Patent ID: 8855124

Claim:
A first network switch comprising: a memory to store switch logic; a processor to execute the switch logic; a first physical switch port of the first network switch to receive a physical switch link from a second network switch; first switch logic to implement a first logical Inter-Switch Connection (ISC) to the second network switch via the physical switch link; second switch logic to implement a second logical Inter-Switch Connection (ISC′) to the second network switch via the physical switch link; a second physical switch port to receive an interface connection from a third network switch; and switch forwarding logic to forward frames received at the first network switch to the second network switch without tagging or otherwise encapsulating the frames received being forwarded by: transmitting the frames to the second network switch via the first logical Inter-Switch Connection (ISC) when the physical switch link is part of an active topology upon which the first network switch operates, and transmitting the frames to the second switch via the second logical Inter-Switch Connection (ISC′) when the physical switch link is not part of the active topology upon which the first network switch operates.