This disclosure describes techniques for performing communications between devices using various aspects of Ethernet standards. As further described herein, a protocol is disclosed that may be used for communications between devices, where the communications take place over a physical connection complying with Ethernet standards. Such a protocol may enable reliable and in-order delivery of frames between devices, while following Ethernet physical layer rules, Ethernet symbol encoding, Ethernet lane alignment, and/or Ethernet frame formats.

A network system for a data center is described in which an access node sprays a data flow of packets over a logical tunnel to another access node. In one example, a method comprises establishing, by a plurality of access nodes, a logical tunnel over a plurality of data paths across a switch fabric between a source access node and a destination access node included within the plurality of access nodes, wherein the source access node is coupled to a source network device; and spraying, by the source access node, a data flow of packets over the logical tunnel to the destination access node, wherein the source access node receives the data flow of packets from the source network device, and wherein spraying the data flow of packets includes directing each of the packets within the data flow to a least loaded data path.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include systems and methods for fault detection and recovery over a network. A value of a set of values is stored in packets transmitted during a data transaction between a source and destination. The value corresponds to ports used by one or more switches in the path between the source and destination. The destination includes the value in an acknowledgement packet. Logic circuits in the source device track packets and corresponding values. When a status indicates a particular packet has not received an acknowledgement, the value for the packet may be removed from the set of values. Particular ports that may be congested or down may be detected and the packets re-routed using the logic circuits in the source device.

A method used in a stacking/stackable switch unit includes: providing a plurality of signal ports of the stacking/stackable switch unit, the signal ports having at least one master/slave control port corresponding to at least one operation function of the stacking/stackable switch unit; during a boot-up procedure, automatically determining whether the stacking/stackable switch unit is a master or a slave according to at least one signal level of the at least one master/slave control port and/or content of at least one bit obtained from the at least one master/slave control port.

A method used in a stacking/stackable switch unit includes: providing a plurality of signal ports of the stacking/stackable switch unit, the signal ports having at least one master/slave control port corresponding to at least one operation function of the stacking/stackable switch unit; during a boot-up procedure, automatically determining whether the stacking/stackable switch unit is a master or a slave according to at least one signal level of the at least one master/slave control port and/or content of at least one bit obtained from the at least one master/slave control port.

An example network manager receives, from a conductor switch of a switch stack, an active configuration. The network manager determines, based on the active configuration, switch model types for a plurality of switches of the switch stack. The network manager determines, based on the switch model types and the active configuration, a number of ports of the plurality of switches of the switch stack and a current configuration of each port of each switch of the switch stack. The network manager updates a device configuration element of a network management user interface to display the current configuration of each port of each switch of the switch stack in a manner that indicates that the switch stack is a single logical switch.

An example network manager receives, from a conductor switch of a switch stack, an active configuration. The network manager determines, based on the active configuration, switch model types for a plurality of switches of the switch stack. The network manager determines, based on the switch model types and the active configuration, a number of ports of the plurality of switches of the switch stack and a current configuration of each port of each switch of the switch stack. The network manager updates a device configuration element of a network management user interface to display the current configuration of each port of each switch of the switch stack in a manner that indicates that the switch stack is a single logical switch.

An apparatus includes a first port set that includes an input port and an output port. The apparatus further includes a plurality of second port sets. Each of the second port sets includes an input port coupled to the output port of the first port set and an output port coupled to the input port of the first port set. The plurality of second port sets are to each communicate at a first maximum bandwidth and the first port set is to communicate at a second maximum bandwidth that is higher than the first maximum bandwidth.

A method used in a stacking/stackable switch unit includes: providing a plurality of signal ports of the stacking/stackable switch unit, the signal ports having at least one master/slave control port corresponding to at least one operation function of the stacking/stackable switch unit; during a boot-up procedure, automatically determining whether the stacking/stackable switch unit is a master or a slave according to at least one signal level of the at least one master/slave control port and/or content of at least one bit obtained from the at least one master/slave control port.

This disclosure describes techniques for performing communications between devices using various aspects of Ethernet standards. As further described herein, a protocol is disclosed that may be used for communications between devices, where the communications take place over a physical connection complying with Ethernet standards. Such a protocol may enable reliable and in-order delivery of frames between devices, while following Ethernet physical layer rules, Ethernet symbol encoding, Ethernet lane alignment, and/or Ethernet frame formats.