SRobertJames's questions

We have 16 IP addresses from our ISP, and are setting up a SonicWall Firewall. I'd like to have the SonicWall do NAT for the LAN, but act as a firewall only (no NAT) for the servers which are using some of the 16 addresses. How do I set this up? If I set the WAN's subnet to include the 16 IPs, the SonicWall won't route the traffic to the LAN interface. Should I set the WAN subnet to only include the ones we are dedicating for NAT, and then keep the others on the LAN?

Related point: How can I set multiple IP addresses for a SonicWall LAN interface?

CLARIFICATION: The servers are not NAT'd; they're using their public IPs directly.

I have a device which acts as a router and DHCP server. I'm replacing it, and would like to minimize down time.

1. If I unplug it, and plug in a different device with the same IP, will all the PCs with DHCP leases keep on working? (I have DHCP Conflict detect on, so it shouldn't reassign a DHCP address already used).

2. What if I want to change the IP (new subnet) - is there anyway to tell all the clients (Windows PCs) to release their DHCP leases and request new ones in a minute?

3. If before unplugging the old device, I have it release all DHCP leases, will the Windows PCs automatically ask for new DHCP addresses?

Now that routers are affordable, why should I build a network using Layer 2 switches, which degenerate to broadcasting under poor conditions, and not just use real routing at Layer 3?

Edit: Got some great replies. Let me clarify the question: Of course, at the lowest level, you want to plug your end nodes into a switch, not a router (as demonstrated by AlReece). I'm referring to switches which are used to bridge traffic between segments - that is, switches connected to other switches.

I appreciate Firewall Address Objects and Address Groups - they simplify management by letting me give a name to a group of addresses.

But I don't understand what Firewall Zones (LAN, WAN, DMZ, etc.) do for me over Address Groups. I know all firewalls have them, so there must be a good reason. But what do I gain by stating a rule applies to all traffic from LAN Zone to WAN Zone which comes from LAN Address Group to WAN Address Group? Why not just mention the Address Groups?

What are the performance effects of compressing Program Files on Windows NTFS?

On a fast, multicore machine, the overhead of decompression is minimal. Machines are generally disk bound, and if you can reduce the disk load by compression, you often speed things up. (Microsoft says that the built in compression of Windows Search indexes actually improves speed for this reason.)

On the other hand, Windows' virtual memory is complicated. Perhaps if files are compressed, they can't be paged out simply. And there may be other issues.

In short: On a fast, multicore machine with a relatively slow disk, what performance effects will compressing Program Files have?

I'm a developer with a solid understanding of TCP/IP. I've also done some Linux sys and network administration. I now need to set up some complicated LANs, and that means learning things like switches and routers (which I have some familiarity with but am no expert) plus all the modern things like VLANs and managed switches (which I've never touched).

I'm looking for a good book on networks and network device. What I'd like is: 1. Detail rich 2. Not for novices - I don't need handholding, and I don't need screenshots. 3. That will give me understanding, not list recipes to follow.

In short, I'd like to really understand everything from ATM to RIP to VLAN, so that I can build and maintain tough LANs.

What books do you recommend? What is their approach?

I have a bunch of PCs I'd like to secure with RSA SecurID tokens. However, they're not part of any Windows domain. Is this doable? Anyone any experience with that?

I have a few servers with IBM BMC (Baseboard Management Controller). I'd like to power cycle the BMC without restarting the server. Is this possible? How?

Note: On one of them, the web interface is down; so I'd need to either do this by physically restarting the BMC (not sure how to do this - even the power button on the server isn't supposed to recycle the BMC, I believe) or via the UDP or SNMP interface (again, not sure how to do that either)