A self organizing network within a software defined networking environment is provided to allow for fast updating of radio access network parameters which enables optimization algorithms to converge on optimized configurations very quickly. The self organizing network is enabled by providing a self organizing network manager plug-in within a software defined networking environment that interfaces with a radio access network plug-in via a service abstraction layer to quickly obtain base station device parameters, iteratively adjust the base station device parameters to obtain optimized radio access network configurations to mitigate outages, reduce power consumption, manage load, or provide other benefits.