Patent Publication Number: US-2022224772-A1

Title: Portable led receiver

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     The present disclosure relates generally to network switch port status tracking. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for tracking port status of network switches using a portable light emitting diode (LED) receiver device. 
     As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use, such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems. 
     Network switches are devices used in a network to manage communications between different networked devices. Network switches manage data flow across the network by transmitting one or more received network packets only to the one or more devices for which the packets are intended. 
     Networking switches may support ports of various spectrum (e.g., 1G to 400G) to provide wide possible range of connectivity options. “Super Spines” may even have 800G based deployments. A network switch may use one or more switch port light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as visual indicators for both the status (link up/down, speed) as well as activity. In some network switches, the status LED and the activity LED may be consolidated in a single LED. Some higher end switches may have per-lane LEDs that are activated after a port breakout. 
     A network switch operator or user may face various challenges in viewing the status of the LEDs. The LEDs may be obstructed by cabling (e.g., from adjacent port connections) and convenient viewing angles may not be available, especially when the network switch is higher up/lower down in a rack. Sometimes, it may be difficult to track the LED status for cable endpoints when they are not collocated in the same rack, a typical scenario when the user is already focusing on a screen on the crash cart. Additionally, when facing multiple LEDs on a front panel of a network switch, it may be difficult for a user to focus on the correct port due to LED light pollution. 
     Accordingly, it is highly desirable to find new, more efficient ways to track status of LEDs in network switches. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       References will be made to embodiments of the disclosure, examples of which may be illustrated in the accompanying figures. These figures are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. Although the accompanying disclosure is generally described in the context of these embodiments, it should be understood that it is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure to these particular embodiments. Items in the figures may not be to scale. 
         FIG. 1  (“ FIG. 1 ”) depicts a front panel of an exemplary network switch having multiple ports, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 2A  depicts various views of a Portable LED Receiver (henceforth PLR), according to embodiments of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 2B  depicts a block diagram of a portable LED receiver, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 3  graphically depicts a pairing process with a network switch using an app, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  depicts steps for a pairing process, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  depicts various PLR options, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 6  depicts verification steps for a pairing process, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 7  depicts a simplified block diagram of an information handling system, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 8  depicts an alternative block diagram of an information handling system, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     In the following description, for purposes of explanation, specific details are set forth in order to provide an understanding of the disclosure. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the disclosure can be practiced without these details. Furthermore, one skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments of the present disclosure, described below, may be implemented in a variety of ways, such as a process, an apparatus, a system/device, or a method on a tangible computer-readable medium. 
     Components, or modules, shown in diagrams are illustrative of exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and are meant to avoid obscuring the disclosure. It shall also be understood that throughout this discussion that components may be described as separate functional units, which may comprise sub-units, but those skilled in the art will recognize that various components, or portions thereof, may be divided into separate components or may be integrated together, including, for example, being in a single system or component. It should be noted that functions or operations discussed herein may be implemented as components. Components may be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination thereof. 
     Furthermore, connections between components or systems within the figures are not intended to be limited to direct connections. Rather, data between these components may be modified, re-formatted, or otherwise changed by intermediary components. Also, additional or fewer connections may be used. It shall also be noted that the terms “coupled,” “connected,” “communicatively coupled,” “interfacing,” “interface,” or any of their derivatives shall be understood to include direct connections, indirect connections through one or more intermediary devices, and wireless connections. It shall also be noted that any communication, such as a signal, response, reply, acknowledgement, message, query, etc., may comprise one or more exchanges of information. 
     Reference in the specification to “one or more embodiments,” “preferred embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “embodiments,” or the like means that a particular feature, structure, characteristic, or function described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the disclosure and may be in more than one embodiment. Also, the appearances of the above-noted phrases in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment or embodiments. 
     The use of certain terms in various places in the specification is for illustration and should not be construed as limiting. The terms “include,” “including,” “comprise,” and “comprising” shall be understood to be open terms and any examples are provided by way of illustration and shall not be used to limit the scope of this disclosure. 
