1. A method of managing configuration information of a network device, comprising: at the network device, (1) maintaining running configuration information of the network device, (2) changing the running configuration information in response to (i) configuration change requests received from a network management system at a first interface and (ii) configuration change requests received from outside the network management system at a second interface, and (3) in response to receiving an upload configuration request from the network management system, transferring a configuration file containing the running configuration information to the network management system; and at the network management system, (1) maintaining a database including configuration information for the network device, the configuration information potentially being outdated due to the configuration change requests received by the network device at the second interface, and (2) under predetermined conditions, (i) sending an upload configuration request to the network device and subsequently receiving the configuration file from the network device, and (ii) updating the configuration information in the database using the contents of the configuration file.