Patent ID: 7203750

Claim:
In a communications system apparatus with an Ethernet backplane, a System Switch Processor (“SSP”), at least one system processing engine (“SPE”), and a system manager SPE (“SMSPE”), a method for requesting chassis data from said SMSPE by said at least one SPE comprising: determining the IP address of said SMSPE, wherein said determining the IP address comprises: verifying that said SSP has an IP address, requesting a discovery protocol data package from said SSP, receiving a discovery protocol data package from said SSP, determining whether the requested discovery protocol data package corresponds to an internal occupant, determining whether the internal occupant is an SPE, if the discovery protocol data package corresponds to an internal occupant, discovering the SPE's information, if the internal occupant is an SPE, and determining whether the SPE is an SMSPE; and issuing a request for chassis data to the SMSPE.