System for automatically generating and saving control information in a server if requested by a client at system initialization for operating in a network

A method for setting control information of a network of communicating computer systems, comprising the steps of:

• storing the control information in a client computer system, when available, for use when stored and for later use;
• transmitting the stored control information from the client computer system to a server computer system;
• storing the control information that was transmitted to the server computer system in the server computer system for use when stored and for later use;
• requesting the server computer system to transmit the control information to the client computer system if the control information is not already available in the client computer system;
• generating the control information in the server computer system automatically if it was not already stored in the server computer system;
• storing the control information automatically that was generated in the server computer system;
• transmitting the control information that was stored or generated in the server computer system from the server computer system to the client computer system;
• receiving the transmitted control information in the client computer system;
• and
• storing the received control information in the client computer system for use when stored and to be available for later use.

An apparatus for setting control information of a network of communicating client and server computers, comprising:

• first client storage means in the client computer for storing network information corresponding to the client computer including a network address of the client computer for use when stored and for later use;
• second client storage means in the client computer for storing user information including a user name of the client computer for use when stored and for later use;
• first judgment means in the client computer for judging whether the network information is stored in said first client storage means;
• second judgment means in the client computer for judging whether the user information is stored in said second client storage means;
• first request means for requesting the server computer to transmit the network information to the client computer if the first judgment means judges that the network information is not stored in the first client storage means;
• second request means for requesting the server computer to transmit the user information to the client computer if the second judgment means judges that the user information is not stored in the second client storage means;
• first server storage means in the server computer for storing the network information;
• second server storage means in the server computer for storing the user information;
• server generation means for _automatically generating the network information if the network information corresponding to the client computer is not already in the first server storage means;
• means for automatically storing the network information generated in the first server storage means for later use;
• first server transmission means for transmitting the network information corresponding to the client computer stored in the first server storage means or generated by the server generating means to the client computer;
• and
• second server transmission means for transmitting the user information corresponding to the client computer stored in the second server storage means to the client computer;
• first client reception means in the client computer for receiving the network information transmitted from the server computer, and storing the received network information to the first client storage means for use when stored and for later use;
• and
• second client reception means in the client computer for receiving the user information transmitted from the server computer, and for storing the received user information in the second client storage means for use when stored and for later use,
• whereby the network can be automatically set up even if the first client storage means, the second client storage means, the first server storage means, and the second server storage means are empty and, once such respective storage means contain the respective information, the network can be automatically set up without burdening the network with transmission requests.