A method for simulating insertion of a pluggable active optical module includes: detecting whether a state of an optical adapter of a pluggable active optical module regarding connection of a fiber optic cable has changed; obtaining/generating physical layer management information regarding the fiber optic cable in response to detection of a change in state of the optical adapter; toggling a voltage state of a module present pin of a host device to which the pluggable active optical module is connected in response to obtaining/generating the physical layer management information, wherein the host device is configured to determine whether a pluggable active optical module is present based on the voltage state of the module present pin; receiving a read command from the host device in response to toggling the switch; and providing the physical layer management information to the host device in response to the read command.