Ok, now that I have autoip working, I need some advice on how to use this feature properly. Right now, I can see my target self assign a local link address. I tried some experiments to see how autoip behaves.
1. I tried unplugging my Ethernet cable from the switch and I see the target self assign a new IP address. I assume that is the expected response as there doesn't seem to be any concept of lease time like DHCP. Is this expected behavior? Is there any interaction with my Windows Ethernet connection? I see ARP requests in my wireshark record between the target and the Windows host which essentially tells the target that the IP address has already been assigned for that IP address.
2. I have two programs in my flash, a boot loader and a main application. The way we update is to send a command in the main application, which restarts the target and runs the boot loader. So the Ethernet link is dropped when we jump to boot. I saw that when the software jumped to boot it still acquired the same IP, but when the main restarted it renegotiated and came up with a new IP. On the first jump it is imperative that we jump to the same IP address from main to boot, otherwise the load will fail. Right now I only have one target connected, but in a real system there are up to 12 targets. We only update one target at a time. Will our approach work or will we have to do something drastic with the Ethernet links and reset them or recycle power?
Any comments or tips would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.