Automatic mapping and location discovery of computers in computer networks

A computer network comprising:

• an intranet comprising a plurality of subnets;
• a scan server configured to receive antivirus modules;
• a gateway in each of the subnets;
• a plurality of scan clients in each of the subnets, a scan client from the plurality of scan clients in each of the subnets being designated as a root agent, the root agent being configured to receive the antivirus modules from the scan server, to provide the antivirus modules to other scan clients in its particular subnet in the plurality of subnets, and to provide subnet information to the scan server, the subnet information comprising addresses of computers in the particular subnet;
• wherein the scan server is further configured to create an intranet map from subnet information received from root agents and to provide the intranet map to the root agents, the root agents being configured to provide the intranet map to a particular scan client in the plurality of scan clients to allow the particular scan client to determine whether or not the particular scan client is connected to the intranet;
• and
• wherein the scan server is further configured to receive the antivirus modules from a vendor of antivirus products employed in the plurality of scan clients.

A computer-implemented method of discovering location of a computer, the method comprising:

• a scan server receiving addresses of computers belonging to different subsections of a computer network from a first computer;
• the scan server building a listing of the addresses;
• providing the listing of the addresses to a first computer by the scan server;
• providing the listing of the addresses from the first computer to a second computer;
• using the listing of the addresses in the second computer to determine whether the second computer is connected to the computer network by connecting the second computer to one or more computers indicated in the listing of the addresses;
• the scan server configured to receive antivirus modules from a vendor of antivirus products and to provide the antivirus modules to the first computer;
• and
• the first computer configured to provide the antivirus modules to the second computer.