A ring network failure switching method, includes: receiving first data traffic, where the first data traffic includes a destination MAC address; querying a forwarding entry stored in a local node according to the destination MAC address, to obtain a ring network identifier corresponding to the destination MAC address, where the ring network identifier is uniquely corresponding to the first node connected to the destination MAC address; and obtain path state information of a link corresponding to the ring network identifier; and transmitting the first data traffic to the first node in a direction that is opposite to that of the link when the path state information indicates that the link is in a failure state.