Automatic assignment of addresses to nodes in a network

1. A computing system comprising:

a plurality of nodes; and

a network coupling said plurality of nodes;

wherein each of said nodes is configured to:

periodically broadcast a unique identifier for the node to other nodes of the plurality of nodes, wherein each node has a different unique identifier;

receive unique identifiers for the other nodes; and

in an address table comprising a plurality of records, each record corresponding to one of the nodes in the plurality of nodes and including a unique identifier for the node and a network address for the node:

if a record containing the unique identifier does not exist,

create a new record and

insert the received unique identifier into the record; and

if a record containing the unique identifier does exist,

update the record; and

reassign the network addresses in the records based on the unique identifiers in the records, wherein each node of the plurality of nodes determines which network address to assign to each record in a common predetermined manner.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein to reassign the network addresses in the records, each of said nodes is configured to:

determine which records are unexpired; and

reassign the network addresses only for unexpired records.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein each of said nodes is configured to reassign the network addresses only when a new record is created.

4. The system of claim 1 ,

wherein the record for a node further includes a time to live field indicating a time remaining until an expiration of the record; and

wherein updating the record comprises resetting the time to live field for the record.

5. The system of claim 4 ,

wherein in periodically broadcasting a unique identifier to the other nodes all nodes of the plurality of nodes are configured to broadcast their unique identifiers once per a time interval; and

wherein in resetting the time to live field the time to live field is reset to a value at least two times as long as the time interval.

6. The system of claim 4 , wherein reassigning the network addresses in the records comprises:

marking a record as expired when the time to live field for that record expires; and

reassigning the network addresses only for unexpired records.

7. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a proxy mechanism configured to proxy unique addresses for records which have expired but have not been purged.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein each node in the plurality of nodes is configured to independently determine a network address for at least each other node in the plurality of nodes using the periodically broadcast unique identifiers from each of the other nodes in the plurality of nodes and using the common predetermined manner.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein:

the unique identifier includes a Media Access Control (MAC) address and the network address includes an Internet Protocol (IP) address;

the nodes are coupled to form a ring;

the record for a node further includes a time to live field indicating a time remaining until expiration of the record;

in periodically broadcasting a unique identifier to the other nodes, each node is configured to:

receive the MAC address;

store the MAC address and retransmit the MAC address to a next node on the ring, if the node did not originate the broadcast of the MAC address; and

not retransmit the MAC address, if the node did originate the broadcast of the MAC address;

updating the record comprises resetting the time to live field for the record; and

reassigning the network addresses in the records comprises:

marking a record as expired when the time to live field for that record expires; and

sequentially assigning IP addresses only for unexpired records and only when a new record is created.

10. A node for use in a computing system comprising:

a transmitter configured to convey data to other nodes of the computing system;

a receiver configured to receive data from other nodes of the computing system; and

an address table comprising a plurality of records, each record corresponding to one of the nodes of the computing system and including a unique identifier for a corresponding node and a network address for the corresponding node;

wherein the node is configured to:

periodically broadcast a unique identifier that corresponds to itself to other nodes via the transmitter;

receive unique identifiers for the other nodes via the receiver; and

if a record containing a received unique identifier does not exist, create a new record and insert the received unique identifier into the record; and

if a record containing the received unique identifier does exist, update the record; and

reassign the network addresses in the records based on the unique identifiers in the records, wherein the node determines which network address to assign to each record in a common predetermined manner.

11. The node of claim 10 , wherein to reassign the network addresses in the records, said node is configured to:

determine which records are unexpired; and

reassign the network addresses only for unexpired records.

12. The node of claim 10 , wherein said node is configured to reassign the network addresses only when a new record is created.

13. The node of claim 10 ,

wherein the record for a node further includes a time to live field indicating a time remaining until an expiration of the record; and

wherein updating the record comprises resetting the time to live field for the record.

14. The node of claim 13 ,

wherein the node is configured to broadcast its unique identifier once per a time interval; and

wherein in resetting the time to live field the time to live field is reset to a value at least two times as long as the time interval.

15. The node of claim 13 , wherein in reassigning the network addresses in the records, the node is configured to:

mark a record as expired when the time to live field for that record expires; and

reassign the network addresses only for unexpired records.