Patent ID: 8903964

Claim:
A method comprising: communicatively coupling, via a communication link, a first network captured traffic distribution device to a stacked topology of network captured traffic distribution devices, wherein the stacked topology includes a plurality of network captured traffic distribution devices communicatively coupled to one another via communication links and each network captured traffic distribution device is associated with configuration information; recognizing, by the first network captured traffic distribution device, a second network captured traffic distribution device included in the stacked topology; automatically exchanging, between the first network captured traffic distribution device and the second network captured traffic distribution device, a portion of the configuration information associated with the respective first and second network captured traffic distribution devices, the portion of configuration data includes operational statistics that indicate a number of respective available ingress and egress ports, a link speed for each available ingress and egress port, and a respective congestion level for each of the first and second network captured traffic distribution devices; determining, by the first network captured traffic distribution device, an optimum route to transmit captured data packets from the first network captured traffic distribution device through the stacked topology to a target destination based on the operational statistics for each of the first and second network captured traffic distribution devices; automatically updating, by the first network captured traffic distribution device, the configuration information associated with the first network captured traffic distribution device responsively to the exchanged configuration information; and executing, by a hardware processor of the first network captured traffic distribution device, one or more operations according to the exchanged configuration information that includes evaluating current operating conditions of the stacked topology and the plurality of network captured traffic distribution devices communicatively coupled to the stacked topology and transmitting the captured data packets toward the target destination via the optimum route.