An improved client network address translation ("NAT") system is provided.
Methods are provided for initializing connection control blocks with the
client NAT addresses when a storage pool of connection control blocks are
allocated. This avoids the costly overhead as connections are created and
destroyed. Unlike the prior art solutions, once the connection control
blocks of the present invention are allocated, they remain in effect
until the storage subpool is deleted. Secondly, in order to provide as
large a pool of client NAT addresses as possible, methods are provided
for using intervals to allocate and reclaim client NAT addresses as
subpools are allocated and freed.