Methods and apparatuses are provided by which control in a virtual network is performed, in which resources of a network are modeled, wherein a network element is configured to be controlled by a first application control element, the method comprising establishing control information indicating at least one second application control element which is to be enabled to configure and/or control the network element, and sending the control information to a network control element. This network control element forwards the configuration information to a network element controller controlling the network element to accept configuration messages from the second application control element.