     A service, function, or resource is not limited to a single service, function, or resource; usage of these terms may refer to a grouping of related services, functions, or resources, which may be distributed or aggregated. The use of memory, database, information base, data store, tables, hardware, cache, and the like may be used herein to refer to system component or components into which information may be entered or otherwise recorded. The terms “data,” “information,” along with similar terms, may be replaced by other terminologies referring to a group of one or more bits, and may be used interchangeably. The terms “packet” or “frame” shall be understood to mean a group of one or more bits. The term “frame” shall not be interpreted as limiting embodiments of the present invention to Layer  2  networks; and, the term “packet” shall not be interpreted as limiting embodiments of the present invention to Layer  3  networks. The terms “packet,” “frame,” “data,” or “data traffic” may be replaced by other terminologies referring to a group of bits, such as “datagram” or “cell.” 
     It shall be noted that: (1) certain steps may optionally be performed; (2) steps may not be limited to the specific order set forth herein; (3) certain steps may be performed in different orders; and (4) certain steps may be done concurrently. 
     Any headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and shall not be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. Each reference/document mentioned in this patent document is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
     It shall be noted that any experiments and results provided herein are provided by way of illustration and were performed under specific conditions using a specific embodiment or embodiments; accordingly, neither these experiments nor their results shall be used to limit the scope of the disclosure of the current patent document. 
     A. Introduction 
     Networking switches may support ports of various spectrum (e.g., 1G to 400G) to provide wide possible range of connectivity options. “Super Spines” may even have 800G based deployments. A network switch may use one or more switch port LEDs as visual indicators for both the status (link up/down, speed) as well as activity. In some network switches, the status LED and the activity LED may be consolidated in a single LED. Some higher end switches may have per-lane LEDs that are activated after a port breakout. 
       FIG. 1  depicts a front panel of an exemplary network switch having multiple ports  102 . One or more port LEDs  104  may be used for each port as visual indicators for status and/or activity. In one or more embodiments, the port  102  may be a high bandwidth port supporting multiple lanes via a port breakout. Each of the multiple lanes may be an independent link from each other. For example, the port  102  may be a QSFP28 port with 100G bandwidth. The port may be configured as one 100G link, two 50G lanes, four 25G lanes, etc. In one or more embodiments, the number of port LEDs for each port may be the same as maximum lanes that the port is able to support. The port LEDs may use different colors and/or patterns to indicate status and/or activity for each lane. 
     For example, for a 100G port supporting maximum four port lanes, there are four LEDs for the port. An off LED may mean no link for a corresponding port lane. A 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) uses only one LED, a 2×50 GbE uses two LEDs, and a 4×25 GbE uses all four LEDs. When the port is in 4×25G mode, four solid green LEDs may mean link operating at maximum speed for four lanes, four flashing green LEDs may mean link activity operating at maximum speed for four lanes, a solid yellow LED may mean one port lane is operating at a lower speed, etc. 
     In one or more embodiments, the network switch may also comprise a console port  106  and a management port  108 . The console port  106  may be used to connect a computer directly to the switch and manage the switch. The management port  108  may be use for coupling to an out-of-band (OOB) management network for network management and configuration of the network switch. The OOB management operates on a “management-plane” that is separate from the “data plane” used by data traffic on the network switch. On the contrary, in-band management traffic uses the same “data-plane” as used by data traffic. Hence OOB management may continue to function even during event of data traffic congestion, device glitch or network attacks, thus provide improved switch security. 
     In one or more embodiments, the network switch may have a built-in interface or may use a USB port  110  to receive an external Bluetooth device (e.g., a USB dongle) to establish a Bluetooth connection to a pair device for data communication. In one or more embodiments, the built-in interface is a built-in interface is a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) interface, and the Bluetooth connection is a BLE connection. 
