Patent ID: 8000266

Claim:
A method comprising: configuring a single port of a network device to operate as a port of a first virtual device and operate as a port of a second virtual device such that the single port carries traffic associated with the first virtual device and carries traffic associated with the second virtual device, wherein the port carries traffic belonging to a first set of network classifications supported by the first virtual device and a second set of network classifications supported by the second virtual device, and wherein the network device runs a port-centric protocol; and forming a single internal spanning tree instance for both the first virtual device and the second virtual device such that the first virtual device and the second virtual device share the single internal spanning tree instance, wherein forming the single internal spanning tree instance for both the first virtual device and the second virtual device such that the first virtual device and the second virtual device share the single internal spanning tree instance comprises: selecting a single multiple spanning tree instance from two different multiple spanning tree instances such that the single multiple spanning tree instance corresponds to a specific network classification, wherein the specific network classification is in both the first set of network classifications and the second set of network classifications, and wherein the two different multiple spanning tree instances include a first multiple spanning tree instance associated with the first virtual device and a second multiple spanning tree instance associated with the second virtual device.