firewall installation help

[spncrcooper1]

Hello, I just starting working IT and my first job is to install a firewall into a network. First I have to get Comcast to turn their router to bridge mode so my firewall can dish out the IP addresses. Should I have the firewall in with DHCP on, in the network before I try and get the router switched to bridge mode or should I have the firewall in already?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Depends on what you are trying to do really.

First things first, what kind of firewall?

Second, are you a small company? I only really recommend running dhcp from the firewall if you are a small shop, otherwise a dedicated dhcp server is far more configurable.

 

[spncrcooper1]

Yes, small. Just one LAN and one WAN. and it is a zyxel firewall/router. Mainly just do i want the firewall already in the network when i switch the router to bridge mode or do i put the firewall in afterwards

 

[RadiclDreamer]

The second you turn the modem from the ISP into bridge mode it stops doing anything other than essentially taking coax and transforming it to ethernet so you will want to be sure you configure the firewall off network ahead of time or plan a maintenance window.

The key thing is to make sure you arent having 2 dhcp servers running in your network else you could run into issues.

 

[spncrcooper1]

oh yes that makes since to configure the firewall before placing it in the network. Ill go ahead and set up port forwarding and VPN and my DCHP ip range