A method for managing tables that are used by network processors to control network traffic through a network. The method comprises including a first table management software application in a first network processor, in which the first table management software is dedicated to managing only tables associated with the first network processor; including a second table management software application in a second network processor, in which the second table management software application is dedicated to managing only tables associated with the second network processor; and including a table management control application in a host processor, in which the table management control application is configured to respectively manage the tables associated with the first network processor and the tables associated with the second network processor through the first table management software application and the second table management software application through a plurality of generic application programming interfaces (APIs).