A handle administration system is described in which software agents receive handles to various resources that they can use to obtain the resources. The described embodiments provide multiple states that can be assumed by the handles. An unassigned state is provided in which handles are not assigned to a particular resource, nor can they be dereferenced to obtain pointers to any resources. An assigned state is provided in which handles are assigned to a particular resource and can be dereferenced to obtain a pointer to the resource. A suspended state is provided in which the handles are assigned to a particular resource but cannot be dereferenced to obtain a pointer to that resource. Advantageously, a suspended handle can be reinstated to assume the assigned state. In one embodiment, the handle system is implemented by incorporating a suitable field in a handle database that is used to indicate that a handle is suspended. In another embodiment, no additional fields are necessary. Rather, handle values in the handle database are manipulated to indicate that a handle has been suspended. These manipulations can be easily undone to reinstate a handle. In the described embodiment, a three state handle system can be advantageously employed to implement a two-phase commit operation.