Aspects of the disclosure are directed to a software defined network (SDN) having a sharded control plane. The SDN may include a host device and a sharded control plane. The sharded control plane may include a first controller and a second controller sharded by one or more dimensions. The first controller and the second controller may be configured to process requests received from the first host device based on their respective sharded one or more dimensions. The one or more dimensions may be networks or functions.