In accordance with one or more embodiments, aspects of the disclosure may provide efficient, effective, and convenient ways of managing network devices. In particular, a client router may connect to an upstream virtual gateway. The virtual gateway may manage a large number of client devices. Each client router may be represented virtually within the gateway as a virtual router. The virtual gateways may be distributed regionally, in order to manage large numbers of client routers and/or to reduce transmission delays. The virtual gateways may be managed by a gateway controller. The gateway controller may be centralized, and perform various configuration functions, such as configurations for hardware, logical networking, or content access policies. In some instances, messages sent between the gateway controller using a first protocol and the client router using a second protocol may be translated by a protocol agent.