Methods and apparatus are provided for processing communications. In one aspect, a method of configuring a first Flex Ethernet (FlexE) node comprises receiving first data from a second FlexE node in time slots over at least one physical layer connection, the first data including overhead identifying assignments of the time slots to one or more client flows in the first data, and assigning time slots for transmission of second data to the second FlexE node based on the assignments of time slots in which the first data is received.