1. A method for gathering and monitoring the simultaneous status of nodes in a storage area network (SAN), comprising: receiving alert messages corresponding to status events in the storage area network, each status event having a corresponding event category and severity value, the storage area network having nodes that include manageable entities, the manageable entities responsive to a server in the storage area network, the nodes including storage entities, connectivity entities, and database entities; aggregating the alert messages according to event category and severity value to generate a category specific severity ranking of the alert messages; displaying a status array having a plurality of chart entries, each chart entry corresponding to alert messages of a particular event category and each chart entry having a node entry for each node having status attributable to the alert messages, the status array is an N by M matrix of the plurality of chart entries, the plurality of chart entries including: i) a general alert chart entry displaying alert status of managed entities in the storage area network; ii) a storage chart entry indicating alert status of managed storage entities in the storage area network; iii) a host chart entry indicating alert status of managed host entities in the storage area network; and iv) a connectivity chart entry indicating alert status of managed connectivity entities in the storage area network; receiving a selection of at least one node in the N by M status array matrix of the plurality of chart entries; displaying the status array including simultaneously listing, for each category type, nodes having status events of greatest severity displaying, within at least one chart entry, node entries in relation to the selected at least one node in order to display the simultaneous status of nodes in the storage area network; and displaying, within at least one chart entry, node entries having a status event associated with the event category for that chart entry, the node entries displayed in the chart entry according to the severity ranking and each node entry indicative of a severity scale of status for the corresponding effected node.