     Irrespective of front panel LED design if a network switch, the fundamental mechanism of generating the LED data has remained relatively unchanged over the years. A network processing unit (NPU) Media access control (MAC)/Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) has an internal LED microcontroller with a proprietary assembly language that is specific to the NPU vendor. The MAC&#39;s functional blocks refresh port data within an internal SRAM that the LED microcontroller code can access. The microcontroller code (that may be customized and specifically developed for each switch platform) wakes up periodically, e.g., every 33 milliseconds (refresh rate for the human eye), reads port status from the internal SRAM, filters/transforms/packages port LED bit stream and pushes it out to a serial output from the NPU that is typically connected to a complex programmable logic device (CPLD) buffer for latching/driving output to the physical LEDs on a front panel of the network switch. 
     A network switch operator or user may face various challenges in viewing the status of the LEDs. The LEDs may be obstructed by cabling (e.g., from adjacent port connections) and convenient viewing angles may not be available, especially when the network switch is higher up/lower down in a rack. Sometimes, it may be difficult to track the LED status for cable endpoints when they are not collocated in the same rack, a typical scenario when the user is already focusing on a screen on the crash cart. Additionally, when facing multiple LEDs on a front panel of a network switch, it may be difficult for a user to focus on the correct port due to LED light pollution. 
     For a network switch, its LED front panel is finalized during initial product design and cannot be changed. It might be possible to upgrade the CPLD firmware/microcontroller payload, but the front panel design remains static. 400G and upcoming 800G ports may even have higher breakout port densities and LED speed options on the front panel are limited. LEDs are competing for limited space on the front panel. Removing LEDs (as in  104 ) may provide better thermals and thereby support higher power optics. 
     Described herein are system and method embodiments for LED status tracking in network switches using portable LED receiver(s) such that the LEDs may be disaggregated from the network switch and LED design may be democratized to reduce the hardware and software complexity from the networking switch. Accordingly, the present invention may provide customers more flexibility (e.g., in terms of choosing their own LED design/behavior) and convenience (where the LEDs may be viewed from anywhere within a data center rather than from a cramped aisle facing the switch port). Since the status of the port LEDs are indication of the port activity status, embodiments of the present disclosure may also be used for switch port status tracking. 
     B. Embodiments of Portable LED Receivers 
     Various embodiments of portable LED receivers (PLRs) are presented in this section. The portable LED receivers may be configured to receive LED data from one or more paired network switches and thus provide an alternative and more flexible way to track status of port LEDs for the paired network switches. Furthermore, the LEDs of the portable LED receivers may be designed according to end-user preference for more flexibility. Such flexibility may not be a practical option or even not an option for network switches. 
       FIG. 2A  depicts various views of a PLR device, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. In one or more embodiments, the PLR device is a handheld (e.g., typically 1 cubic inch) device that instantiates port LEDs found on a network switch. The front side of the PLR may comprise a plurality of visual indicators (e.g., LEDs)  210  and a display screen  220  (e.g., an LCD screen), which may be configured to display the network switch  226  that the PLR device is paired with, the port(s)  227  of the switch  226  to which the LEDs are mapped to, an LED stream signal strength indicator  222 , and a battery indicator  224  to indicator battery level of the PLR. In one or more embodiments, the LED stream signal strength indicator  222  may have a “digital bar” layout that is user configurable to display various numbers of bars based on the LED packet drop rate. In one or more embodiments, the PLR comprise a rear side comprising a USB port (e.g., a micro USB port)  230  for charging/debugging and a groove  240  to insert clip that is capable of attaching the PLR to monitors/rack rails/crash cart. In one or more embodiments, a serial number  245  is printed on the rear end for PLR identification, with the last few digits (e.g., the last three digits) of the serial number  245  are also printed on at the top surface of the PLR as an easy identification mark  205 . 
       FIG. 2B  depicts a block diagram of a portable LED receiver, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in  FIG. 2 , the PLR may comprise a system on a chip (SoC) circuit  251 , a non-volatile memory (e.g., a Flash memory)  252 , a volatile memory (e.g., a DRAM memory)  253 , a CPLD  254  coupled between the SoC  251  and the plurality of LEDs  210 , and a battery  255  which may be rechargeable. The CPLD  254  and the display  220  may communicate to the SoC  251  using serial peripheral interface (SPI) or inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) bus. 
