Stacked network switch using resilient packet ring communication protocol

A stacked switch using a resilient packet ring protocol comprising:

• a plurality of switch modules coupled to one another in a ring topology and each having a plurality of external terminals for interfacing with external devices, where each switch module includes:
• an external interface for communicating with the external terminals, the external interface configured to communicate using a communication protocol;
• and
• an internal interface for communicating with other switches, the internal interface using a resilient packet ring (RPR) protocol;
• a master management processor coupled to one or more of the switch modules and configured to provide instructions regarding communication of information between each switches' external interface and internal interface, and to control data flow;
• and
• a slave management processor coupled to the master management processor through at least one switch and one or more of the switch modules and configured to provide the instructions regarding the communication of information between each switches' external interface and internal interface, and to control the data flow;
• wherein statistics associated with a communication of data through at least one of the switch modules are stored;
• wherein the statistics are evaluated to generate a link signal representative of desired links/ports to be aggregated;
• and
• wherein a link aggregation port is selectively aggregated to respond to the link signal and to dynamically set one or more switch modules' external terminals to selectively aggregate information to and from the switch modules;
• wherein marker information is selectively introduced into the data to ensure that the integrity of the data is reasonably maintained when a link aggregation is modified.