Simple peer to peer network?

HI With a ring, you could use a token but that would require a master to start things and restore the ring when it was broken. An alternative would be to allow a random machine to become the master when a time had expired. One could use a random number generator to determine when any one machine chooses to be the master. Each would hold off for some time and if no token showed, it would send a token that had that machines ID. If another token showed up with lesser priority ID, it would drop that token. Each machine would wait for the sender of the highest priority token sent to send a message that its token had made one loop, before resumming normal messages. If a higher priority token showed, it would know that either the ring was still broken or some other system was the now the master and had destroyed its token. It would continue to watch the ring and if it didn't see a token show after some time, it would hold off based on its random value and then send a new token. When the ring was restored, things would settle out. All that is required is that each machine has a unique ID. Such a ring system could then be broken at any time to install another machine or remove a machine. Dwight _________________________________________________________________ Need to know the score, the latest news, or you need your Hotmail?-get your "fix". http://www.msnmobilefix.com/Default.aspx