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.