Network Service Chaining Problem Statement

This document provides an overview of the issues associated with the deployment of services functions (such as firewalls, load balancers) in large-scale environments. The term service function chaining is used to describe the deployment of such service functions, and the ability of a network operator to specify an ordered list of service functions that should be applied to a deterministic set of traffic flows. Such service function chains require integration of service policy alongside the deployment of applications, while allowing for the optimal utilization of network resources.