Techniques are described herein for service chaining in fabric networks such that hardware resources can be preserved without service nodes needing additional capabilities. The techniques may include storing a first configuration associated with a first VRF instance of a service forwarding node that is connected to a first service of a service chain sequence. The first configuration may indicate an identifier and a type associated with a second service of the service chain sequence where traffic is to be sent after the first service. Additionally, the techniques may also include storing a second configuration associated with a second VRF instance of the service forwarding node that is connected to the second service. The second configuration may indicate that the second service is a last service of the service chain sequence. When traffic is received at the service forwarding node, the service forwarding node can determine whether the traffic is pre-service traffic or post-service traffic.