// HOW IT WORKS

How NATBox Works

// Everything you need to know — from the technology to the ordering process

What Is a NAT VPS?

A NAT VPS (Network Address Translation Virtual Private Server) is a virtual Linux server that shares one public IP address with other customers. Instead of getting your own dedicated IPv4 address, you get a guaranteed block of forwarded ports on our shared host IP.

This approach allows us to provide genuine Linux containers at a fraction of the usual cost. A dedicated IP VPS typically costs $5–$10/mo minimum. Our NAT VPS starts at $0.99/mo — with the same root access, same isolation, and same performance.

The trade-off is that services requiring a raw dedicated IP (some email servers, certain VPN protocols) won't work. But for the vast majority of use cases — web servers, bots, proxies, development environments, game servers, tunnels — a NAT VPS is perfect.

How Port Forwarding Works

Our host server has a single public IP: 147.135.215.238

Each VPS container lives on the internal network (10.0.0.x). Your container gets a fixed internal IP — say 10.0.0.5.

We create iptables PREROUTING rules that redirect traffic arriving at your public ports to your container's internal IP on the same port numbers.

These rules are persistent — they survive host reboots via netfilter-persistent. Your ports are always yours, always forwarded.

iptables — port routing example
# Your port block: 10021–10040
# Your container IP: 10.0.0.5

INTERNET147.135.215.238:10021
  → NAT PREROUTING
  → 10.0.0.5:10021 (SSH)

INTERNET147.135.215.238:10025
  → NAT PREROUTING
  → 10.0.0.5:10025 (your app)

# All 20 ports work the same way
# TCP and UDP both forwarded

From Order to SSH in 4 Steps

01
📋
Submit Your Order

Go to our order page, choose your plan (Nano, Micro, Small, or Burner), billing period (monthly or yearly), and operating system. Enter your contact details and preferred payment method. No account creation required — just fill the form.

→ You'll get an immediate email acknowledgment with your order reference number.

02
💳
We Send a Payment Link

We review your order within 1–2 hours and send you a payment link for your chosen method — a PayPal invoice, a crypto wallet address, or Wise transfer details. You have 24 hours to complete payment before the order expires.

→ Payment methods: PayPal, Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDT, Wise, or Bank Transfer.

03
⚙️
We Provision Your VPS

Once we confirm payment, we run our provisioning script: your LXC container is created, resources are allocated (RAM, disk, CPU), port forwarding rules are added to iptables, and your SSH key and root password are configured.

→ Provisioning typically takes 5–30 minutes after payment confirmation.

04
📧
Receive Your Credentials

We email you everything you need: your SSH command, root password, assigned port range, and connection tips. Connect from any terminal — Linux, macOS, Windows (PuTTY/WSL).

→ Your first port is always SSH. Ports 2–20 are yours to use for any service.

How Containers Are Isolated

🔒
Resource Limits
Each container has hard RAM and disk quotas enforced by Linux cgroups v2. Your Micro container gets exactly 512MB RAM — no more, no matter what other containers do.
🏠
Network Isolation
Containers can only see traffic on their assigned port range. They cannot communicate with other containers on the internal network without going through the host's NAT rules.
🛡️
Capability Dropping
We drop dangerous Linux capabilities (net_bind_service, sys_admin, etc.) from containers using LXC's cap.drop configuration, reducing the attack surface.
🔑
SSH-Only Access
Root access is via SSH password authentication by default. You can add your own SSH key to /root/.ssh/authorized_keys at any time and disable password auth.
🔄 VPS Lifecycle & Renewals

NATBox does not use automatic billing. You control when you renew. Here's the lifecycle of a monthly VPS:

🟢
Active
VPS running normally
🟡
3 Days Left
Warning email sent
🔴
Day 0
VPS suspended (data preserved)
Grace +7d
7-day grace period
💀
Deleted
Data permanently wiped

To renew: open a support ticket or message us on Telegram before expiry. Burner VPS has no grace period — it's deleted exactly at 24 hours.

Ready to Try It?

Start with a Burner VPS for $0.25 — 24 hours, no commitment.

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