1. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more hardware processors, causes performance of operations comprising: identifying a plurality of virtual topology entities (VTEs) in a first virtual topology, wherein each VTE of the plurality of VTEs is associated with a functionality; traversing each VTE of the plurality of VTEs to determine respective relationships associated with each VTE; wherein a particular relationship associated with a first VTE, of the plurality of VTEs, identifies (a) a second VTE, of the plurality of VTEs, that is related to the first VTE and (b) a forwarding policy that governs a transmission of data between the first VTE and the second VTE; storing a description of the respective relationships associated with each VTE of the plurality of VTEs into a virtual topology template; and instantiating, on one or more hardware devices, a second virtual topology including the plurality of VTEs, and the respective relationships associated with the plurality of VTEs, based on the virtual topology template.