Data plane and control plane are definitely a thing in real physical systems- look at a classical router, where the packet processor works independently of, and

Data plane and control plane are definitely a thing in real physical systems- look at a classical router, where the packet processor works independently of, and is occasionally programmed by, or assisted by, a message passing from the data plane to the control plane. That control plane is typical elsewhere on the main board, talking to the data plane through a well-specific protocol. Google's network is complicated, making many assumptions about "what is prod" etc hard to reason about.