A packet forwarding method, wherein the method is applied to a large layer 2 network comprising an access device and gateway devices, and comprises: receiving, by the access device, a first packet, wherein the first packet is an Ethernet packet; searching, by the access device, an equal-cost multi-path forwarding entry for a matched equal-cost path according to a destination media access control, MAC, address of the Ethernet packet, wherein the equal-cost multi-path forwarding entry comprises: a virtual MAC address corresponding to a gateway aggregation group comprising the gateway devices, an identifier of each gateway device in the gateway aggregation group, and an outbound interface corresponding to the identifier of each gateway device, wherein the identifier is used to uniquely identify a gateway device in the large layer 2 network; and if N matched equal-cost paths are found, encapsulating the first packet into a second packet according to a first path in the N matched equal-cost paths, and forwarding the second packet according to an outbound interface of the first path, wherein the second packet is a large layer 2 protocol packet, and N is an integer greater than 1; wherein the method is characterized by further comprising: recording, by the access device, the first path in a reverse path check entry together with the virtual MAC address corresponding to the gateway aggregation group; receiving, by the access device, a third packet, wherein the third packet is a packet with large layer 2 network protocol encapsulation, a destination device identifier of a large layer 2 network protocol encapsulation header of the third packet is a unique device identifier of the access device in the large layer 2 network; performing, by the access device, a reverse path check on the third packet according to the reverse path check entry; and decapsulating, by the access device, after the check succeeds, the third packet to obtain an Ethernet packet, and forwarding, according to a MAC address entry, the Ethernet packet that is obtained by means of decapsulation. receiving, by the access device, a first packet, wherein the first packet is an Ethernet packet; searching, by the access device, an equal-cost multi-path forwarding entry for a matched equal-cost path according to a destination media access control, MAC, address of the Ethernet packet, wherein the equal-cost multi-path forwarding entry comprises: a virtual MAC address corresponding to a gateway aggregation group comprising the gateway devices, an identifier of each gateway device in the gateway aggregation group, and an outbound interface corresponding to the identifier of each gateway device, wherein the identifier is used to uniquely identify a gateway device in the large layer 2 network; and if N matched equal-cost paths are found, encapsulating the first packet into a second packet according to a first path in the N matched equal-cost paths, and forwarding the second packet according to an outbound interface of the first path, wherein the second packet is a large layer 2 protocol packet, and N is an integer greater than 1; wherein the method is characterized by further comprising: recording, by the access device, the first path in a reverse path check entry together with the virtual MAC address corresponding to the gateway aggregation group; receiving, by the access device, a third packet, wherein the third packet is a packet with large layer 2 network protocol encapsulation, a destination device identifier of a large layer 2 network protocol encapsulation header of the third packet is a unique device identifier of the access device in the large layer 2 network; performing, by the access device, a reverse path check on the third packet according to the reverse path check entry; and decapsulating, by the access device, after the check succeeds, the third packet to obtain an Ethernet packet, and forwarding, according to a MAC address entry, the Ethernet packet that is obtained by means of decapsulation. recording, by the access device, the first path in a reverse path check entry together with the virtual MAC address corresponding to the gateway aggregation group; receiving, by the access device, a third packet, wherein the third packet is a packet with large layer 2 network protocol encapsulation, a destination device identifier of a large layer 2 network protocol encapsulation header of the third packet is a unique device identifier of the access device in the large layer 2 network; performing, by the access device, a reverse path check on the third packet according to the reverse path check entry; and decapsulating, by the access device, after the check succeeds, the third packet to obtain an Ethernet packet, and forwarding, according to a MAC address entry, the Ethernet packet that is obtained by means of decapsulation.