Technology related to processing network packets in a subscriber-aware manner is disclosed. In one example, a method includes selecting one or more subscribers to move from a first network processing node to a second network processing node. In response to the selection, subscriber data associated with the one or more subscribers can be programmed at the second network processing node. After the subscriber data associated with the one or more subscribers is programmed on the second network processing node, a software defined network (SDN) switch can be reprogrammed to forward network traffic having network addresses associated with the one or more subscribers to the second network processing node instead of the first network processing node.