System and method for automated rendering of service chaining

1. A method for applying service functions to a traffic flow of a network, the method comprising:

creating a catalog of service function (“SF”) profiles for use in a network comprising a distributed virtual switch (“DVS”), each of the profiles associated with an SF and indicates a type of the associated SF and an image location URL;

storing the catalog of SF profiles in a memory device of a service controller associated with the DVS;

configuring at least one attribute to override at least one default configuration of the service controller;

in response to configuring the at least one attribute, creating a service profile group template (“SPGT”) that includes at least one SF profile from the catalog of SF profiles, the SPGT including a service chain definition identifying at least one service chain comprising the SF associated with the at least one SF profile to be executed in connection with a service path and at least one policy for classifying traffic to the at least one service chain;

in response to creating the SPGT, synthesizing the SPGT by creating possible template service paths for deploying the service chain at least in part based on the at least one SF profile and to conform with the at least one policy;

in response to synthesizing the SPGT, deploying a first service profile group (“SPG”) instance of an SPG based at least in part on the service path of the possible template service paths of the SPGT, wherein the deploying includes assigning an identifier to the SPG instance and reserving resources for the SPG instance; and

in response to a threshold specific to the at least one SF profile being exceeded, automatically deploying an additional SPG instance based on the SPGT in accordance with a scaling policy included in the SPGT.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the SF profile further indicates for the associated SF capacity in normalized or actual units and resource requirements.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the SPGT includes an indication of a number of instances of the SF to be included in the service chain.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the SPGT includes a construction policy indicating whether an instance of the SF included in the service chain may be shared with another service chain.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the SPGT includes a deployment policy that indicates affinity and dependency requirements for SFs comprising the service chain.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scaling policy indicates conditions under which to add or remove instances of the SPG.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the SPGT includes a policy indicating a service level to be provided by the first SPG instance.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the SPGT includes a load balancing policy indicating how service paths are selected among instances of the SPG.

9. One or more non-transitory tangible media that includes code for execution and when executed by a processor is operable to perform operations comprising:

creating a catalog of service function (“SF”) profiles for use in a network comprising a distributed virtual switch (“DVS”), each of the profiles associated with an SF and indicates a type of the associated SF and an image location URL;

storing the catalog of SF profiles in a memory device of a service controller associated with the DVS;

configuring at least one attribute to override at least one default configuration of the service controller;

in response to configuring the at least one attribute, creating a service profile group template (“SPGT”) that includes at least one SF profile from the catalog of SF profiles, the SPGT including a service chain definition identifying at least one service chain comprising the SF associated with the at least one SF profile to be executed in connection with a service path and at least one policy for classifying traffic to the at least one service chain;

in response to creating the SPGT, synthesizing the SPGT by creating possible template service paths for deploying the service chain at least in part based on the at least one SF profile and to conform with the at least one policy;

in response to synthesizing the SPGT, deploying a first service profile group (“SPG”) instance of an SPG based at least in part on the service path of the possible template service paths of the SPGT, wherein the deploying includes assigning an identifier to the SPG instance and reserving resources for the SPG instance; and

in response to a threshold specific to the at least one SF profile being exceeded, automatically deploying an additional SPG instance based on the SPGT in accordance with a scaling policy included in the SPGT.

10. The media of claim 9 , wherein the SF profile further indicates for the associated SF capacity in normalized or actual units and resource requirements.

11. The media of claim 9 , wherein the SPGT includes an indication of a number of instances of the SF to be included in the service chain.

12. The media of claim 9 , wherein the SPGT includes a construction policy indicating whether an instance of the SF included in the service chain may be shared with another service chain.

13. The media of claim 9 , wherein the SPGT includes a deployment policy that indicates affinity and dependency requirements for SFs comprising the service chain.

14. The media of claim 9 , wherein the scaling policy indicates conditions under which to add or remove instances of the SPG.

15. The media of claim 9 , wherein the SPGT includes a policy indicating a service level to be provided by the SPG.

16. The media of claim 9 , wherein the SPGT includes a load balancing policy indicating how service paths are selected among instances of the SPG.

17. An apparatus comprising:

a memory element configured to store data; and

a processor operable to execute instructions associated with the data;

the apparatus configured for:

creating a catalog of service function (“SF”) profiles for use in a network comprising a distributed virtual switch (“DVS”), each of the profiles associated with an SF and indicates a type of the associated SF and an image location URL;

storing the catalog of SF profiles in a memory device of a service controller associated with the DVS;

configuring at least one attribute to override at least one default configuration of the service controller;

in response to configuring the at least one attribute, creating a service profile group template (“SPGT”) that includes at least one SF profile from the catalog of SF profiles, the SPGT including a service chain definition identifying at least one service chain comprising the SF associated with the at least one SF profile to be executed in connection with a service path and at least one policy for classifying traffic to the at least one service chain;

in response to creating the SPGT, synthesizing the SPGT by creating possible template service paths for deploying the service chain at least in part based on the at least one SF profile and to conform with the at least one policy;

in response to synthesizing the SPGT, deploying a first service profile group (“SPG”) instance of an SPG based at least in part on the service path of the possible template service paths of the SPGT, wherein the deploying includes assigning an identifier to the SPG instance and reserving resources for the SPG instance; and

in response to a threshold specific to the at least one SF profile being exceeded, automatically deploying an additional SPG instance based on the SPGT in accordance with a scaling policy included in the SPGT.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the SF profile further indicates for the associated SF capacity in normalized or actual units and resource requirements.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the SPGT includes an indication of a number of instances of the SF to be included in the service chain.

20. The apparatus according to claim 17 , wherein the scaling policy indicates conditions under which to add or remove instances of the SPG.