Method for supporting service level agreement monitoring in a software defined network and corresponding software defined network

A software defined network for supporting service level agreement monitoring, the software defined network comprising forwarding elements and a software defined network controller for controlling the forwarding elements,

• wherein the forwarding elements comprise a first end-path forwarding element, a second end-path forwarding element, and at least one intermediate forwarding element,
• wherein data flows are transmitted between the first end-path forwarding element and the second end-path forwarding element via the at least one intermediate forwarding element between the first end-path forwarding element and the second end-path forwarding element,
• wherein the software defined network controller is operable to configure the intermediate forwarding element such that a probe triggering packet is generated by the intermediate forwarding element based on local information of the intermediate forwarding element, the local information having been measured by the intermediate forwarding element,
• wherein the software defined network controller is further operable to configure at least one of said the first end-path forwarding element or the second end-path forwarding element such that an end-to-end probing is triggered, and
• wherein the end-to-end probing is performed in order to detect a service level agreement violation.