     In one or more embodiments, the SoC  251  may support near-field-communication (NFC) communication protocol and Bluetooth communication protocol such that the PLR may establish, upon activation, a NFC pairing  261  and/or a Bluetooth pairing  262  with external devices. In one or more embodiments, the Bluetooth pairing  262  is a BLE pairing. 
     C. Embodiments for PLR Pairing Process 
     For operation, the PLR needs to be paired to a network switch to receive LED data for one or more ports. Described in this section are embodiments for PLR Pairing to enable network switch LED status tracking on the PLR side. 
       FIG. 3  graphically depicts a pairing process with a network switch and  FIG. 4  depicts steps for the pairing process, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The paring process may be facilitated via a third party, e.g., an application operated on another electronic device such as a smartphone, tablet, a laptop, etc. 
     As shown in  FIG. 3 , a system for implementing a pairing process involves an OOB management network  330 , a PLR application (also referred as “PLR app”) running on an electronic device  340 . The OOB management network  330  couples to a plurality of network switches, including the first network switch  310  and the second network switch  320 , for network control and configuration management. 
     In one or more embodiments, an LED server software module running on a host CPU of a network switch (e.g., the first network switch  310  and the second network switch  320 ) is capable of extracting port information from an NPU in the network switch and streaming it over a BLE interface along with timestamps to a paired BLE device (e.g., a PLR device). The networking switch may set up a Network Time Protocol (NTP) relay to propagate timing to any paired BLE devices. NTP is a networking protocol for clock synchronization between devices in a network. NTP Implementation may include sending and receiving timestamps using the User Datagram Protocol (UDP). 
     In step  405 , the electronic device, e.g., a smartphone” connects to the OOB management network  330  to which a network switch  310  may be connected. In one or more embodiments, the connection to the OOB management is a secure connection, e.g., via a secure Wi-Fi network connection, such that any non-authorized access attempts are blocked or rejected. 
     In step  410 , when the PLR application is running, icons of one or more connected network switches (with switch ports) are displayed in a switch section  342  on a screen  341  of the electronic device  340 . In one more embodiments, if a network switch (e.g., switch A) has already mapped one or more ports to one PLR device, an icon of the network switch is shown on top the switch section  342  with the mapped ports (e.g., port  18 ) highlighted. In one more embodiments, the mapped port is visually linked to an icon  347  of a paired PLR device  360  via an indicator  345 . The paired PLR device  360  may pair to the network switch  310  via a Bluetooth connection, e.g., a BLE connection  312 , to receive LED data for a mapped port (e.g., port  18 ) from the network switch  310  directly. The display screen  364  of the PLR device  360  shows the switch network hostname (e.g., switch-A) and a port number (e.g.,  18 ). LEDs  362  indicate the same status and pattern as port LEDs for port  18  on the network switch  310 . Such a direct link between the PLR and the network switch does not take any bandwidth from the OOB management network, therefore does not cause congestion for the OOB management network from LED data transmission. Furthermore, the physical LEDs on the PLR may be larger in size and much less crowded compared to port LEDs on the network switch, therefore cause much less visual fatigue for a user. 
     In step  415 , a user may select one unmapped port of one network switch to be mapped from network switches in the switch section. The unmapped port may be a port (e.g., port  37 ) from a network switch (e.g., switch B) that has not yet paired to any PLRs, or a port from network switch (e.g., switch A) that has one or more ports mapped but still need further port mapping for status tracking. In one or more embodiments, a user may scroll, e.g., horizontally or vertically, icons of connected network switches (or ports within a network switch icon) for a desirable selection. 
