Stacked network devices including a protocol engine and distributed trunk ports and method of operating same

摘要

A trunk connection to a stack of network switches is coupled to physical ports distributed among the switches. A switch has an internal logical port for a protocol engine. A packet received by way of the trunk at a port on a switch which does not host the protocol engine is sent over a cascade connection to the host switch with a tag that is interpreted within the host switch as if the packet cam from the logical port. The tagging and interpretation distinguishes between packets which might or might not be intended for the protocol engine and did not arrive by way of the trunk from packets which are intended for the protocol engine and have been received by way of the trunk.