Patent ID: 7558866

Claim:
A computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions for performing, in a client/server computing environment, a method for securely providing a client computing device with a network address, the method comprising: requesting, by the client computing device, a network address; receiving, by a server computing device, the client's request for a network address; attempting to authenticate the client computing device to the server computing device; attempting to authenticate the server computing device to the client computing device; and if the client computing device is authenticated as permitted to receive a network address in the client/server computing environment and if the server computing device is authenticated as permitted to provide a network address in the client/server computing environment, then: identifying, by the server computing device, a network address that is appropriate to the client/server computing environment and that is not currently assigned to a computing device; assigning, by the server computing device, the identified network address to the client computing device; providing, by the server computing device, the assigned network address to the client computing device; and receiving, by the client computing device, the assigned network address.