Patent attributes
Disclosed is distributed routing and load balancing in a dynamic service chain, receiving a packet at a first service instance, including a NSH imposed on the by a service classifier. The NSH includes a stream affinity code consistent for packets in a stream. The method also includes processing the packet at the first instance where the instance performs a first service in a service chain that includes second and third services. The first service instance accesses a flow table using the stream affinity code to select a second service instance performing the second service from among service instances performing the second service, and the first instance routes the packet to the selected second service instance upon egress from the first service instance. The method can include hashing the stream affinity code to access the flow table and access an available instance using the hash as a key to a CHT.
