A method and system for determining an active management uplink including adjusting a bridge priority value, based on connectivity conditions, to lower the value of a bridge ID stored in a memory region of a network module. The method and system to also identify a network module as a root network module if it has a lower bridge ID than all other stacked network modules. The bridge ID of a network module may be based on the bridge priority value and a MAC address stored in a memory region of the network module. The system and method to also enable the management uplink port of the root network module to actively manage data between the management network and other stacked network modules.