A method for providing value added services (VAS) in a software defined network (SDN). The method comprises determining which value added services and their order should be assigned to an incoming traffic; determining for each of the one or more value added services their respective servers providing the value added services and assigning a unique diversion value to each server; instructing at least one peer network element to set a diversion field in each packet in the incoming traffic with a diversion value corresponding to a server providing a first value added service of the one or more value added services; and instructing each edge network element to set the diversion field of each packet output by the server to designate a destination node for the packet, wherein the destination node is any one of the destination server and a server providing a subsequent value added service.