Patent ID: 8122127

Claim:
A virtual device, comprising: a plurality of devices connected to operate as a single device, where the plurality of devices includes a first device and a second device; and where the first device is to: transmit, via a plurality of ports, messages to discover one or more of the plurality of devices, including the second device, identify, based on discovering the one or more of the plurality of devices, one or more of the plurality of ports connected to each of the discovered plurality of devices, determine, based on the identifying, that the first device connects to the second device via a plurality of links, where each of the plurality of links is associated with a different one of the plurality of ports, automatically aggregate the plurality of links to form a link aggregation with the second device based on determining that the first device connects to the second device via the plurality of links, and transmit traffic to the second device via each of the different ones of the plurality of ports.