Fault tolerant optical data communication network having auto discovery

A method comprising:

• interconnecting a headend, a plurality of discovered nodes and a first undiscovered node with a primary collection path, a secondary collection path, a primary distribution path, and a secondary distribution path, wherein the primary collection path propagates in a direction opposite to that of the secondary collection path and the primary distribution path propagates in a direction opposite to the secondary distribution path;
• sending a first broadcast message by the headend interconnected to the plurality of discovered nodes and the first undiscovered node;
• receiving discovered node reply messages from the discovered nodes in response to the first broadcast message;
• and
• receiving a first undiscovered node message from the first undiscovered node in response to the first broadcast message.