ADVERTISING AND FACILITATING MANAGEMENT ACCESS TO ADDED CAPABILITIES OF INTELLIGENT DEVICES IN A SYSTEM

摘要

A network interface device (NID) or management access point of a system is configured to: receive requests to register one or more additional capabilities provided by a second intelligent device integrated into the system; in response to the request, register the additional capabilities within a capabilities listing; advertise the additional capabilities as being an available within the system; and respond to a request from an external requestor for access to one of the additional capabilities by forwarding the management protocol and payload to the second intelligent device to enable the second intelligent device to perform all substantive processing required for the request. The NID establishes and maintains a network session between the second intelligent device and any external requestor requesting access to the additional capabilities. In response to receiving a response from the second intelligent device, the NID packages the response and forwards the response to the external requestor.