Systems and methods for automatically detecting network elements

An apparatus, comprising:

• a first network edge device configured to host a network control entity (1) to be operatively coupled to a control plane of a switch fabric system and (2) configured to manage a plurality of ports at the first network edge device and at a second network edge device, the plurality of ports including at least one port at the first network edge device and at least one port at the second network edge device;
• the first network edge device configured to receive, at the network control entity, a request from a network provision agent hosted at a network management device over the control plane,
• the network control entity configured to determine an availability of the first network edge device and the second network edge device for being provisioned as a component of a virtual network entity in response to the request, the request including (1) a number of network access ports to be provisioned as the virtual network entity, and (2) a type of network device to be provisioned as the virtual network entity, the first network edge device configured to send, over the control plane, an availability signal to the network management device in response to the request.

A method, comprising:

• sending, from a network provision agent hosted at a network management device, a request for a first network edge device from a plurality of network edge devices to be provisioned as a virtual network entity, the network provision agent operatively coupled to a control plane of a switch fabric system, the request sent over the control plane and to the plurality of network edge devices, such that the first network edge device sends an advertisement in response to the request and a second network edge device from the plurality of network edge devices determines the second network edge device does not have availability as the virtual network entity in response to the request;
• and
• receiving, at the network provision agent, the advertisement sent by a network control entity hosted at the first network edge device in response to the request, the advertisement indicating the first network edge device is available as the virtual network entity, the advertisement received over the control plane, the network control entity configured to manage a plurality of ports at the first network edge device and at the second network edge device, the plurality of ports including at least one port at the first network edge device and at least one port at the second network edge device.