     In step  420 , a communication link between the electronic device  340  and a PLR device  370  (which is to be paired) is established. The communication link may be a NFC connection  354 , or a BLE connection  352 . In one or more embodiments, the user may bring the PLR devices within the NFC range of the electronic device for establishing the NFC connection. In one or more embodiments, the electronic device  340  and a PLR device  370  may drop an established NFC connection and switch to the BLE connection, once a BLE connection is available, to facilitate faster configuration between the PLR app and the PLR device  370 . Such a BLE connection  352  is a management-plane BLE connection that is used to exchange configuration information between the app and the PLR. Once the communication link between the electronic device  340  and the PLR device  370  is established, an icon  348  for the PLR device  370  appears on a “PLR device” section  346  on the screen  341  of the electronic device  340 . In one or more embodiments, the PLR device section  346  is arranged below the switch section  342 . 
     In step  425 , the selected unmapped port (e.g., port  37 ) of one network switch is associated to the icon  348  for the PLR device  370  by the user. In one or more embodiments, such an association may be implemented by multi-touch of the port and the icon  348  on the screen  341 , by dragging the icon  348  into the port (e.g., port  37 ), by dragging the selected port to the icon  348 , or by manually inputting an association command, etc. 
     In step  430 , upon establishing the association, a set of information (e.g., a 3-tuple) comprising at least the {PLR device ID, Switch Host Name, Switch Port #} is created by the PLR App and communicated to the relevant network switch (e.g., switch-B  320 ) over the OOB Management network  330  and to the PLR device  370  via the communication link. As shown in  FIG. 3 , {PLR ( 257 ), Switch-A, Port  18 } and {PLR ( 991 ), Switch-B, Port  37 } are two examples of 3-tuples. In one or more embodiments, the switch&#39;s hostname is uniquely associated with a serial number (S/N) or a service tag of the network switch; and the PLR&#39;s device ID is associated with its S/N. The LED Server on the Switch awaits connection from the PLR device. 
     In step  435 , a communication link  322  between the network switch  320  and the PLR device  370  is established. In one or more embodiments, the communication link  322  bypasses the electronic device. In one or more embodiments, the communication link  322  is a direct communication link, e.g., a data-plane BLE connection via an integrated BLE transmitter within the network switch  320  or an external BLE-supporting device (e.g., the USB dongle  324 ) coupled to the network switch  320 . In one or more embodiments, before the establishment of the direct communication link  322 , the PLR device  370  unpairs the management-plane BLE connection  352  to initiate the data-plane BLE connection  322 . In one or more embodiments, the PLR device  370  is capable of maintaining multiple BLE connections and therefore, both the data-plane BLE connection  322  and the management-plane BLE connection  352  may be alive. In one or more embodiments, once the BLE pairing between the PLR device  370  and the network switch  320  is complete, a NTP client on the PLR device updates the local clock based on updates from the NTP relay configured on the network switch&#39;s BLE interface, wherein the network switch is running as a NTP sever. 
     In step  440 , the PLR device  370  requests the paired network switch  320  to transmit LED data for the specific switch port (e.g., port  37 ) over the data-plane BLE connection  322 . The paired network switch  320  starts transmitting LED data for the specific switch port. In one or more embodiments, the LED data is transmitted in a timestamped and sequenced stream comprising a protocol buffer (protobuf) (or other applicable encodings) encoded in UDP periodically (e.g., every 33 milliseconds or less depending on the capability of the network switch and the PLR). In one or more embodiments, the protobuf may comprise a timestamp generated during LED data sampling at the NPU&#39;s SRAM, a monotonically increasing sequence number, and per-lane LED data for the port. 
     In step  445 , the PLR device  370  receives and extracts the LED data. In one or more embodiments, the PLR device  370  reassembles the protobuf based on sequence number and discards data that is older than a pre-configured value, e.g., 33 milliseconds. 
