Motivation for Auto-configuration
Without proper configuration of hosts in networks, they
are not able to find each other, or to communicate with
each other. Device configuration is therefore of utmost
importance. This can be done either statically or dynami-
cally. Devices that are permanently connected to an ad-
ministered network are usually assigned static network
configuration parameters by administrators [7].
Other devices that are attached to administered net-
works can use dynamic network configuration. The de-
vices themselves must be configured, i.e. all the neces-
sary parameters must be assigned to the host (device) by
a network configuration service. The network configura-
tion service in turn also requires configuration.
However, in a communication and information system
aimed at disaster recovery, manual administration of
network hosts is impractical or impossible. Hence, auto-
matic configuration of the hosts is desirable.