Methods, systems, and devices for managing communications in a distributed system are disclosed. To improve the efficiency of communication, the system may implement the port extension protocol which may allow communication devices to utilize ports of other devices for communication purposes. To do so, the communication devices may instruct the other devices with respect to how the communication devices expect the other devices to process data units transmitted via networks (e.g., network data units). However, not all of the other devices that may process the network data units may include functionality to process and/or implement the instructions from the communication devices. To extend the functionality of such devices, a remote control plane for devices that lack this processing functionality may be provided.