Methods and systems for network address translation management

1. A computer readable device including code executable to perform a method, the method comprising:

providing a first network address translation table and a second network address translation table, the first and second network address translation tables both including entries for network traffic between a public network and a private network and associated with a public Internet Protocol address, the first network address translation table including entries for a low priority subset of the network traffic between a public network and a private network and the second network address translation table including entries for a high priority subset of the network traffic between the public network and the private network;

enforcing a first limit on the number of processor cycles used for maintenance of the first network address translation table and a second limit on the number of processor cycles used for maintenance of the second network address translation table;

receiving a first network packet of a first network traffic type;

determining the first network packet corresponds to the low priority network traffic based upon the first network packet being of the first network traffic type;

adding a first entry to the first network address translation table; and

removing the first entry from the first network address translation table after a first timeout interval and removing the second entry from the second network address translation table after a second timeout interval.

2. The computer readable device of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

limiting the first network address translation table to a predefined size.

3. The computer readable device of claim 2 , the method further comprising:

providing an interface for changing the predefined size and for altering at least one of the first timeout interval and the second timeout interval.

4. The computer readable device of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

limiting the low priority network traffic to a predefined packet rate.

5. The computer readable device of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

limiting the low priority network traffic to a first portion of a bandwidth to guarantee a predefined second portion of the bandwidth is available to high priority network traffic.

6. The computer readable device of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

receiving a second network packet;

determining the second network packet corresponds to the high priority network traffic; and

adding a second entry to the second network address translation table.

7. The computer readable device of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

receiving a third network packet;

determining the third network packet corresponds to the low priority network traffic;

and retrieving a third entry from the first network address translation table.

8. The computer readable device of claim 1 , wherein the first entry includes an address and a port of a first device on the private network, an address and a port of a second device on the public network, and an address and a port of a gateway.

9. A computer readable device including code executable to perform a method for network address translation, the method comprising:

providing a network address translation table, the network address translation table including plurality of entries for network traffic between a public network and a private network, a first portion of the plurality of entries including a type designation corresponding to low priority network traffic and a second portion of the plurality of entries including a type designation corresponding to high priority network traffic;

enforcing a first limit on the number of processor cycles used for maintenance of the first portion and a second limit on the number of processor cycles used for maintenance of the second portion, wherein enforcing the first limit and the second limit is in response to a processor utilization exceeding a threshold;

receiving a first network packet of a first network traffic type;

determining the first network packet corresponds to the low priority network traffic when the first network packet is of the first network traffic type;

adding a first entry to the network address translation table, the entry including a type designation corresponding to the low priority network traffic and a first timeout interval having a first initial duration;

receiving a second network packet of a second network traffic type;

determining the second network packet corresponds to the high priority network traffic when the second network packet is of the second network traffic type; and

adding a second entry to the network address translation table, the entry including a type designation corresponding to the high priority network traffic and a second timeout interval having a second initial duration, wherein the first initial duration is different than the second initial duration.

10. The computer readable device of claim 9 , the method further comprising:

limiting the first portion to a predefined size.

11. The computer readable device of claim 10 , the method further comprising: providing an interface for changing the predefined size.

12. The computer readable device of claim 9 , the method further comprising:

limiting the low priority network traffic to a predefined packet rate.

13. The computer readable device of claim 9 , the method further comprising:

limiting the low priority network traffic to a first bandwidth to guarantee a predefined second bandwidth is available to the high priority network traffic.

14. The computer readable device of claim 9 , the method further comprising:

removing the first entry after the first timeout interval and removing the second entry after the second timeout interval.

15. The computer readable device of claim 9 , the method further comprising:

receiving a third network packet;

determining the third network packet corresponds to the low priority network traffic; and

retrieving a third entry from the first network address translation table.

16. The computer readable device of claim 9 , wherein the first entry includes an address and a port of a first device on the private network, an address and a port of a second device on the public network, and an address and a port of a gateway.

17. A gateway comprising:

a memory comprising:

a first network address translation table and a second network address translation table, the first and second network address translation tables both including entries for network traffic between a public network and a private network and associated with a public Internet Protocol address, the first network address translation table including entries for a low priority subset of the network traffic between a public network and a private network and the second network address translation table including entries for a high priority subset of the network traffic between the public network and the private network;

an interface operable to configure the first and second network address translation tables, the interface including a priority selector to set a low priority level for the first network address translation table and a high priority level for the second network address translation table; and

a processor that performs operations comprising:

enforcing a first limit on the number of processor cycles used for maintenance of the first network address translation table and a second limit on the number of processor cycles used for maintenance of the second network address translation table in response to a processor utilization exceeding a threshold;

receiving a first network packet of a first network traffic type;

determining the first network packet corresponds to the low priority network traffic based upon the first network packet being of the first network traffic type; and

adding a first entry to the first network address translation table.

18. The gateway of claim 17 , wherein the processor further performs operations comprising limiting the low priority network traffic to a predefined packet rate.

19. The gateway of claim 17 , wherein the processor further performs operations comprising limiting the low priority network traffic to a first portion of a bandwidth to guarantee a predefined second portion of the bandwidth is available to the high priority network traffic.

20. The gateway of claim 17 , wherein the processor further performs operations comprising:

receiving a second network packet;

determining that the second network packet corresponds to the high priority network traffic; and

adding a second entry to the second network address translation table.