Media access control security management in physical layer

A method comprising:

• receiving, at a first media data input/output (MDIO) port of a physical layer device (PHY) of a network, command information, from a central processing unit (CPU) to access a media access control (MAC) security (MACsec) function block, wherein a plurality of MDIO ports connect the PHY and CPU;
• determining from the command information:
• whether the command information includes a read command or a write command,
• if the command is the write command, write data to be written to the MACsec function block, and
• the length of the data to be read or written, and
• an address corresponding to a portion of the MACsec function block of which to read data from or write the data to based on the command information;
• executing the read command or write command against the MACsec function block based on the determined command information;
• receiving, at the PHY, a result of the execution, the result including an acknowledgement of the write command or the data read from the MACsec function block based on the read command;
• and
• providing the result of the execution to the CPU via the first MDIO port of the PHY;
• wherein the determining includes:
• determining whether the command is a burst read command, wherein the burst read command indicates several portions of the MACsec function block which to read;
• determining an initial address of the MACsec function block at which to start the burst read command;
• and
• determining a data length corresponding to the burst read command.

A system comprising:

• a media access control (MAC) security (MACsec) function block configured to implement MACsec protocols on a network;
• a physical layer device (PHY) connected to the MACsec function block, the PHY including an interface register configured to store command information for the MACsec function block;
• a central processing unit (CPU) configured to provide the command information for the MACsec function block to the PHY via a management data input/output (MDIO) bus;
• wherein the PHY is configured to execute either a read command or a write command against the MACsec function block based on the command information,
• wherein the interface register includes at least a command register, an address register and a data register configured to store the command information, wherein the data register comprises two 16 bit registers in the interface register, and wherein the CPU is configured to perform multiple reads or writes for data, associated with the command, that occupies more than 32 bits.

A method comprising:

• receiving, at a first media data input/output (MDIO) port of a physical layer device (PHY) of a network, command information, from a central processing unit (CPU) to access a media access control (MAC) security (MACsec) function block, wherein a plurality of MDIO ports connect the PHY and CPU;
• determining from the command information:
• whether the command information includes a read command or a write command,
• if the command is the write command, write data to be written to multiple portions of the MACsec function block, and
• the length of the data to be read or written, and
• an address corresponding to a portion of the MACsec function block of which to read data from or write the data to based on the command information;
• executing the read command or write command against the MACsec function block based on the determined command information;
• receiving, at the PHY, a result of the execution, the result including an acknowledgement of the write command or the data read from the MACsec function block based on the read command;
• and
• providing the result of the execution to the CPU via the first MDIO port of the PHY;
• wherein the determining includes:
• wherein the determining comprises:
• determining whether the command is a burst write command, wherein the burst write command indicates several portions of the MACsec function block which to write;
• determining an initial address of the MACsec function block at which to start the burst write command;
• determining a data length corresponding to the burst write command;
• and
• determining the write data to be written.