We have worked with a few SBS 2003 networks where the server has two network cards and no hardware firewall, and on those I think I understand how the internet connectivity works. But now we're dealing with a server that has one network card and they have a Sonicwall TZ180 firewall as well, and we need clarification on a few issues.
1) I wanted to find out whether my laptop was capable of getting an internet connection by plugging the TZ180's WAN cable directly into my laptop, which was set to automatic IP. But I got the 169...limited access message. That makes me wonder if this is one of those connections where I would need to define IP info for my laptop connection--like maybe preferred and alternate DNS info. Is there a place in the TZ180 setup that would show me how IT is set to allow the TZ180 to "see" the internet? This is a Time Warner Telecom setup on a partial T1, I believe.
The reason I'd like to be able to do this is in a case where the users are complaining that "the internet is down", I could do this test to see whether I am getting connectivity from Time Warner or not.
2) If the TZ180 were to go up in smoke someday, what could I do as a quick fix while I get a new firewall? Could I take a Linksys cable/DSL router and expect it to get me back up and running temporarily? I know it would not provide the firewall protection, but could it do for me whatever else the TZ180 is doing? It looks like the TZ180 is set to output 192.168.16.2 to their SBS server, based on info I've seen in the TZ180 setup, and having seen static IP setup for the SBS network card with the same address.
3) With basic XP filesharing networks, we simply plug all the computers into the switch, as well as the router, and it distributes the DCHP addresses, and everyone has internet access--no matter which computers are up or down. But with this SBS network, if the server is down, then no one can get internet access. I do understand that this is normal.
Why is that? Is there a way around it? Or is this just "the way it is" when running on a SBS network? I'd like to know in case the server goes up in smoke some day. While we're dealing with that problem, it sure would be nice if the users at least had internet connectivity--like they would if they were on a simple fileshareing network rather than this SBS 2003 network.
TIA
