An aspect of the invention provides a method for managing information associated with a hierarchical key. A plurality of hash tables are created for a plurality of levels of a hierarchy associated with a hierarchical key, wherein each hash table is associated with a corresponding level of the hierarchy. Entries are stored within each of the plurality of hash tables, wherein the entries are associated with key names that have as many levels as the level associated with the respective hash table. Furthermore, a reference to a descendant entry that is in a respective hash table may be stored within each entry.