The use of a relational database management system (RDBMS) to maintain a near-real-time representation of the state of the network in a database is discussed. Network device interfaces that feed information, through RDBMS programs, about the state of the network into the database require a much higher level of performance than that typically required of applications with more normal user interfaces. In a well-known online transaction processing (OLTP) benchmark, users are assumed to submit a transaction once every 10 s; network monitoring device interfaces can easily run at 1000 times that rate. The data management techniques required to keep up with such transaction rates are examined. It is shown that although the overhead imposed by an RDBMS at run time can be significant when compared to a completely customized solution, an RDBMS is very desirable because of its portability, maintainability, and reliability and the availability of general-purpose tools. An application design facilitated by the architecture of the RDBMS that provides a maintainable and portable solution that meets performance requirements is described.