Patent ID: 9654395
Date: 2017-05-16
CPC Classifications: G06F,H04L

Claim:
1. A method for providing service chaining in a software-defined network (SDN)-based network system which comprises a plurality of switches and a controller to control the plurality of switches, the method comprising: receiving, at the controller, a first packet-in message from a first switch of the plurality of switches, which has received a service request packet from a user, to indicate that the first switch does not have a corresponding entry in a field extracted from the service request packet; extracting from the packet-in message both a service identifier that identifies a type of a service requested through the service request packet and a user identifier that identifies the user; searching an entry database (DB) for an entry list that enables the service request packet to be forwarded to a network function list that corresponds to the service identifier and the user identifier, with reference to a service table, a user table, and a network function table which are associated with one another; and in response to an entry DB search result that a packet forwarding entry of the service request packet is not present in the entry DB, updating the entry DB with reference to a topology table such that a path for forwarding the service request packet is generated in the network function list.