I am working on a C++ server/.NET client applications couple in which my server (which runs the c++ on linux) broadcasts a message to show it's alive to the whole network and my .NET program listens for packets and parses to get the uptime of the server.
As I have read, to send a regular UDP broadcast to the broadcast address, I simply have to send a packet to 192.168.0.255 (in my case 192.168.2.255) or 255.255.255.255. Is this right? Can I use the same port address? Are there any other necessities?
I understand the fact that if my .NET program listens on that particular address it is possible to receive packets from other applications than my C++ server program. Is there any method of "signing" the packet on the C++ server-side in order for my .NET program to read the header of the packet and see that it is (almost) the one I am looking for?