Discovery and configuration of devices across an Ethernet interface

The discovery and configuration of devices of interest connected to the Ethernet by an Ethernet port is disclosed. To perform discovery, Client software in a management interface transmits packets including the address of the management interface and a port identifier to a known broadcast address, requesting the MAC address for all devices of interest. Server software in the devices of interest parse the broadcast packets and broadcast a packet containing a MAC address that uniquely identifies the devices of interest back to the Client. Once the MAC addresses are returned to the Client, the Client can then broadcast protocol packets requesting the configuration of a specific device of interest such as a new IP address. Once a device of interest is configured with at least an IP address, the device of interest can communicate using TCP/IP, and it can thereafter be managed using higher level tools and firmware.