     In step  450 , the PLR device  370  uses the extracted LED data (e.g., per-lane LED data) to drive the LEDs  372  of the PLR device  370 . The display screen  374  displays the paired switch&#39;s hostname and the switch port. In one or more embodiments, a stream signal strength indicator, e.g., a “digital bar” indicator, displays LED stream reception quality as a function of a configured packet loss in the previous T refresh intervals using the timestamp and the sequence numbers, where T is an integer number larger than 1. For example, an indictor with 5 bars means 0 packet loss; an indictor with 5 bars means 1 packet loss in the past 10 seconds; and so on. 
     It shall be noted that the steps shown in  FIG. 4  are for exemplary embodiments. A pairing process may be implemented with different variations, e.g., with certain steps performed optionally, or performed in different orders, etc. In one or more embodiments, when a network that has paired to a PLR for a first port and the PLR has capacity to receive LED data for additional ports besides the first port, if a user would like to track a second port of the network switch using the same PLR, the user may associate the second port with the PLR. Since the PLR has paired with the network switch already (e.g., using a BLE connection), the PLR and the network switch do not need to go through the pairing process again. The PLR app may just need to update the tuple to include additional information of the newly associated port and communicate the updated tuple to the network switch and the PLR. Upon receiving the updated tuple, the network switch may transmit updated LED data for both the first port and the second port. The PLR receives the updated LED data for extraction and LED driving. 
     In one or more embodiments, when a user would like to stop mapping between a port and a PLR (e.g., after port LED status tracking done), the user may disassociate the port from the PLR using the PLR app. In one or more embodiments, such a disassociation may be implemented by touching the port or the icon of the PLR followed by a disassociation selection, or by manually inputting a disassociation command, etc. 
     D. Embodiments for PLR Port Configurations 
     In one or more embodiments, the PLR device may have various layouts with some layouts capable of supporting LED status tracking for multiple switch ports of a network switch simultaneously.  FIG. 5  depicts PLR options for various switch port speeds, breakout, or LED behavior, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. PLR option  505  is for a port with up to 4 lanes, with each lane having separate status and activity LEDs. PLR option  510  is for a port with up to 8 lanes with each lane having an integrated status and activity LED. PLR option  515  is similar to option  510  but PLR  515  has color vision deficiency friendly LEDs (e.g., purple and amber LEDs instead of red and green LEDs), thus. Such an option makes it suitable for users having “color blindness” for red and green. PLR option  520  is for a port with 16 lanes with each lane having an integrated status and activity LED. PLR option  525  is for two ports with  4  lanes for each port and each lane having an integrated status and activity LED. PLR option E has a two-row LED layout. PLR option  530  is similar to option E for two port, but with a single LED row layout. 
     Because of the different switch port speed/breakout and various PLR layouts, it may be possible that when a user attempts to map a PLR device to a switch port, there is a mismatch, e.g., the port has a port breakout for 8 lanes, while the PLR only supports up to 4 lanes. Accordingly, it might be desirable to have some matching verification such that port LED status of the port may be fully and accurately tracked. 
       FIG. 6  depicts a matching verification process for a pairing process, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. One or more steps shown in  FIG. 6  may be integrated into  FIG. 4 . One or more steps in the matching process shown in  FIG. 6  may be integrated into the PLR application to provide additional functionality for the application. 
     Upon a port of a network switch being selected for PLR mapping, the PLR app receives, from the OOB management network, and stores ( 605 ) one or more parameters, e.g., speed, number of breakout lanes, port LED configuration (separate or integrated LED for port/lane status and activity), etc., of the port. 
     Upon initiating ( 610 ) of association (on a PLR app) between the port and a selected PLR initiated, the PLR app verifies ( 615 ) whether the PLR is adequate to match the port, e.g., whether the PLR has enough LEDs available for the port, whether the PLR has an LED layout matching the port LED, etc. 
     If the PLR is adequate to match the port, the association is implemented ( 620 ) for completion. While if the PLR is not adequate to match the port, the PLR app shows ( 625 ) a notification for user&#39;s attention that the association may not be implemented. The notification may be a pop-out message, a flashing red error sign, etc. Afterwards, the user may select ( 630 ) another PLR. Afterwards, the process goes back to step  610  for another round of association initiation and verification. 
