Cable discovery with visual display of a network topology

Aspects of the disclosure provide a method for highlighting a port of a network device in a network. The method includes receiving, by a processor, a selection of graphical element displayed at a graphical user interface. The network device is separate from the processor. The graphical element corresponds to a port of a network device in a network. The method further includes identifying, by the processor, the port and the network device at which the port is disposed, and transmitting an instruction to the network device to cause a specific signaling component associated with the port to have a different state from other signaling components associated with other ports of the network device in order to highlight the port at the network device to a user.