On startup, the HECs and SECs initialize their data structures and other connected entities like the Routing Service. Each HEC determines the SEC to which it is connected. This is done by providing a parameter to the daemon indicating the address of the host running the particular SEC. Similarly, each SEC determines the addresses and type (host or switch) of all the nodes it is connected to. This information is gathered using the Routing Service mechanism detailed earlier. Once all the HECs and SECs have populated their routing tables, they set their state machines to the Idle state and are ready to process incoming control messages.