Patent ID: 9614739
Date: 2017-04-04
CPC Classifications: H04L

Claim:
1. A method comprising: at a service controller in a network comprising a plurality of service nodes, identifying one or more service-functions hosted by each of the service nodes; defining, at the service controller, a stacked service-function chain in terms of service-functions to be applied to traffic in the network, wherein the stacked service-function chain specifies at least one additional classifier node, and wherein the stacked service-function chain separates first and second sub-chains of the service-function chain; identifying a modifying service-function configured to change the flow specification of traffic processed by the modifying service-function; determining that the modifying service-function is to be part of the stacked service-function chain; and inserting the at least one additional classifier node into the stacked service-function chain immediately after the modifying service-function; and providing information descriptive of the stacked service-function chain to a classifier node in the network.