A method of configuring system resources including: receiving a specification of an intent that identifies a desired service and a reference architecture, wherein the specification of the intent identifies a computer network topology to be implemented for connections between a plurality of computer networking devices, and the specification specifies a role for each of the plurality of computer network devices; and using a processor to render the desired service to automatically provide declarative device requirement instructions for dispatch to the plurality of computer networking devices having the specified roles, wherein the plurality of devices includes a plurality of computer networking switches to be configured using at least a portion the automatically provided declarative device requirement instructions generated for each of the computer network switches based on the specified role of the each computer network switch and the plurality of computer networking switches are configured using at least a portion the automatically provided declarative device requirement instructions including by translating respective portions of the automatically provided declarative device requirement instructions to a plurality of different native format device instructions for the different computer networking switches using a plurality of different proxy agents (116, 118) of the different computer networking switches (402, 404); wherein rendering the desired service includes automatically selecting among a plurality of service rendering program functions a subset of one or more service rendering program functions based on the reference architecture and the specified role of a specific device within the reference architecture and invoking the selected subset of one or more service rendering program functions; and wherein a specification of a new reference architecture allows the new reference architecture to be implemented utilizing at least a portion of the same plurality of computer networking devices configured using a new set of one or more service rendering program functions selected among the plurality of service rendering program functions based on the new reference architecture and a role of a specific device within the new reference architecture. receiving a specification of an intent that identifies a desired service and a reference architecture, wherein the specification of the intent identifies a computer network topology to be implemented for connections between a plurality of computer networking devices, and the specification specifies a role for each of the plurality of computer network devices; and using a processor to render the desired service to automatically provide declarative device requirement instructions for dispatch to the plurality of computer networking devices having the specified roles, wherein the plurality of devices includes a plurality of computer networking switches to be configured using at least a portion the automatically provided declarative device requirement instructions generated for each of the computer network switches based on the specified role of the each computer network switch and the plurality of computer networking switches are configured using at least a portion the automatically provided declarative device requirement instructions including by translating respective portions of the automatically provided declarative device requirement instructions to a plurality of different native format device instructions for the different computer networking switches using a plurality of different proxy agents (116, 118) of the different computer networking switches (402, 404); wherein rendering the desired service includes automatically selecting among a plurality of service rendering program functions a subset of one or more service rendering program functions based on the reference architecture and the specified role of a specific device within the reference architecture and invoking the selected subset of one or more service rendering program functions; and wherein a specification of a new reference architecture allows the new reference architecture to be implemented utilizing at least a portion of the same plurality of computer networking devices configured using a new set of one or more service rendering program functions selected among the plurality of service rendering program functions based on the new reference architecture and a role of a specific device within the new reference architecture.