Example implementations includes a systems and methods for viral discovery and installation for distributed networks. A master node in a first subnet of a network broadcasts an auto-discovery request and receives information identifying a first node in the first subnet. The master node initializes a first proxy data router configured to forward the auto-discovery request to a second subnet of the network. The master node receives information identifying a second node in the second subnet and may issue commands for execution on the second node, such as further proxy data router initialization or configuration updates for installation on the second subnet.