A computer-controlled method to configure a network of devices acquires a specific instance of an abstract application of at least one component in a first network, captures and stores fields of the component in the abstract application, classifies the fields as to how the fields are to be used in matching, provides field values for fields within each component to be used in matching, and store the fields, components and values as a general instance of the abstract application. An apparatus has an acquisition mechanism to acquire a specific instance of an abstract application of at least one component in a first network, a generalization mechanism to identify and generalize fields and values associated with the component, and a store to store the fields, components and values as a general instance of the abstract application. A computer-controlled method to configure a network of devices receives, at a network, a general instance of an abstract application having fields of at least one component and fields having values, identifies at least one component in the network having at least one of the fields in the general instance, and using the fields and values to resolve the general instance into a specific instance of the abstract application in the network. An apparatus has a discovery mechanism for discovering a generalized instance of an abstract application, the abstract application having at least one component having fields and the fields having values, and an importation mechanism to identify a component in the network having at least one of the fields in the general instance and to use the fields and values to resolve the general instance into a specific instance of the abstract application in the network.