Link power management protocol for connected network devices

A first network device, comprising:

• one or more memories;
• and
• one or more processors to:
• provide a link discovery message to a second network device;
• identify a link with the second network device based on the link discovery message;
• provide, to the second network device, a first control channel message that identifies the link at the first network device, a current state of the link as a power on state, and a desired state of the link as a power sleep state;
• receive, from the second network device, a second control channel message that identifies the link at the second network device, the current state of the link as the power on state, and the desired state of the link as the power sleep state;
• divert all traffic flowing on the link;
• power off port devices associated with the link based on determining that a timer associated with transitioning the link to the power sleep state has expired, wherein a duration of the timer is based at least in part on a time to flush a queue of traffic associated with the link;
• and
• place the link in the power sleep state based on the first control channel message, the second control channel message, and on powering off the port devices.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a set of instructions, the set of instructions comprising:

• one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a first network device, cause the first network device to:
• provide a link discovery message to a second network device;
• identify a link with the second network device based on the link discovery message;
• provide, to the second network device, a first control channel message that identifies the link at the first network device, a current state of the link as a power on state, and a desired state of the link as a power sleep state;
• receive, from the second network device, a second control channel message that identifies the link at the second network device, the current state of the link as the power on state, and the desired state of the link as the power sleep state;
• determine that the power sleep state requested in the first control channel message is acknowledged when the desired state of the link in the second control channel message is set to the power sleep state;
• power off port devices associated with the link based on determining that a timer associated with transitioning the link to the power sleep state has expired, wherein a duration of the timer is based at least in part on a time to flush a queue of traffic associated with the link;
• and
• place the link in the power sleep state based on the first control channel message, the second control channel message, and on powering off the port devices.