Method and system for configuring a peripheral card in a communications environment

A system for communicating data, comprising:

• a first peripheral component interconnect (PCI) card of a plurality of PCI cards;
• and
• a main PCI card of the plurality of PCI cards stackably coupled to the first peripheral card through a PCI bus of the main PCI card, the PCI bus operable to receive a first media access control (MAC) address of the first peripheral card and the main PCI card comprising logic operable to:
• determine whether the first peripheral card has been previously used with the main PCI card based on the first MAC address;
• assign a first previous ID value to the first peripheral card if the first peripheral card has been previously used with the main PCI card;
• assign a first new ID value to the first peripheral card if the first peripheral card has not been previously used with the main PCI card;
• and
• store the first new ID value with the received first MAC address in memory of the main PCI card;
• and wherein the plurality of PCI cards are, upon powering up, operable to determine which of the plurality of PCI cards comprises the main PCI card.

A system for communicating data, comprising:

• means for receiving at a main peripheral component interconnect (PCI) card of a plurality of PCI cards a first media access control (MAC) address of a first PCI (PCI) card of the plurality of PCI cards stackably coupled to the main PCI card through a PCI bus of the main PCI card;
• means for determining whether the first peripheral card has been previously used with the main PCI card based on the received first MAC address;
• means for assigning a first previous ID value to the first peripheral card if the first peripheral card has been previously used with the main PCI card;
• means for assigning a first new ID value to the first peripheral card if the first peripheral, card has not been previously used with the main PCI card;
• and
• means for storing the first new ID value with the received first MAC address in memory of the main PCI card;
• and means for, upon powering up the plurality of PCI cards, determining which of the plurality of PCI cards comprises the main PCI card.

Software embodied in a computer readable medium, the computer readable medium comprising code executed to:

• receive at a main peripheral component interconnect (PCI) card of a plurality of PCI cards a first media access control (MAC) address of a first PCI card stackably coupled to the main PCI card through a PCI bus of the main PCI card;
• determine whether the first peripheral card has been previously used with the main PCI card based on the received first MAC address;
• assign a first previous ID value to the first peripheral card if the first peripheral card has been previously used with the main PCI card;
• assign a first new ID value to the first peripheral card if the first peripheral card has not been previously used with the main PCI card;
• and
• store the first new ID value with the received first MAC address in memory of the main PCI card;
• and wherein the code is further executed to, upon powering up the plurality of PCI cards, determine which of the plurality of PCI cards comprises the main PCI card.