Methods and apparatus for enabling discovery of and assigning unique addresses for identical or similar devices assembled in a serial chain of devices in a high-speed communications link. The method and apparatus enable an endpoint device in a communication link including a plurality of serially-connected signal buffering devices to discover each signal buffering devices, assign a unique address, and configure each signal buffering device from a central non-volatile memory (NVM) using an in-band configuration protocol for the communication link.

A network switch to support scalable and flexible wildcard matching (WCM) comprises a packet processing pipeline including a plurality of packet processing units each configured to generate a master key for a WCM request to a memory pool and process a packet based on looked up WCM rules. The memory pool includes a plurality of memory groups each configured to maintain a plurality of WCM tables to be searched in one or more SRAM memory tiles of the memory group, format the master key generated by the packet processing unit into a compact key based on a bitmap per user configuration, hash the formatted compact key and perform wildcard matching with the WCM tables stored in the one or more SRAM memory tiles of the memory group using the formatted compact key, process and provide the WCM rules from the wildcard matching to the requesting packet processing unit.

Methods and apparatus for register Read and Write operations over Auto Negotiation Next Pages. Register Reads and Writes are implemented using sequences of Auto Negotiation (AN) Next Page messages. The embodiments define mechanisms to use AN Next Pages to carry write and read instructions. It defines a bi-directional communication mechanism to allow writes to be confirmed and read data to be returned to the requestor. Sequences of several AN Next Pages are used to assemble full address and data fields, when necessary. Two link partners (endpoints or an endpoint and an intermediate partner) exchange AN Next Pages with address and data information. The method uses a unique device address assigned to each device discovered in the serial chain to enable write and read operations to specific devices.

Technologies for autonegotiation of communications operational modes over copper cable include a network port logic having a communication link coupled to a remote link partner. The network port logic may start an autonegotiation protocol upon reset, when the link is broken, or upon manual renegotiation. The network port logic transmits an autonegotiation page to the remote link partner that indicates single-lane communications ability over copper cable. The network port logic receives an autonegotiation page from the link partner indicating single-lane communications ability over copper cable. If the network port logic and link partner have a common single-lane communication ability, the link may be activated. The autonegotiation pages may be base pages or next pages. The single-lane communication ability may be indicated by one or more bits of the autonegotation pages. The link may be established at 1 gigabit or 10 gigabits per second. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

A control component of a computing environment initiates sending of request(s) over a network of the computing environment by an activated virtual adapter. The activated virtual adapter is hosted on a physical adapter of a host system coupled to the network, and is for use by a guest, hosted by the host system, in performing data input and output. The request(s) retrieve access control information from the network indicative of access control(s) enforced in controlling access by the activated virtual adapter to network component(s). The initiating provides indication(s) to the physical adapter, absent involvement of the guest, that the request(s) be sent by the virtual adapter. Based on the initiating, the control component obtains the access control information from the physical adapter, and determines, based on that information, the access control(s) being enforced by the network in controlling access by the activated virtual adapter to the network component(s).

A control component of a computing environment initiates sending of request(s) over a network of the computing environment by an activated virtual adapter. The activated virtual adapter is hosted on a physical adapter of a host system coupled to the network, and is for use by a guest, hosted by the host system, in performing data input and output. The request(s) retrieve access control information from the network indicative of access control(s) enforced in controlling access by the activated virtual adapter to network component(s). The initiating provides indication(s) to the physical adapter, absent involvement of the guest, that the request(s) be sent by the virtual adapter. Based on the initiating, the control component obtains the access control information from the physical adapter, and determines, based on that information, the access control(s) being enforced by the network in controlling access by the activated virtual adapter to the network component(s).

A network switch includes a plurality of ports to communicate via a communication channel. Each of the plurality of ports includes an auto-negotiation circuit to negotiate a first data transmission rate with a network device in communication with the network switch via the communication channel, a transceiver circuit to receive, from the network switch, data via the communication channel at the negotiated first data transmission rate, and a transmitter/encoder circuit. The transmitter/encoder circuit is to receive the negotiated first data transmission rate from the auto-negotiation circuit, receive the data from the transceiver circuit, and selectively replicate portions of the data received from the transceiver circuit to transmit the data at a second data transmission rate that is different from the negotiated first data transmission rate.

A method includes a compute node transmitting data to a port of a first switch at a first data transfer rate, monitoring the temperature of the port, and a management node providing an instruction to the compute node in response to the port temperature exceeding a temperature limit, wherein the instruction instructs the compute node to reduce the first data transfer rate to the port. The method further includes the compute node reducing the data transfer rate to the port in response to receiving the instruction. The method is applicable to multiple compute nodes transmitting data to multiple ports of a first switch. The data transfer rate may be reduced by throttling the compute node, renegotiating a link speed between the compute node and the port, or redirecting data to another switch. The methods facilitate thermal control of a switch without its own thermal throttling capability.

An optical switching control method and apparatus. The method includes generating an optical switching path corresponding to a destination node of service traffic flowing from an external service network, generating an optical frame corresponding to the generated optical switching path, transmitting, to a control server, a request message for requesting an allocation of a time slot to transmit the generated optical frame, generating an optical signal having a predetermined wavelength to transmit the optical frame in response to an admission message being received as a result of admission with respect to the request message, and transferring the optical frame to the destination node based on the optical switching path using the generated optical signal.

A control component of a computing environment initiates sending of request(s) over a network of the computing environment by an activated virtual adapter. The activated virtual adapter is hosted on a physical adapter of a host system coupled to the network, and is for use by a guest, hosted by the host system, in performing data input and output. The request(s) retrieve access control information from the network indicative of access control(s) enforced in controlling access by the activated virtual adapter to network component(s). The initiating provides indication(s) to the physical adapter, absent involvement of the guest, that the request(s) be sent by the virtual adapter. Based on the initiating, the control component obtains the access control information from the physical adapter, and determines, based on that information, the access control(s) being enforced by the network in controlling access by the activated virtual adapter to the network component(s).