Managing a network connection of a switch. Software configuration information relating to the network connection of the switch is obtained, wherein the information specifies at least one VLAN connecting to the switch and a plurality of uplinks to be shared. According to the software configuration information, the plurality of uplinks is assigned to the at least one VLAN to form a corresponding connection relationship, in which relationship, each VLAN corresponds uniquely to one uplink from the plurality of uplinks. The hardware connection between the at least one VLAN and the plurality of uplinks on the hardware layer of the switch is set according to the corresponding connection relationship. Shared links may be formed in the switch, which links have multiple uplinks with redundancy, all in active status.