Remote in-band management of a network interface controller

A non-transitory machine-readable medium having executable instructions to cause one or more processing units to perform a method, the method comprising:

• receiving, by a network interface controller on a device, an in-band discovery packet from a network element via a link that couples the device and the network element, the in-band discovery packet including an address associated with an agent that is executing on a processor of the network interface controller, wherein:
• the device comprises a plurality of virtual network interface controllers (VNICs), and
• each VNIC of the plurality of VNICs logically couples the network interface controller to a virtual machine or a container;
• forwarding the in-band discovery packet to the agent based on the address, the agent producing a first response responsive to the discovery packet;
• transmitting the first response to the network element via the link, the network element determining the network interface controller is manageable based on the first response;
• receiving another packet from the network element;
• and
• forwarding the another packet to the agent based on the address, wherein:
• the agent determines a second response to the another packet by accessing a memory of the network interface controller and without accessing a memory of the device,
• the another packet includes a command,
• the agent processes the command, and
• the agent transmits the second response to the network element via the link.

A method to manage a network interface controller on a host device coupled to a network element, the method comprising:

• providing a discovery packet to an agent of a network interface controller in-band, wherein:
• the agent runs on a processor of the network interface controller;
• the discovery packet includes a non-forwardable address associated with the agent;
• the network interface controller is coupled to the network element by a link,
• the host device comprises a plurality of virtual network interface controllers (VNICs), and
• each VNIC of the plurality of VNICs logically couples the network interface controller to a virtual machine or a container;
• receiving a response from the agent responsive to the discovery packet;
• determining the network interface controller is manageable based on the response;
• transmitting a command packet to the network interface controller in-band, the command packet transmitting a command to the agent in-band, the command packet including the non-forwardable address associated with the agent;
• and
• receiving another response from the agent responsive to the command packet.

A method comprising:

• receiving, by a network interface controller on a device, an in-band discovery packet from a network element via a link that couples the device and the network element, the in-band discovery packet including an address associated with an agent that is executing on a processor of the network interface controller, wherein:
• the device comprises a plurality of virtual network interface controllers (VNICs), and
• each VNIC of the plurality of VNICs logically couples the network interface controller to a virtual machine or a container;
• forwarding the in-band discovery packet to the agent based on the address, the agent producing a first response responsive to the discovery packet;
• transmitting the first response to the network element via the link, the network element determining the network interface controller is manageable based on the first response;
• receiving another packet from the network element;
• and
• forwarding the another packet to the agent based on the address, wherein:
• the agent determines a second response to the another packet by accessing a memory of the network interface controller and without accessing a memory of the device,
• the another packet includes a command,
• the agent processes the command, and
• the agent transmits the second response to the network element via the link.