Patent ID: 8761169

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving at a first packet forwarding device a packet including a vector inserted by a second packet forwarding device, wherein a stack of packet forwarding devices includes the first packet forwarding device and the second forwarding device, and wherein the vector comprises data that identifies a destination device external to the stack of packet forwarding devices; based on the vector, determining at the first packet forwarding device whether at least one other packet forwarding device of the stack of packet forwarding devices is to receive the packet before the packet reaches the destination device, including determining whether the vector further comprises data that identifies the at least one other packet forwarding device; and based on the determining whether at least one other packet forwarding device of the stack of packet forwarding devices is to receive the packet before the packet reaches the destination device: removing the vector and sending the packet to the destination device; otherwise inserting a second vector in the packet and sending the packet to the at least one other packet forwarding device.