Packet forwarding method and port extender

A Port Extender (PE), comprising a processor and a forwarding chip, wherein

• receiving, by the forwarding chip, a packet;
• determining, by the forwarding chip, a first Virtual Port (vPort) associated to a receiving port through which the packet is received;
• sending, by the forwarding chip, the packet to the processor;
• adding, by the processor, a first forwarding entry in a forwarding table in response to a forwarding entry adding condition being satisfied, by recording the first vPort as an egress port in the first forwarding entry, recording a source MAC address of the packet as a Media Access Control (MAC) address in the first forwarding entry, and recording a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) identifier of a VLAN associated with the first vPort as a VLAN identifier in the first forwarding entry;
• searching, by the forwarding chip, the forwarding table for a second forwarding entry matching a destination MAC address of the packet and the VLAN identifier of a VLAN to which the packet belongs;
• searching, by the forwarding chip, a port associating relationship table for a port associated to a second vPort in the second forwarding entry;
• and
• forwarding, by the forwarding chip, the packet through the port associated to the second vPort.