Which technique allows multiple hosts to connect to the Internet using a single public IP address?

Port Address Translation (PAT) is a technique used to allow multiple hosts on a local network to be mapped to a single public IP address. This is particularly useful in environments where there are more devices that need Internet access than there are available public IP addresses.

When PAT is configured, it allows each device on the local network to maintain its unique private IP address while using the public IP address for outbound traffic. PAT differentiates the traffic from different devices by utilizing port numbers, which helps to ensure that return traffic is sent to the correct originating device.

In contrast, Static NAT would map a specific private IP address to a specific public IP, which limits the number of devices that can connect to the Internet based on the number of available public IPs. Dynamic NAT also allocates a public IP address from a pool for each device but does not utilize port numbers, meaning it cannot support multiple devices simultaneously connecting with a single public IP address. Subnetting involves dividing a larger network into smaller sub-networks and does not inherently provide the functionality of accessing the Internet via a single public IP. Therefore, PAS is the go-to option for enabling multiple hosts to connect using one public IP address efficiently.