System and method for improved service chaining

1. A network computing apparatus, comprising:

one or more logic elements, including at least one hardware logic element, comprising a service chain engine to:

receive an incoming packet associated with a first service function chain;

identify a next hop service function for the incoming packet as a non-reactive service function;

create a duplicate packet with a rewritten network services header (NSH);

forward the duplicate packet to the non-reactive service function based on the rewritten NSH;

decrement a service index of the incoming packet; and

forward the incoming packet to a next service function, after the service index of the incoming packet has been decremented, if the next service function is identified as a reactive service function.

2. The network computing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein forwarding the duplicate packet to the non-reactive service function comprises sending the incoming packet to a non-reactive service function chain.

3. The network computing apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the non-reactive service function chain includes only a single service function.

4. The network computing apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the single service function is followed by a “drop” action.

5. The network computing apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the non-reactive service function chain includes a plurality of non-reactive service functions.

6. The network computing apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of non-reactive service functions includes at least one service function that is locally reactive.

7. The network computing apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the plurality of non-reactive service functions is followed by a “drop” action.

8. A network computing apparatus comprising:

one or more logic elements, including at least one hardware logic element, comprising a software-defined networking controller engine to:

receive an incoming packet associated with a first service function chain (SFC), having a first service path identifier (SPI);

determine that the incoming packet has a first service index (SI), and that a next-hop SI identifies a non-reactive service function (NRSF);

receive a duplicate packet of the incoming packet;

rewrite a service header of the duplicate packet to identify a second SFC having a second SPI, wherein the second SPI is different from the first SPI;

alter the first SI of the incoming packet to identify a next reactive service function in the first SFC;

determine that the incoming packet identifies a reactive service function; and

forward the incoming packet to the reactive service function.

9. The network computing apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the second SFC is a non-reactive service function chain (NRSFC).

10. The network computing apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the NRSFC includes only a single service function.

11. The network computing apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the single service function is followed by a “drop” action.

12. The network computing apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the NRSFC includes a plurality of non-reactive service functions.

13. The network computing apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of non-reactive service functions includes at least one service function that is locally reactive.

14. The network computing apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of non-reactive service functions is followed by a “drop” action.

15. One or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums having stored thereon executing instructions for providing a service chain engine to:

receive an incoming packet associated with a first service function chain;

identify a next hop service function for the incoming packet as a non-reactive service function;

create a duplicate packet with a rewritten network services header (NSH);

forward the duplicate packet to the non-reactive service function based on the rewritten NSH;

decrement a service index of the duplicate packet; and

forward the incoming packet to a next service function, after the service index of the incoming packet has been decremented, if the next service function is identified as a reactive service function.

16. The one or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums of claim 15 , wherein forwarding the duplicate packet to the non-reactive service function comprises sending the incoming packet to a non-reactive service function chain.

17. The one or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums of claim 16 , wherein the non-reactive service function chain includes only a single service function.

18. The one or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums of claim 17 , wherein the single service function is followed by a “drop” action.

19. One or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable mediums having stored thereon executable instructions for providing a software-defined networking controller engine to:

receive an incoming packet associated with a first service function chain (SFC), having a first service path identifier (SPI);

determine that the incoming packet has a first service index (SI), and that a next-hop SI identifies a non-reactive service function (NRSF);

receive a duplicate packet of the incoming packet;

rewrite a service header of the duplicate packet to identify a second SFC having a second SPI, wherein the second SPI is different from the first SPI;

alter the first SI of the incoming packet;

determine that the incoming packet identifies a reactive service function; and

forward the incoming packet to the reactive service function.

20. The one or more tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage mediums of claim 19 , wherein the second SFC is a non-reactive service function chain (NRSFC).