Abstract: The invention relates to a method of providing connections in a communications network, a connection being set up by a server in response to a service request from a client, the method comprising the steps of providing a representation of a connection corresponding to the respective service request, and of establishing the connection on the basis of the representation. According to the invention the method is characterized in that the representation comprises at least two levels of abstraction. This provides the possibility for the client to choose and manipulate a suitably detailed representation of the connection. Preferably, only the representation having the highest level of abstraction is initially offered to the client, the other representation or representations only being presented upon subsequent client request.