Automagic 386i's -- how do they work?

[Bob Weissman]

I've recently had the opportunity to observe the "plug and play" features
of the Sun386i ("Road Runner").  This machine provides a level of
automation not found in Sun's Motorola-based machines.

For example, once a master YP server has been set up, you can just attach
another 386i to the network and it and the server will automagically make
themselves known to each other.  Apparently, the server assigns IP numbers
in sequence from 1 and host names from a list.

There are other interesting features such as new users' ability to create
accounts for themselves and perform a limited amount of system
administration (not requiring root privs).

Does anybody know how they do this stuff?  I'm particularly interested in
the "plug 'n' play" aspects of new network connections.  Has anyone at Sun
written any papers on the "help me, I'm new here" protocol which must be
used by new client 386i's?

Thanks,
-- 
Bob Weissman
bob at asylum.sf.ca.us or ...!ames!oli-stl!asylum!bob
rlw at well.uucp