Embodiments of the present invention include a method and a router for packet processing during a server failure. In the present invention, a router queries a locally-stored state of a primary value-added service server, thereby immediately learning the state of the primary value-added service server, and when the queried state of the primary value-added service server is a failed state, the router may immediately forward a received request packet to a request routing server for rerouting or forward it to a backup value-added service server, thereby shortening the waiting time of a client when the client requests a video value-added service. In addition, because addresses of backup value-added service servers are stored in the router, disadvantages that client complexity increases and network security is reduced in the prior art are overcome.