A method of defining policy for a network virtualization platform of a data center is provided. The method receives a registration of one or more actions provided by each of a plurality of data center services. The method defines a policy template by receiving the identification of a set of data center resources and a set of actions registered by a set of data center services to be applied to each identified resource. The method instantiates the template into a set of policy instances that each includes an identification of one or more resources and identification of one or more actions identified in the policy template. The policy is then enforced by the set of data center services by applying the actions identified in each policy instance to the resources identified in the policy instance.