A system for synchronizing configuration information in a plurality of
data processing devices using a common system interconnect bus. The
present invention provides a method and apparatus for enforcing automatic
updates to the configuration registers in various agents in the data
processing system. A node controller is operably connected to a system
interconnect bus and a switch. A plurality of interface agents are
connected to the switch, with each of the interface agents comprising a
configuration space register, a configuration space shadow register and a
control and status register (CSR). A token ring connected to the node
controller is operable to transmit data from the node controller to a
plurality of interface agents connected to the token ring, thereby
providing a system for updating the various configuration registers in
each of the agents.