diff --git a/build.nims b/build.nims
index 6318e459..2f46a6ab 100644
--- a/build.nims
+++ b/build.nims
@@ -72,7 +72,9 @@ task testStorage, "Build & run Logos Storage tests":
 task testIntegration, "Run integration tests":
   buildBinary "storage",
     outName = "storage",
-    params = "-d:chronicles_runtime_filtering -d:chronicles_log_level=TRACE"
+    params =
+      "-d:chronicles_runtime_filtering -d:chronicles_log_level=TRACE " &
+      "-d:storage_enable_nat_simulation=true"
   test "testIntegration"
   # use params to enable logging from the integration test executable
   # test "testIntegration", params = "-d:chronicles_sinks=textlines[notimestamps,stdout],textlines[dynamic] " &
diff --git a/storage/conf.nim b/storage/conf.nim
index 5af6c497..af23bd0d 100644
--- a/storage/conf.nim
+++ b/storage/conf.nim
@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ proc defaultDataDir*(): string =
 const
   storage_enable_api_debug_peers* {.booldefine.} = false
   storage_enable_log_counter* {.booldefine.} = false
+  storage_enable_nat_simulation* {.booldefine.} = false
 
   DefaultThreadCount* = ThreadCount(0)
 
diff --git a/storage/rest/api.nim b/storage/rest/api.nim
index e9a14007..91edef58 100644
--- a/storage/rest/api.nim
+++ b/storage/rest/api.nim
@@ -629,26 +629,27 @@ proc initDebugApi(
       trace "Excepting processing request", exc = exc.msg
       return RestApiResponse.error(Http500, headers = headers)
 
-  router.api(MethodPost, "/api/storage/v1/debug/nat/filtering") do(
-    filtering: Option[string]
-  ) -> RestApiResponse:
-    var headers = buildCorsHeaders("POST", allowedOrigin)
+  when storage_enable_nat_simulation:
+    router.api(MethodPost, "/api/storage/v1/debug/nat/filtering") do(
+      filtering: Option[string]
+    ) -> RestApiResponse:
+      var headers = buildCorsHeaders("POST", allowedOrigin)
 
-    without natSimulation =? natRouter:
-      return RestApiResponse.error(
-        Http400, "NAT simulation not active on this node", headers = headers
-      )
+      without natSimulation =? natRouter:
+        return RestApiResponse.error(
+          Http400, "NAT simulation not active on this node", headers = headers
+        )
 
-    without res =? filtering and filtering =? res:
-      return
-        RestApiResponse.error(Http400, "Missing filtering value", headers = headers)
+      without res =? filtering and filtering =? res:
+        return
+          RestApiResponse.error(Http400, "Missing filtering value", headers = headers)
 
-    let behavior = FilteringBehavior.fromString(filtering).valueOr:
-      return
-        RestApiResponse.error(Http400, "Invalid filtering value", headers = headers)
+      let behavior = FilteringBehavior.fromString(filtering).valueOr:
+        return
+          RestApiResponse.error(Http400, "Invalid filtering value", headers = headers)
 
-    natSimulation.setFiltering(behavior)
-    return RestApiResponse.response("", headers = headers)
+      natSimulation.setFiltering(behavior)
+      return RestApiResponse.response("", headers = headers)
 
   when storage_enable_api_debug_peers:
     router.api(MethodGet, "/api/storage/v1/debug/peer/{peerId}") do(
diff --git a/storage/storage.nim b/storage/storage.nim
index 08d3f71f..ac32f0f2 100644
--- a/storage/storage.nim
+++ b/storage/storage.nim
@@ -317,17 +317,27 @@ proc new*(
 
   var natRouter: Option[NatRouter]
   let switch =
-    if config.natSimulation.isSome:
-      # Provide a NAT simulation useful for testing NAT Traversal
-      let filtering = FilteringBehavior.fromString(config.natSimulation.get).valueOr(
-          AddressAndPortDependent
-        )
-      let router = NatRouter.new(filtering)
-      natRouter = some(router)
-      switchBuilder
-        .withNatTransport(router, {ServerFlags.ReuseAddr, ServerFlags.TcpNoDelay})
-        .build()
+    when storage_enable_nat_simulation:
+      if config.natSimulation.isSome:
+        # Provide a NAT simulation useful for testing NAT Traversal
+        let filtering = FilteringBehavior.fromString(config.natSimulation.get).valueOr(
+            AddressAndPortDependent
+          )
+        let router = NatRouter.new(filtering)
+        natRouter = some(router)
+        switchBuilder
+          .withNatTransport(router, {ServerFlags.ReuseAddr, ServerFlags.TcpNoDelay})
+          .build()
+      else:
+        switchBuilder
+          .withTcpTransport({ServerFlags.ReuseAddr, ServerFlags.TcpNoDelay})
+          .build()
     else:
+      if config.natSimulation.isSome:
+        raise newException(
+          StorageError,
+          "--nat-simulation requires a build with -d:storage_enable_nat_simulation=true",
+        )
       switchBuilder
         .withTcpTransport({ServerFlags.ReuseAddr, ServerFlags.TcpNoDelay})
         .build()