Patent ID: 8156356

Claim:
A method for automatically and dynamically controlling the power states of physical layer links (PHYs) in a modular information handling system, the method comprising: automatically determining, by a chassis manager, a status of at least one of the chassis manager and a managed chassis module of a modular information handling system; and automatically identifying, by the chassis manager, a PHY power down condition based at least on the determined status of at least one of the chassis manager and the managed chassis module; and in response to identifying the power down condition, automatically powering down, by the chassis manager, one or more management link PHYs associated with a management link between the chassis manager and the managed chassis module, wherein: the management link between the chassis manager and the managed chassis module includes (a) at least one chassis manager PHY at a first end of the management link associated with the chassis manager, and (b) at least one managed chassis module PHY at a second end of the management link associated with the managed chassis module; and the chassis manager automatically powering down one or more management link PHYs comprises the chassis manager automatically powering down at least one chassis manager PHY at the first end of the management link and at least one managed chassis module PHY at the second end of the management link.