A system and method for observing and controlling a programmable network via higher layer attributes is disclosed. According to one embodiment, the system includes one or more collectors and a remote network manager. The one or more collectors are configured to receive network traffic data from a plurality of network elements in the network. The remote network manager is configured to connect to the one or more collectors over the Internet via a network interface. The one or more collectors extract metadata from the network traffic data and send the metadata to the network manager.