A method and apparatus for keeping alive an L2TP tunnel state are provided, where the method includes: an active device and an opposite-end device establish an L2TP tunnel, the active device transmits to a standby device an interactive L2TP control message between the active device and the opposite-end device, and the active device performs corresponding processing on the L2TP control message only after having received a response about having stored the L2TP control message sent by the standby device; and when active-standby switching occurs between the active device and the standby device, the standby device connects to the opposite-end device via the L2TP tunnel, and performs corresponding processing according to the L2TP control message which has already been stored. Control messages of an active and standby device and an opposite-end device of the disclosure always keep synchronous, ensuring that when the active device has failed, after switching between the active and standby device, the standby device and the opposite-end device can work normally, which will not cause discarding of the message, and ensuring the normal working state.