     In one or more embodiments, a user desires to use an existing PLR (or has limited PLR choices) to track as many switch ports as possible. Accordingly, instead of selecting another PLR, the user may choose another switch port. Afterwards, the process goes back to step  605  for association initiation and verification. 
     In one or more embodiments, a PLR may have more LEDs than port LEDs for a matched switch port on a network switch. Those additional LEDs may be used or configured to show additional information for the switch port using the LED data transmitted from the network switch. This additional information may not be visible from the network switch side due to limited space (thus limited number of port LEDs for each port) on the front panel of the network switch. For example, the additional LEDs may have different colors from the port LEDs on the network switch for additional status information, e.g., a breakout lane activity above/below 50% of a designed full lane speed. Accordingly, the PLR may be used to provide enhanced functionality for port status tracking. 
     E. System Embodiments 
     In one or more embodiments, aspects of the present patent document may be directed to, may include, or may be implemented on one or more information handling systems (or computing systems). An information handling system/computing system may include any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute, calculate, determine, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, route, switch, store, display, communicate, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of information, intelligence, or data. For example, a computing system may be or may include a personal computer (e.g., laptop), tablet computer, mobile device (e.g., personal digital assistant (PDA), smart phone, phablet, tablet, etc.), smart watch, server (e.g., blade server or rack server), a network storage device, camera, or any other suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. The computing system may include random access memory (RAM), one or more processing resources such as a central processing unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic, read only memory (ROM), and/or other types of memory. Additional components of the computing system may include one or more disk drives, one or more network ports for communicating with external devices as well as various input and output (I/O) devices, such as a keyboard, mouse, stylus, touchscreen, and/or video display. The computing system may also include one or more buses operable to transmit communications between the various hardware components. 
       FIG. 7  depicts a simplified block diagram of an information handling system (or computing system), according to embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be understood that the functionalities shown for system  700  may operate to support various embodiments of a computing system—although it shall be understood that a computing system may be differently configured and include different components, including having fewer or more components as depicted in  FIG. 7 . 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 7 , the computing system  700  includes one or more central processing units (CPU)  701  that provides computing resources and controls the computer. CPU  701  may be implemented with a microprocessor or the like and may also include one or more graphics processing units (GPU)  702  and/or a floating-point coprocessor for mathematical computations. In one or more embodiments, one or more GPUs  702  may be incorporated within the display controller  709 , such as part of a graphics card or cards. The system  700  may also include a system memory  719 , which may comprise RAM, ROM, or both. 
     A number of controllers and peripheral devices may also be provided, as shown in  FIG. 7 . An input controller  703  represents an interface to various input device(s)  704 , such as a keyboard, mouse, touchscreen, and/or stylus. The computing system  700  may also include a storage controller  707  for interfacing with one or more storage devices  708  each of which includes a storage medium such as magnetic tape or disk, or an optical medium that might be used to record programs of instructions for operating systems, utilities, and applications, which may include embodiments of programs that implement various aspects of the present disclosure. Storage device(s)  708  may also be used to store processed data or data to be processed in accordance with the disclosure. The system  700  may also include a display controller  709  for providing an interface to a display device  711 , which may be a cathode ray tube (CRT) display, a thin film transistor (TFT) display, organic light-emitting diode, electroluminescent panel, plasma panel, or any other type of display. The computing system  700  may also include one or more peripheral controllers or interfaces  705  for one or more peripherals  706 . Examples of peripherals may include one or more printers, scanners, input devices, output devices, sensors, and the like. A communications controller  714  may interface with one or more communication devices  715 , which enables the system  700  to connect to remote devices through any of a variety of networks including the Internet, a cloud resource (e.g., an Ethernet cloud, a Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)/Data Center Bridging (DCB) cloud, etc.), a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a storage area network (SAN) or through any suitable electromagnetic carrier signals including infrared signals. As shown in the depicted embodiment, the computing system  700  comprises one or more fans or fan trays  718  and a cooling subsystem controller or controllers  717  that monitors thermal temperature(s) of the system  700  (or components thereof) and operates the fans/fan trays  718  to help regulate the temperature. 
