To support the next wave of networking technologies and services, which will likely involve heterogeneous resources and requirements, rich management functionality will need to be deployed. This raises questions regarding the interoperability of such functionality in an environment where potentially interacting applications operate in parallel. Interactions can cause configuration instabilities and subsequently network performance degradation, especially in the presence of contradicting objectives. Detecting and handling these interactions is therefore essential. In this article we present an overview of the interaction management problem, a critical issue in software-based networks. We review and compare existing solutions proposed in the literature and discuss key challenges toward the development of a generic framework for the automated and real-time management of these interactions.