After that, RouterOS uses the tracked connection entry.”

Extract from René Meneses MTCNA Study Guide – NAT & Firewall Concepts:

“Once the initial packet matches a NAT rule, connection tracking applies it to the whole session.”

Extract from MikroTik Wiki – NAT Implementation:

“NAT is evaluated on the first packet. Other packets in the same connection follow the established NAT mapping.”

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