Patent ID: 8115631

Claim:
An apparatus for determining endpoint connectivity of a communications cable, comprising: a near-end system operable to receive a cable identifier of the communications cable and to create and send a near-end message to a far-end system over the cable, the cable identifier including a unique cable label for the communications cable, and the near-end message containing information including the unique cable label and a unique input/output (I/O) port identifier for a first I/O port of the near-end system to which the communications cable is connected; and a far-end system operable to read the information contained in the near-end message when it is received at a second I/O port of the far-end system, the second I/O port connected to the communications cable, and, using the information, to associate the first and second I/O ports with the unique cable label, thereby determining endpoint connectivity of the communications cable.