Generally, a network management system collects management information from each network equipment in a network and stores the collected management information for managing the network. Information required for network management including the collected management information is displayed by the network management system.
As the performance of personal computers and workstations is enhanced, a plurality of computers can be connected through a local area network (LAN) to construct a network system. Through a LAN, various types of operating systems are provided on computers functioning as clients or servers which are connected through the network to operate in a cooperative manner.
In such a network system, as the scale thereof expands, the number of computers functioning as clients and servers extends to several hundreds or even to several thousands. When the network manages and operates the respective computers as their numbers increase, the loads of the system operators and the cost accordingly increase. In order to solve such scalability problems, a management system has been proposed in which a manager tool is provided on at least one of the servers on the LAN. An agent for managing each computer is also provided in accordance with directions from the manager tool in each of the servers connected to the LAN. In this manner, central management is achieved by the manager tool through the network In particular, when a system performing an essential business function of an enterprise is to be constructed, a management system focused on fault management of the server is provided.
In general, a network system is divided into hierarchies such as those defined by geographical classification, management classification and detailed information being displayed in the form of a map having a plurality of hierarchical levels. These hierarchies are defined and implemented so that .the configuration of a large-scale complex network can readily be identified. However, a conventional network management system requires a human operator to command the system for executing the management operations. As most of the management operations are performed in the console of the system manager, thousands to tens of thousands of computers under the control of the network system. The system manager commands the computers by entering a series of instructions which are then sent to the device nodes necessary to perform the management operations under the control of the system console. As a result, the system manager is required to perform a tedious operation process with a burdensome load of plural instructions. Furthermore, since most of the management operations are performed in the console of the system manager, the calculation load is unbearably high, resulting in a long wait time before proceeding from one instruction to the next. The total operation time is consequently very long, where the system manager idles for a long time in waiting for the operation results.