Flow entry configuration method, apparatus, and system

A switch, comprising:

• a hardware forwarding chip configured to forward a data packet;
• and
• a communications apparatus coupled to the hardware forwarding chip and configured to:
• report information about a first data packet of a first service to a controller coupled to the switch in the SDN system;
• receive a first flow entry of the first service from the controller, wherein the first flow entry is generated by the controller based on the information about the first data packet and a flow table structure, wherein the flow table structure is used to generate, for different hardware flow tables corresponding to a plurality of switches, the first flow entry for processing data packets of the first service, wherein the flow table structure comprises a plurality of match fields and a plurality of actions, wherein the plurality of match fields comprise a match field of the first service, and wherein the plurality of actions comprise an action for processing data packets of the first service;
• determine, from a plurality of preconfigured service paths, a first target service path associated with the first flow entry, wherein a match field of the first target service path comprises the match field of the first service, and an action of the first target service path comprises the action for processing data packets of the first service;
• and
• configure, according to the first flow entry of the first service, a flow entry of a target hardware flow table corresponding to the first target service path, wherein the target hardware flow table is a hardware flow table of a hardware forwarding chip in the switch.