Patent ID: 7505403
Filing Date: 2009-03-17
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A switching device for performing pass-through forwarding operations in a stack switch system comprising a plurality of stack switches, the switching device comprising: a plurality of ports, configured to receive and transmit protocol data units (PDUs), the plurality of ports comprising: a plurality of data ports, and a plurality of stack ports, each of the stack ports operably coupled to one of the plurality of stack switches having a lowest election key that sends at least one election indication message to advertise its identity as well as an identity of a secondary master assigned by said stack switch having the lowest election key to the rest of the plurality of stack switches, and assigns an operational element identifier to each stack switch that has not already been assigned an operational element identifier, the assigned operational element identifier set equal to a saved element identifier of said stack switch having the lowest election key; and a routing engine configured to: forward packets between the plurality of ports dependent on destination address information associated with the PDUs if a pass-through mode is disabled; and forward PDUs received on the plurality of stack ports to each of the other stack ports independent of the destination address information associated the PDUs if the pass-through mode is enabled.