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How to Delete a NAT Gateway Port Forwarding Rule

Updated on 05 February, 2026

Learn how to delete NAT Gateway port forwarding rules and disable external access.

Deleting a port forwarding rule removes inbound access through the NAT Gateway on the specified port. The deletion takes effect immediately and stops traffic from reaching the internal destination.

Warning
Verify that no critical services depend on the port forwarding rule before deletion.

Follow this guide to delete a NAT Gateway subscription port forwarding rule using the Vultr Customer Portal or API.

  • Vultr Customer Portal
  • Vultr API

  1. Navigate to Products, expand the Network drop-down and select VPC Networks.

  2. Select your target VPC Network with NAT Gateway connectivity.

  3. Scroll to the NAT Port Forwarding section.

  4. Locate your target port forwarding rule in the list.

  5. Click the Delete icon (trash icon) for the rule you want to remove.

    A confirmation dialog appears with the message "Delete Forwarding Rule?" and warns that "This action cannot be undone. This will permanently delete this port forwarding rule."

  6. Click Delete Port Forwarding Rule! to confirm deletion, or click Cancel to abort.

  1. Send a GET request to the List VPCs endpoint to retrieve available VPCs.

    console 
    $ curl "https://api.vultr.com/v2/vpcs" \
    -X GET \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer ${VULTR_API_KEY}"

    The output displays all VPCs in your account. Note the id field for the target VPC.

  2. Send a GET request to the List NAT Gateway subscriptions endpoint to retrieve the gateway ID. Replace VPC_ID with the ID from the previous step.

    console 
    $ curl "https://api.vultr.com/v2/vpcs/VPC_ID/nat-gateway" \
    -X GET \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer ${VULTR_API_KEY}"

    The output displays NAT Gateway subscriptions for the VPC. Note the id field for the target gateway.

  3. Send a GET request to the List NAT Gateway Port Forwarding Rules endpoint to retrieve port forwarding rule IDs. Replace VPC_ID and NAT_GATEWAY_ID with your values.

    console 
    $ curl "https://api.vultr.com/v2/vpcs/VPC_ID/nat-gateway/NAT_GATEWAY_ID/global/port-forwarding-rules" \
    -X GET \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer ${VULTR_API_KEY}"

    The output displays all port forwarding rules for the gateway. Each rule includes an id, name, external_port, internal_ip, and internal_port field. Note the id field for the rule you want to delete.

  4. Send a DELETE request to the Delete NAT Gateway Port Forwarding Rule endpoint. Replace VPC_ID, NAT_GATEWAY_ID, and PORT_FORWARDING_RULE_ID with your values.

    console 
    $ curl "https://api.vultr.com/v2/vpcs/VPC_ID/nat-gateway/NAT_GATEWAY_ID/global/port-forwarding-rules/PORT_FORWARDING_RULE_ID" \
    -X DELETE \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer ${VULTR_API_KEY}"

    The API returns an HTTP 204 status code with no response body when the deletion succeeds. The port forwarding rule is removed immediately and traffic no longer routes to the internal destination.

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