System and method for distributed management of communication devices

A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations for operating an information handling system (IHS), the operations comprising:

• obtaining, by a network interface device of the IHS and from a switch, a frame specifying a port extension protocol operation;
• providing, by the network interface device, the frame to a management controller hosted by the IHS;
• providing, by the management controller, the frame to a virtual network interface device hosted by the management controller, the virtual network interface device reflecting network connectivity of the network interface device and having port extension protocol processing capability;
• processing, by the virtual network interface device, the port extension protocol operation to obtain a new configuration for a network data unit processor of the network interface device;
• reconfiguring, by the management controller, the network data unit processor based on the new configuration to obtain an updated network interface device;
• and
• providing, based on the updated network interface device, an acknowledgement to the switch indicating that the updated network interface device will operate in accordance with the port extension protocol operation.

An information handling system, comprising:

• a processor;
• a network interface device;
• and
• a management controller adapted to perform operations for managing the network interface device, the operations comprising:
• obtaining, from the network interface device, a frame specifying a port extension protocol operation, the frame originating from a switch;
• providing the frame to a virtual network interface device hosted by the management controller, the virtual network interface device reflecting network connectivity of the network interface device and having port extension protocol processing capability;
• processing, with the virtual network interface device, the port extension protocol operation to obtain a new configuration for a network data unit processor of the network interface device;
• reconfiguring the network data unit processor based on the new configuration to obtain an updated network interface device;
• and
• providing, based on the updated network interface device, an acknowledgement to the switch indicating that the updated network interface device will operate in accordance with the port extension protocol operation.