Called the IEEE 802.1AB. Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP), it is an emerging standard which provides a solution for the configuration issues caused by expanding LANs. LLDP specifically defines a standard method for Ethernet network devices such as switches, routers and wireless LAN access points to advertise information about themselves to other nodes on the network and store the information they discover. LLDP runs on all 802 media. The protocol runs over the data-link layer only, allowing two systems running different network layer protocols to learn about each other.
