Which type of Network Address Translation allows many users to connect to the global Internet using one IP address?

The correct choice is PAT, which stands for Port Address Translation. PAT is a type of Network Address Translation that enables multiple devices on a local network to share a single public IP address when accessing the Internet. This is accomplished by assigning different port numbers to each connection from devices within the local network, effectively multiplexing the connections over the single public IP.

When a device sends a request to the Internet, the router changes the source IP address to the public IP and appends a unique port number to the request. This way, when the response is returned to the router, it can use the port number to identify which local device should receive the incoming traffic. Therefore, PAT is highly efficient for environments where IP addresses are limited, allowing numerous internal devices to connect to external networks using one public IP address.

In contrast, the other types of NAT mentioned serve different purposes. Static NAT maps a single private IP address to a single public IP address, which is not suited for scenarios with multiple users needing access simultaneously. Dynamic NAT allows multiple private IP addresses to be mapped to a pool of public IP addresses but does not support the reuse of the same public IP for multiple sessions. This limits its capability in accommodating many users effectively at the same time. Thus, PAT