Ordered stack formation with reduced manual intervention

Embodiments of the invention relate to ordered stack formation with reduced manual intervention. A member switch of the plurality of connected switches receives a stack discovery packet from the first coupled switch, and in response, generates and transmits a stack discovery response packet to the first coupled switch to allow the member switch to be discovered. The member switch receives stack configuration information from the stack control node and forwards the stack discovery packet to the second coupled switch to facilitate discovery of the second coupled switch. The first coupled switch, the member switch, and the second coupled switch are coupled to each other according to a predetermined order, facilitating ordered discovery of the plurality of connected switches. In response to receiving a control packet from the stack control node, the member switch restarts based on the received stack configuration information. The stack configuration information includes stack member identifications allocated to t