     In the illustrated system, all major system components may connect to a bus  716 , which may represent more than one physical bus. However, various system components may or may not be in physical proximity to one another. For example, input data and/or output data may be remotely transmitted from one physical location to another. In addition, programs that implement various aspects of the disclosure may be accessed from a remote location (e.g., a server) over a network. Such data and/or programs may be conveyed through any of a variety of machine-readable medium including, for example: magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROMs and holographic devices; magneto-optical media; and hardware devices that are specially configured to store or to store and execute program code, such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), flash memory devices, other non-volatile memory (NVM) devices (such as  3 D XPoint-based devices), and ROM and RAM devices. 
       FIG. 8  depicts an alternative block diagram of an information handling system, according to embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be understood that the functionalities shown for system  800  may operate to support various embodiments of the present disclosure—although it shall be understood that such system may be differently configured and include different components, additional components, or fewer components. 
     The information handling system  800  may include a plurality of I/O ports  805 , a network processing unit (NPU)  815 , one or more tables  820 , and a central processing unit (CPU)  825 . The system includes a power supply (not shown) and may also include other components, which are not shown for sake of simplicity. 
     In one or more embodiments, the I/O ports  805  may be connected via one or more cables to one or more other network devices or clients. The network processing unit  815  may use information included in the network data received at the node  800 , as well as information stored in the tables  820 , to identify a next device for the network data, among other possible activities. In one or more embodiments, a switching fabric may then schedule the network data for propagation through the node to an egress port for transmission to the next destination. 
     Aspects of the present disclosure may be encoded upon one or more non-transitory computer-readable media with instructions for one or more processors or processing units to cause steps to be performed. It shall be noted that the one or more non-transitory computer-readable media shall include volatile and/or non-volatile memory. It shall be noted that alternative implementations are possible, including a hardware implementation or a software/hardware implementation. Hardware-implemented functions may be realized using ASIC(s), programmable arrays, digital signal processing circuitry, or the like. Accordingly, the “means” terms in any claims are intended to cover both software and hardware implementations. Similarly, the term “computer-readable medium or media” as used herein includes software and/or hardware having a program of instructions embodied thereon, or a combination thereof. With these implementation alternatives in mind, it is to be understood that the figures and accompanying description provide the functional information one skilled in the art would require to write program code (i.e., software) and/or to fabricate circuits (i.e., hardware) to perform the processing required. 
     It shall be noted that embodiments of the present disclosure may further relate to computer products with a non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium that have computer code thereon for performing various computer-implemented operations. The media and computer code may be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present disclosure, or they may be of the kind known or available to those having skill in the relevant arts. Examples of tangible computer-readable media include, for example: magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROMs and holographic devices; magneto-optical media; and hardware devices that are specially configured to store or to store and execute program code, such as application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), flash memory devices, other non-volatile memory (NVM) devices (such as  3 D XPoint-based devices), and ROM and RAM devices. Examples of computer code include machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing higher level code that are executed by a computer using an interpreter. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in whole or in part as machine-executable instructions that may be in program modules that are executed by a processing device. Examples of program modules include libraries, programs, routines, objects, components, and data structures. In distributed computing environments, program modules may be physically located in settings that are local, remote, or both. 
     One skilled in the art will recognize no computing system or programming language is critical to the practice of the present disclosure. One skilled in the art will also recognize that a number of the elements described above may be physically and/or functionally separated into modules and/or sub-modules or combined together. 
     It will be appreciated to those skilled in the art that the preceding examples and embodiments are exemplary and not limiting to the scope of the present disclosure. It is intended that all permutations, enhancements, equivalents, combinations, and improvements thereto that are apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings are included within the true spirit and scope of the present disclosure. It shall also be noted that elements of any claims may be arranged differently including having multiple dependencies, configurations, and combinations.