Netgear Switch Discovery Protocol


Netgear Switch Discovery Protocol is a management protocol for several network device families, designed by Netgear.

Message structure

Common message header

Message body record structure

Message body records are type–length–value structures. Type field may be one of following values in the table:
TypeMeaning
0x0001Device model
0x0003Device given name
0x0004Device MAC-address
0x0005Device system location
0x0006Device current IP-address
0x0007Device IP-network mask
0x0008Router IP-address
0x000aadministration password
0x000bDHCP Mode
0x000dDevice Firmware version slot 1
0x000eDevice Firmware version slot 2
0x000fNext active firmware slot after reboot
0x0c00Speed/link status of ports
0x1000Port Traffic Statistic
0x2800Get VLAN info
0x2c00Delete VLAN

Protocol flow examples

Network devices discovery :
Host with MAC=XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX from User [Datagram Protocol|UDP]-port 63321 or 63323 sending packet to broadcast IP-address 255.255.255.255 and UDP-port 63322 or 63324
Header @0x00000000 0x01 0x01 0x000000000000 0xXXXXXXXXXXXX 0x000000000000 0x0000 0x0001 0x4E534450 0x00000000
Body @0x00000020 0x0001 0x0000 0x0004 0x0000
Marker @0x00000028 0xFFFF0000
EACH Device responds with message like
Header @0x00000000 0x01 0x02 0x000000000000 0xXXXXXXXXXXXX 0xYYYYYYYYYYYY 0x0000 0x0001 0x4E534450 0x00000000
Body @0x00000020 0x0001 0x0028 0x47 0x53 0x31 0x30 0x35 0x45 0x20*0x22 0x0004 0x0006 0xYYYYYYYYYYYY
Marker @0x00000058 0xFFFF0000

Device support for protocol

  • GS105E ProSAFE Plus
  • GS108E ProSAFE Plus
  • GS724T
  • GS748T
  • FS116E
  • FS726TP

    Devices firmware update

Device firmware update is made with TFTP protocol, but you need to send NSDP request to turn on TFTP-server first.