In access-uplink mode, IES IP interface bound to routed VPLS services, IES IP interface on access SAPs and IES IP interface on access-uplink SAPs are designed for use with inband management of the node. Consequently, they share a common set of queues for CPU bound management traffic. All CPU bound traffic is policed to predefined rates before being queued into CPU queues for application processing. The system uses meters per application or a set of applications. It does not allocate meters per IP interface. The possibility of CPU overloading has been reduced by use of these mechanisms. Users must use appropriate security policies either on the node or in the network to ensure that this does not happen.