I have the following set up for my home network:
A) Incoming Internet (ISP Modem)----> Sophos UTM ----> WiFi Router
/ \
All wireless devices File Server/Wired connections
The Wi-Fi router is in "Access-Point only" (AP) mode, which, as I understand it, causes it to behave like a wired/wireless switch (IP filtering, DHCP, etc. are all disabled), and it is properly wired to the UTM via one of its LAN ports. This allows the UTM to take over the heavy-lifting (firewalling, DHCP, etc.).
Now for the interesting part. I have been struggling with gaining consistent, quality access to my file server...it is intermittent at best. Here's what I've done so far:
1) After doing some detective work, I found that at first this was likely caused by a DHCP conflict: for some reason, DirecTV insisted on snatching the same IP as my file server... despite explicit DHCP rules in the UTM assigning one IP to DirecTV and another to the file server, AND the proper IP being hard-coded into the DirecTV receiver! I found out that since I was doing static routing, the IP's I assigned through DHCP needed to be outside the range provided for other devices connecting to the network, so that might be an explanation (but it's an odd one to me, as I didn't have to do that with my router). So I fixed that, and no more rebellious DirecTV.
2) After still being plagued with intermittent connections to the file server, I set up firewall rules, establishing a group of hosts (PCs/laptops, etc.) allowed access to the file server, and then setting an "allow" rule for that group. I also set exceptions in the network intrusion policy for traffic going back and forth between this allowed group and the file server, thinking that should prevent slowdowns (hopefully I shouldn't need to worry about intra-network traffic between network hosts and the file server!). However, I'm still suffering from intermittent access.
Now, from other posts/research on this forum, I was told that for my situation, this alternative configuration is actually the most optimal:
B) Incoming Internet (ISP Modem)----> Sophos UTM (MULTI-NIC mini PC)
(eth port 1) (eth port 2)
/ \
Wi-Fi Router File Server
/
All wireless devices
So I began to wonder if that might have an impact. I actually tried it: I defined a new interface in the UTM so that I could plug the File Server into eth2, and then did so...but the UTM did not like that; it froze and became unresponsive, even after several reboots. I was eventually forced to do a complete reinstall of Sophos on the UTM PC and reconstruct all of my rules/policies, as I hadn't done a backup (I was still experimenting). Needless to say, I'm NOT trying that again.
Does anyone have any idea what is going on?
Thanks!
***UPDATE/EDIT:*** I'm noticing that another time I'm suffering from failed access to network drives on the file server is shortly after computer wakeup...I have to wait several minutes before I can actually gain access. Could that be related or is that a separate issue (i.e., do I have to worry about any wake-on-lan settings that may be on the UTM?)?
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