A link management method, wherein the method is applied to a physical device that has a first memory and a second memory, the first memory is configured to store a tail pointer of each of multiple links comprised in a linked list, wherein each of the multiple links is formed by linking a plurality of nodes, the second memory is configured to store a head pointer of each link, the physical device is capable of implementing enqueue processing on a first link and dequeue processing on a second link in one clock cycle, and the first link and the second link are both links of the multiple links, wherein the method comprises: when the physical device performs enqueue processing on the first link, and when the first link is not empty before the enqueue processing, modifying, by the physical device, a first tail pointer that is of the first link and that is in the first memory, so that the modified first tail pointer points to a storage location of the last node in the first link obtained after the enqueue processing; when the physical device performs dequeue processing on the second link, and when the second link is not empty after the dequeue processing, modifying, by the physical device, a second head pointer that is of the second link and that is in the second memory, so that the modified second head pointer points to a storage location of the first node in the second link obtained after the dequeue processing; and wherein the first memory further stores a first status identifier of each link, the second memory further stores a second status identifier of each link, the physical device further has a third memory, the third memory is configured to store a third status identifier of each link, a first status identifier of any link is the same as a second status identifier of the link, a combination of the first status identifier and a third status identifier of the link is used to indicate whether the link is empty, and a combination of the second status identifier and the third status identifier of the link is used to indicate whether the link is empty; and when the physical device performs enqueue processing on the first link, the determining, by the physical device, whether the first link is empty before the enqueue processing, comprising: reading, by the physical device, a first status identifier and a third status identifier of the first link respectively from the first memory and the third memory; and determining, by the physical device according to the first status identifier and the third status identifier of the first link, whether the first link is empty before the enqueue processing. when the physical device performs enqueue processing on the first link, and when the first link is not empty before the enqueue processing, modifying, by the physical device, a first tail pointer that is of the first link and that is in the first memory, so that the modified first tail pointer points to a storage location of the last node in the first link obtained after the enqueue processing; when the physical device performs dequeue processing on the second link, and when the second link is not empty after the dequeue processing, modifying, by the physical device, a second head pointer that is of the second link and that is in the second memory, so that the modified second head pointer points to a storage location of the first node in the second link obtained after the dequeue processing; and wherein the first memory further stores a first status identifier of each link, the second memory further stores a second status identifier of each link, the physical device further has a third memory, the third memory is configured to store a third status identifier of each link, a first status identifier of any link is the same as a second status identifier of the link, a combination of the first status identifier and a third status identifier of the link is used to indicate whether the link is empty, and a combination of the second status identifier and the third status identifier of the link is used to indicate whether the link is empty; and when the physical device performs enqueue processing on the first link, the determining, by the physical device, whether the first link is empty before the enqueue processing, comprising: reading, by the physical device, a first status identifier and a third status identifier of the first link respectively from the first memory and the third memory; and determining, by the physical device according to the first status identifier and the third status identifier of the first link, whether the first link is empty before the enqueue processing. reading, by the physical device, a first status identifier and a third status identifier of the first link respectively from the first memory and the third memory; and determining, by the physical device according to the first status identifier and the third status identifier of the first link, whether the first link is empty before the enqueue processing.