Patent ID: 8681603

Claim:
A network switch, comprising: a first stack unit including a first interface configured to communicate, via a first link, with a second stack unit of the network switch; a second interface configured to communicate, via a second link, with a third stack unit of the network switch; a forwarding engine configured to transfer a first packet to the first interface, and in response to the first link being inoperative, (i) receive the first packet from the first interface, and (ii) transfer the first packet received from the first interface to the second interface; and a port configured to receive a second packet from a network; the second stack unit; and the third stack unit, wherein the second stack unit is linked to the third stack unit, and wherein the forwarding engine is configured to drop the second packet in response to the second packet being (i) transferred from the first stack unit to each of the second stack unit and the third stack unit, and (ii) returned to the first stack unit by either the second stack unit or the third stack unit.