Method and apparatus for configuring network elements to support real time applications

Techniques for configuring a network to support real-time applications include determining a first role of multiple of roles performed by network elements to completely support a particular real-time application. Each role is associated with multiple groups of policies. Each group of policies includes one or more policies associated with a class of network elements. The network includes multiple classes. Each policy includes a configuration command that causes a network element of an associated class to perform an action on a data packet to support an associated role. A first subset of network elements is selected from the network. The first subset includes network elements that perform the first role. The selection is based at least in part on network links in the network. Each network element in the first subset is associated with a group associated with the first role.