Supporting services in distributed networks

Various example embodiments for supporting services within a distributed cloud network are configured to support capabilities for solving a cloud service distribution problem for a set of services to be deployed within a distributed cloud network in order to determine the placement of service functions of the services within the cloud network, the routing of service flows of the services through the appropriate service functions of the services within the cloud network, and the associated allocation of cloud and network resources that support the deployment and routing of the services within the cloud network. Various example embodiments for supporting services within a distributed cloud network are configured to support capabilities for solving a cloud service distribution problem for a set of services to be deployed within a distributed cloud network in a manner for reducing or even minimizing the overall cloud network cost in the distributed cloud network