A policy enforcement point (PEP) attaches to the edge of a network to manage loading when the network nears or exceeds its capacity due to changes in the network, e.g., component failures or incremental growth. Autonomous PEP's at the network's edges provide short-term, application-aware controls on their own that are applied to the corresponding network ingress traffic. Path tables are used to calculate whether particular PEP's can admit more traffic, or should they shed sessions/calls to keep service up for the existing application traffic. Long-term controls are periodically downloaded as admission tables from a session/call admission controller to the PEP's.