Central policy based traffic management

A switching node configuring different traffic management protocols via a single centralized set of policies. The switching node includes a central policy repository, a central policy engine, and a central management engine. The central policy repository stores a single set of policies used to manage a plurality of different traffic management protocols in a consistent and predictable manner. The different traffic management protocols may include QoS, NAT, ACL, and the like. The central policy engine evaluates inbound traffic flows based on the policies in the central policy repository, and configures one or more traffic management protocol entities based on a selected policy. The management engine configures and manages the single set of policies via a common set of commands helping to eliminate the danger of creating conflicting policies that may lead to unpredictable results.