METHOD AND STRUCTURE FOR AUTOCONFIGURATION OF OVERLAY NETWORKS BY AUTOMATIC SELECTION OF A NETWORK DESIGNATED ROUTER

摘要

A method (and structure) for automatically configuring a network including a plurality of interconnected computers, includes configuring more than one of the plurality of computers to assume a role as a designated router (202) which determines a current network configuration (204) by determining which computers are currently on-line, using this determined current network configuration (204) to determine a current network topology (205) that defines a neighborhood relationship among the interconnected computers currently on-line, and communicating the current network topology to the network. The method also includes defining a priority criterion (203) and automatically selecting one of the computers according to the priority criterion to serve the role as designated router.