Win Server With Router, Modem, And Wifi

[amlavor]

Hello all

 

I have one question that is taking me...

 

I have a network with 7 computer as it follows

 

Internet -> Modem -> Router (wifi) -> Computers

 

What I need to do is, set a windows server 2008 to work as data server and as a NAT service,

but I cant get it to work, I know the router by itself can do it, but not as quite good as a server could do.

 

Im thinking of set the server between the Modem -> "Server" -> Router -> Computers , but the router would keep the wifi IP of the network, and repassing only its own IP to Server which is useless for a NAT rules.

 

If I place the server after the Router -> "Server" -> Computers , I will have to set a AD-HOC connection, wich wouldnt be apropriate for security and performance...

 

What you guys would suggest.

 

thanks in advance

 

Andy

 

ps.hope I was clear. in my mind I see it so easy...lol..

[mmthomas]

Have your router do the NAT or, if you are a business, replace the wifi router with a wifi firewall like a Sonicwall TZ series. It is an additional expense (but only $200-$300 for a low end Sonicwall), but putting your server right on the internet (as you would be doing if it is doing the NAT for the network) is far less secure. Even if you can't afford the firewall, I would still let the router do the NAT so that the firewall on your server can be set to only allow connections from internal machines. Having your server do the NAT for your network needlessly complicates things and for the price of the extra NIC you could have bought a firewall -- unless that server is going to be an ISA server, in which case I would still suggest getting a device firewall instead.