You might want to consider using Net::UPnP for this task. Universal Plug and Play devices broadcast their existence and capabilities in UDP, advertising existing services (like web servers) and sending status messages. It seems exactly like what you are trying to do.
Oh, and each node broadcasts and listens on the same socket. Sorry, Trizor.
The intelligent reader will judge for himself. Without examining the facts fully and fairly, there is no way of knowing whether vox populi is really vox dei, or merely vox asinorum. — Cyrus H. Gordon
