Controls can reduce the complexity and learning curve associated with acting as a resource client by utilizing a unified client model that can provide access to diverse types of resources, the configuration options, operations, and events exposed by a resource. Controls can also provide transparent (to the client) resource management of connections, sessions, or other resources to be obtained on behalf of the client. In addition, an external configuration module can be utilized to define how properties can be bounded by external configurations, enabling the overriding of attributes of the resource at deployment time.