--- /dev/null
+/*
+ * Copyright (c) 2013 Cisco Systems, Inc. and others. All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * This program and the accompanying materials are made available under the
+ * terms of the Eclipse Public License v1.0 which accompanies this distribution,
+ * and is available at http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html
+ */
+
+package org.opendaylight.controller.sal.flowprogrammer;
+
+import org.opendaylight.controller.sal.core.Node;
+import org.opendaylight.controller.sal.utils.Status;
+
+/**
+ * Interface that defines the methods available to the functional modules above
+ * SAL for installing/modifying/removing flows on a network node
+ */
+public interface IFlowProgrammerService {
+ /**
+ * Synchronously add a flow to the network node
+ *
+ * @param node
+ * The target network node
+ * @param flow
+ * The flow to install
+ * @return The status of this request
+ */
+ Status addFlow(Node node, Flow flow);
+
+ /**
+ * Synchronously modify existing flow on the switch
+ *
+ * @param node
+ * The target network node
+ * @param oldFlow
+ * The existing flow to modify
+ * @param newFlow
+ * The new flow to install
+ * @return The status of this request
+ */
+ Status modifyFlow(Node node, Flow oldFlow, Flow newFlow);
+
+ /**
+ * Synchronously remove the flow from the network node
+ *
+ * @param node
+ * The target network node
+ * @param flow
+ * The flow to remove
+ * @return The status of this request
+ */
+ Status removeFlow(Node node, Flow flow);
+
+ /**
+ * Asynchronously add a flow to the network node
+ *
+ * @param node
+ * The target network node
+ * @param flow
+ * The flow to install
+ * @return The status of this request containing the unique request id
+ */
+ Status addFlowAsync(Node node, Flow flow);
+
+ /**
+ * Asynchronously modify existing flow on the switch
+ *
+ * @param node
+ * The target network node
+ * @param oldFlow
+ * The existing flow to modify
+ * @param newFlow
+ * The new flow to install
+ * @return The status of this request containing the unique request id
+ */
+ Status modifyFlowAsync(Node node, Flow oldFlow, Flow newFlow);
+
+ /**
+ * Asynchronously remove the flow from the network node
+ *
+ * @param node
+ * The target network node
+ * @param flow
+ * The flow to remove
+ * @return The status of this request containing the unique request id
+ */
+ Status removeFlowAsync(Node node, Flow flow);
+
+ /**
+ * Remove all flows present on the network node
+ *
+ * @param node
+ * The target network node
+ * @return The status of this request containing the unique request id
+ */
+ Status removeAllFlows(Node node);
+
+ /**
+ * Send Barrier message synchronously. The caller will be blocked until the
+ * solicitation response arrives.
+ *
+ * Solicit the network node to report whether all the requests sent so far
+ * are completed. When this call is done, caller knows that all past flow
+ * operations requested to the node in asynchronous fashion were satisfied
+ * by the network node and that in case of any failure, a message was sent
+ * to the controller.
+ *
+ * @param node
+ * The network node to solicit
+ * @return The status of this request containing the unique request id
+ */
+ Status syncSendBarrierMessage(Node node);
+
+ /**
+ * Send Barrier message asynchronously. The caller is not blocked.
+ *
+ * Solicit the network node to report whether all the requests sent so far
+ * are completed. When this call is done, caller knows that all past flow
+ * operations requested to the node in asynchronous fashion were satisfied
+ * by the network node and that in case of any failure, a message was sent
+ * to the controller.
+ *
+ * @param node
+ * The network node to solicit
+ * @return The status of this request containing the unique request id
+ */
+ Status asyncSendBarrierMessage(Node node);
+}