A transport software defined networking, SDN, controller (110, 230, 400), comprising: a receiver; a transmitter; and a processor coupled to the receiver and transmitter, the processor configured to determine a physical topology based on physical layer adjacency discovery messages received from physical layer network elements, NEs (104-106, 210-213, 306-307), the physical layer adjacency discovery messages indicating physical port adjacency information; receive advertisement messages from the physical layer NEs via the receiver, wherein each advertisement message comprises a mapping between an adjacent network layer NE (102-103, 202-205, 302-303) and a port of the associated physical layer NE, and wherein at least one of the advertisement messages comprises a network layer adjacency request indicating a first network layer NE is requesting a network layer connection with a second network layer NE; and transmit control messages to the physical layer NEs via the transmitter, wherein the control message indicates a physical layer connection setup between the first network layer NE and the second network layer NE via the physical layer NEs based on the network layer adjacency request, the advertisement messages, and the physical topology. a receiver; a transmitter; and a processor coupled to the receiver and transmitter, the processor configured to determine a physical topology based on physical layer adjacency discovery messages received from physical layer network elements, NEs (104-106, 210-213, 306-307), the physical layer adjacency discovery messages indicating physical port adjacency information; receive advertisement messages from the physical layer NEs via the receiver, wherein each advertisement message comprises a mapping between an adjacent network layer NE (102-103, 202-205, 302-303) and a port of the associated physical layer NE, and wherein at least one of the advertisement messages comprises a network layer adjacency request indicating a first network layer NE is requesting a network layer connection with a second network layer NE; and transmit control messages to the physical layer NEs via the transmitter, wherein the control message indicates a physical layer connection setup between the first network layer NE and the second network layer NE via the physical layer NEs based on the network layer adjacency request, the advertisement messages, and the physical topology. determine a physical topology based on physical layer adjacency discovery messages received from physical layer network elements, NEs (104-106, 210-213, 306-307), the physical layer adjacency discovery messages indicating physical port adjacency information; receive advertisement messages from the physical layer NEs via the receiver, wherein each advertisement message comprises a mapping between an adjacent network layer NE (102-103, 202-205, 302-303) and a port of the associated physical layer NE, and wherein at least one of the advertisement messages comprises a network layer adjacency request indicating a first network layer NE is requesting a network layer connection with a second network layer NE; and transmit control messages to the physical layer NEs via the transmitter, wherein the control message indicates a physical layer connection setup between the first network layer NE and the second network layer NE via the physical layer NEs based on the network layer adjacency request, the advertisement messages, and the physical topology.