Abstract: A proprietary packet based on a standard IEEE 802.3 packet is used to discover and configure a layer 2 network device. The proprietary packet has a packet length field filled with an illegal length 0x3842. The proprietary packet is generally ignored because of its illegal length. A network equipped with a proprietary protocol recognizes the illegal length as the identification of the proprietary packet, interprets the packet and responds with its MAC address, subnet mask and the default gateway's IP address. By means of the proprietary packets having the illegal length 0x3842, a proprietary handshake protocol is established between a PC and network devices connected to an Ethernet hub for discovering and configuring the network devices.

Abstract: A method of managing layer 2 devices uses SNMP protocol with an Ethernet connection without an USB or RS-232 port. When a gateway is setup to communicate with a client PC, an Ethernet packet with a pre-configured static IP address is sent out for the layer 2 device to read, intercept and process the payload in the IP packet of the Ethernet packet. If the gateway does not exist or is not set up properly for communication, a multicast frame to the address of 224.0.23.1 is sent out. The layer 2device recognizes the multicast address and process the protocol.