An Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) acceleration method includes generating, by an Internet Key Exchange (IKE) device, an IKE link establishment session packet according to an IPSec configuration parameter and a security policy in a security policy database (SPD), sending, by the IKE device, the IKE link establishment session packet to a peer device, establishing a security association (SA) with the peer device, and sending, by the IKE module, the SA to a data forwarding device, where the IKE device and the data forwarding device are discrete devices.