An apparatus and method allows current network configuration information and
future
network configuration information to be stored, wherein the future network configuration
information reflects the future facilities planning considerations and may be dirived
from the current network configuration information. The system includes a directory
server on which a current map tree, containing current network configuration information
and a temporary map tree are stored. The temporary map tree only contains the information
for any components, organized into a tree structure, for which the configuration
changes are expected to occur in the future. The system responds to a request for
network configuration information that is applicable to any future time from any
external resquester, and searches the trees including the directory entries that
reside in the current map tree and temporary map tree.
