from the iptables man page, for both SNAT and DNAT targets, we have the (similar) excerpts: --to-{source|destination} ipaddr[-ipaddr][:port-port] which can specify a single new {source|destination} address, an inclusive range of IP addresses, and optionally, a port range (which is only valid if the rule also specified -p tcp or -p udp) so, what part of that requires the protocol specifier? having a range of IP addresses? or just having a port range? or both? it's somewhat ambiguously worded. rday