A network architecture in a Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) network includes a resource sharing service to govern the distribution of resource information from a server to a recipient entity (such as rendering device or a control point). The network architecture includes one or more of the following provisions: (a) setting the server to operate in a predetermined private address range or an Auto IP range; (b) operating one or more parts of the network architecture on the same subnet; (c) setting a time to live (TTL) parameter associated with messages transmitted by the server to a predetermined number; (d) setting a number of permitted recipient entities to a predetermined number; (e) setting a number of permitted concurrent content distribution sessions to a predetermined session number; (f) granting access to a recipient entity on condition that the recipient entity has generated a message that conforms to the UPnP protocol; and (g) retiring a URL used to identify a location of a resource provided by the server after a predetermined amount of time.