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Overview
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OpenDaylight performs the following functions:

* Logically centralizes programmatic control of the physical and virtual devices
  in your network.
* Controls devices with standard, open protocols.
* Provides higher-level abstractions of its capabilities so experienced network
  engineers and developers can create new applications to customize network
  setup and administration.

Common use cases for SDN are as follows:

#. Centralized network monitoring, management, and orchestration
#. Proactive network management and traffic engineering
#. Chaining packets through the different VMs, which is known as service
   function chaining (SFC). SFC enables Network Functions Virtualization (NFV),
   which is a network architecture concept that virtualizes entire classes of
   network node functions into building blocks that may connect, or chain
   together, to create communication services.
#. Cloud - managing both the virtual overlay and the physical underlay beneath
   it.