A system, comprising: a controlling bridge device of an extended bridge, the controlling bridge device comprising circuitry configured to: receive a packet via an ingress port; determine a destination link aggregation group associated with a virtual port, virtual port link aggregation group, based at least in part on a destination media access control, MAC, address of an end station in the packet; select one of a plurality of egress virtual ports of the destination virtual port link aggregation group, the end station of the extended bridge being reachable through any of the plurality of egress virtual ports of the destination virtual port link aggregation group; and forward the packet to the selected one of the plurality of egress virtual ports of the destination virtual port link aggregation group, the forwarded packet including an identifier of the selected one of the plurality of egress virtual ports; wherein that the received packet includes an identifier of a source virtual port link aggregation group of an extended port, the identifier of the source virtual port link aggregation group is different from the identifier of the destination virtual port link aggregation group, and each of the identifier of the source virtual port link aggregation group and the identifier of the destination virtual port link aggregation group are different for upstream and downstream directions. a controlling bridge device of an extended bridge, the controlling bridge device comprising circuitry configured to: receive a packet via an ingress port; determine a destination link aggregation group associated with a virtual port, virtual port link aggregation group, based at least in part on a destination media access control, MAC, address of an end station in the packet; select one of a plurality of egress virtual ports of the destination virtual port link aggregation group, the end station of the extended bridge being reachable through any of the plurality of egress virtual ports of the destination virtual port link aggregation group; and forward the packet to the selected one of the plurality of egress virtual ports of the destination virtual port link aggregation group, the forwarded packet including an identifier of the selected one of the plurality of egress virtual ports; wherein that the received packet includes an identifier of a source virtual port link aggregation group of an extended port, the identifier of the source virtual port link aggregation group is different from the identifier of the destination virtual port link aggregation group, and each of the identifier of the source virtual port link aggregation group and the identifier of the destination virtual port link aggregation group are different for upstream and downstream directions. receive a packet via an ingress port; determine a destination link aggregation group associated with a virtual port, virtual port link aggregation group, based at least in part on a destination media access control, MAC, address of an end station in the packet; select one of a plurality of egress virtual ports of the destination virtual port link aggregation group, the end station of the extended bridge being reachable through any of the plurality of egress virtual ports of the destination virtual port link aggregation group; and forward the packet to the selected one of the plurality of egress virtual ports of the destination virtual port link aggregation group, the forwarded packet including an identifier of the selected one of the plurality of egress virtual ports; wherein that the received packet includes an identifier of a source virtual port link aggregation group of an extended port, the identifier of the source virtual port link aggregation group is different from the identifier of the destination virtual port link aggregation group, and each of the identifier of the source virtual port link aggregation group and the identifier of the destination virtual port link aggregation group are different for upstream and downstream directions.