I got my network functioning over the weekend with the LAN/WLAN bridge, but I'm still hoping for a better approach than the one I ended up with.

My difficulty lay with those subnets consisting of a WiFi/Ethernet converter wired to one or (thru a switch) more networked devices (e.g., computers, Replay TV's, ..., even a networked oscilloscope).

I would have liked to set all the IPs up, like the rest of the network (i.e., directly wired, and individually WiFied), with fixed, DHCP-dispensed addresses and MAC address filtering; but I was unable to see a way.

The problem is that the converters attach one particular MAC to all their ARP requests (either their own MAC or that of _one_ of the wire-attached devices). If all the devices are fully registered as network objects (i.e., with their true IP and MAC addresses) then the Z100G blocks their TCP/UDP traffic when it notices multiple IPs with the same MAC. If I try to get clever and fib in the registration, I never even get thru registration).

I ended up using manual IP assignment (outside the DHCP range) and partial object registration (IP and name only, no MAC association). This allows all my traffic to complete as intended.

I do lose elsewhere, though:

1. Manual IP management via each device is inconvenient, compared to central management by DHCP; and even error-prone (e.g., accidental IP collisions, overlooked DNS changes)

2. Lowered security, due to loss of MAC filtering

Hence my questions:

a. Did I miss an existing path that would let me keep DHCP and MAC filtering?

b. If not, is there something Sofaware could do to enable my preferred usage?

Have you tried creating a "Network Object" for each item and manually setting the IP maddress there? When I had to block a networked device I did that so I could block that device.

KBR,

Thanks for the suggestion.

Sorry, I guess I wasn't very clear. That _is_ what I did - a network object for each IP, with IP and name specified, but not MAC. If I insert the MAC without checking the box, the MAC is ignored. If I check the box I get an error (which error depending on which MAC I use, the real one or the proxy).

I would like to be able to include the real MAC, so as to get the advantages of DHCP and MAC filtering.

Does the Z100G recognize the device in the "Active Computers" tab of the "Reports" section? You can add the device as a Network Object from there which should have the correct MAC address. You might have to reboot or restart the device after to force it to get the correct IP address.

It does report the device as an active computer, but uses the same rule that I ended up with: although one of the MACs (real or proxy) is reported, "add" only adds the IP and name.