A forwarding database cache system is described herein. The forwarding database cache system includes a main forwarding database and one or more forwarding database caches. When a packet is received, the cache is searched first for information such as address information, and if found, then the packet is forwarded to the appropriate destination. If the address information is not found in the cache, then the main forwarding database is searched, and the packet is forwarded to the appropriate destination based on the information in the main forwarding database.