Self-configuring active services for programmable networks

This paper presents a service framework that allows routers to be programmed with user-specific code and coordinated such that the underlying network provides anticipated network services on behalf of applications. We describe how network services can be composed based on a high-level specification defining required and conditional processing steps, how capabilities about processing resources can be disseminated throughout the network by extending the OSPF protocol daemon, how services requirements are mapped onto the underlying network while minimizing both link and processing costs, and how service code is installed on selected nodes and forwarding state established along explicitly routed paths.