new network application running

Hi,

I am running a C# (dotnet frawework 2.0) application.
This application use sockets to exchange messages with other same
applications on remote hosts.
At startup, an UDP (multicast) packet is sent to signal a new
application to running applications.
Each running application then try to connect to the UDP sender.
It works but now, a new request came : it should work through a VPN.
I tested through VPN, the multicast packet is not received by VPN client
(but the packet sent by VPN client is received by other applications).
May be it is a VPN configuration problem but my manager does'nt want that
our application startup rely on this configuration.

So my question is : what alternative exist to signal a new application
presence to running applications that would also work through a VPN ?
At first, we used a configuration files including all IP adresses where
application is running but it is a very tedious work and error prone.
I also thought about a solution with a server but my manager was afraid
in the case of server down.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Droopy.

P.S. I found on the net an article describing the "hole punching"
technique for P2P that is close to what I am looking for but may be a
little too complex (as long as I get no new request such as NAT or
dynamic IP adress handling ;-) ).
.

Relevant Pages

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