Patent ID: 7486697

Claim:
A method in a data processing system for negotiating a protocol for a conversation in which data packets are transmitted, the method comprising: responsive to establishment of a link aggregation with an endpoint for the conversation, selecting one of a plurality of algorithms to be used by the data processing system and the endpoint to select one of a plurality of adapters to use to transmit the data packets in the conversation, the selected one of the plurality of algorithms forming a preferred algorithm; sending a request to the endpoint, wherein the request indicates the preferred algorithm for processing the data packets in the conversation; receiving a reply to the request from the endpoint; using the reply to determine whether the endpoint supports the preferred algorithm; responsive to a determination that the endpoint supports the preferred algorithm, transmitting the data packets using one of the plurality of adapters that was selected using the preferred algorithm; wherein the request is a protocol data unit; responsive to a determination that the endpoint supports the preferred algorithm, determining that link aggregation has occurred; and wherein the protocol data unit includes a flag field, which includes a first bit identifying whether link aggregation has occurred and a second bit indicating whether a master or slave role is requested.