NETWORK DEVICE PROVISIONING USING DOCUMENTS

Described is a technology by which a network device uses a document to provide its device description information to a network entity upon connection to a network. From the device description information, the device is provisioned, via a provisioning document by which the device configures itself for interaction with the network. In one example, the documents are XML-based documents each referenced via a uniform resource locator. In one implementation, a discovery agent detects a device broadcasting a discovery message on a network. The discovery agent determines whether the device has been previously provisioned on the network, (and is not being re-provisioned). If so, an assigned network server is directed to take over interaction with the device. If not, the discovery agent provides data to a provisioning agent that provisions the device by providing a device provisioning document by which the device configures itself for interaction with the network.