Abstract: The link auto-configuration protocol detects the topology of a dynamic synchronous transfer mode (DTM) architecture, detects and translates MAC addresses and negotiates configuration parameters in the DTM topology. The link auto-configuration protocol has at least three phases including a detect phase to detect information about the nodes in the network, an announcement phase to provide and negotiate configuration parameters with the nodes in the network and a commit phase to commit the nodes to the configuration parameters. The protocol may automatically switch between ring and bus topology configurations.