Question

I need to assign a unique IP address (local) for a device we will be connecting into our system via. USB. The actually assigning I will do over RS232 (don’t ask!) by telling the device what it’s IP is.

I would like to somehow find a usable address relative to the local PC in order to tell the device which to use. Is there a way of enumerating or finding a usable address in C#? I don’t want to simply use a fixed one in case of possible clashes with other devices.

I’ve done a search here and there’s lots of people wanting to find the current IP, or the IP of an already existing device, but I can’t find much about generating a usable, unique one.

Thanks for any assistance you can give me.

Answer 1

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a network
configuration protocol for hosts on Internet Protocol (IP) networks.
Computers that are connected to IP networks must be configured before
they can communicate with other hosts. The most essential information
needed is an IP address, and a default route and routing prefix. DHCP
eliminates the manual task by a network administrator. It also
provides a central database of devices that are connected to the
network and eliminates duplicate resource assignments. In addition to
IP addresses, DHCP also provides other configuration information,
particularly the IP addresses of local Domain Name Server (DNS),
network boot servers, or other service hosts. DHCP is used for IPv4 as
well as IPv6. While both versions serve much the same purpose, the
details of the protocol for IPv4 and IPv6 are sufficiently different
that they may be considered separate protocols.[1] Hosts that do not
use DHCP for address configuration may still use it to obtain other
configuration information. Alternatively, IPv6 hosts may use stateless
address autoconfiguration. IPv4 hosts may use link-local addressing to
achieve limited local connectivity.