The invention relates to a method for managing a network comprising a plurality of network components, and to a corresponding
network management system. According to the invention, information about the network is persistently stored by filing object references in a
database. Object references are used for the unambiguous identification of an object, and an object is a program representation of a
network component, containing an
executable program routine which, when called, emits data containing the information to be stored, as a return value. The program routine can be localized by-means of the respective filed object reference. The persistent storage of
network management data by means of dynamic object references enables a
network management program to access novel types or categories of objects, during its run-time, without necessitating an
upgrade or a service interruption. The objects are preferably
JAVA objects or EJB (Enterprise
Java Beans) objects. Preferably, the implementation is carried out in CORBA. The
database containing the object references is preferably a
relational database.