Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
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Caution
Be certain that you do not create a bridged connection between your private network and a
connection to a public network such as the Internet. Doing so will leave your network in a vulnerable state,
where users on the public network can easily access internal resources.
Using Group Policy
While the network bridge is a useful technology for a home network or a small office, you will
generally want to disable the ability to configure network bridging in a larger corporate envi-
ronment. You can use Group Policy to disable the Bridge Connections menu option by configuring
the setting shown in Table 1-6.
Table 1-6.
Network Bridge Settings
Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Network\
Network Connections
Path
Policy name
Prohibit installation and configuration of Network Bridge on your
DNS domain network
Enabled
to prevent users from creating a network bridge
Value
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Caution
Enabling this setting in Group Policy will not remove a network bridge from a computer where
one is already configured; this will simply prevent users from creating a
new
network bridge.
How It Works
Prior to the release of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, the only way to connect a network
that consisted of more than one LAN segment was to configure software- or hardware-based
routing or bridging. (A
bridge
is necessary to connect networks using different media types,
such as an Ethernet network and a network that uses wireless connectivity.) The network
bridge that is built into Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 greatly simplifies this process;
you simply need to select the connection to each separate network and click Bridge Connections
on the right-click context menu. No further configuration is needed to enable communication
between the two networks; it is all handled automatically by the bridge.
After you've configured the bridge, you'll see a new Network Bridge icon in the Network
Connections applet. If you need to make a change to the configuration of any of the connections
after they've been bridged, you'll use the Network Bridge icon to make the change—it has
effectively taken over the network configuration of the bridged connections.
