Patent ID: 7974272

Claim:
A switching network node of a plurality of switching network nodes participating in a switching network node stack comprising: a. at least one stacking port for exchanging frames with at least one other switching node in the stack; b. a switching node identification register for specifying switching node identification of the switching node; c. a management node identification register for specifying the switching node identifier of the switching node of the plurality of switching nodes in the stack to which a management processor is attached; d. a forwarding table for specifying, for each switching node in the stack, a corresponding stacking port via which to forward frames towards said switching node; and e. a command engine configured to initiate a command frame to interrupt the management processor if the management processor is attached to another switching network node among the plurality of switching network nodes, wherein control frame information within the command frame indicates whether the command engine or the management processor initiated the command frame.