In one embodiment, an apparatus for providing quantized congestion notification (QCN) proxy functionality to a network device control plane includes a processor and logic integrated with and/or executable by the processor, the logic being configured to enable QCN proxy functionality for a particular congestion notification priority value (CNPV) on each edge port of a QCN edge switch, wherein the QCN edge switch includes one or more edge ports connected to devices outside of a congestion notification domain (CND) that operates on the particular CNPV, and forward congestion notification packets received at the QCN edge switch using the QCN proxy functionality when the packets are destined for one of the devices connected outside of the CND that is not QCN-enabled. Other systems, methods, and computer program products for providing QCN proxy functionality to a network device control plane are described in more embodiments.