Embodiments of the present invention provide a method for creating a virtual link, a communication network element, and an Ethernet network system. The method includes the following: a first communication network element receives a communication request message sent by a second communication network element; the first communication network element allocates a first virtual MAC address and a second virtual MAC address for the virtual link between the first communication network element and the second communication network element; the first communication network element sends a response message in response to the communication request message to the second communication network element, where the response message carries the first virtual MAC address and the second virtual MAC address. Using the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present invention, two communication network elements on the Ethernet are capable of performing communication using a fibre channel on the Ethernet.