Display of system information

A stem for displaying information regarding components in a computer network, comprising:

• means for providing a plurality of operational parameters about different components in a computer network, said operational parameters further organized into a plurality of hierarchical levels;
• means for providing a plurality of forms, each of said forms organized to correspond to one of said hierarchical levels, each of said forms further configured to provide descriptions of at least one of said operational parameters associated with said hierarchical levels and to permit modification of at least one of said operational parameters associated with said hierarchical levels;
• means for displaying said hierarchical levels in a first display pane;
• means for selecting one of said hierarchical levels;
• means for displaying said form corresponding to said one of said hierarchical levels in a second display pane;
• means for selecting of another one of said hierarchical levels;
• and
• means for replacing said form corresponding to said one of said hierarchical levels with said form corresponding to said another one of said hierarchical levels in said second display pane.

A program storage device entering instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform the method, comprising:

• providing a plurality of operational parameters about different components in a computer network wherein some of said operational parameters are inaccessible and some of said operational parameters are accessible and wherein said operational parameters are further organized into a plurality of hierarchical levels;
• providing a plurality of forms which are configured to exclude data about said inaccessible operational parameters, each of said forms corresponding to one of said hierarchical levels;
• displaying said hierarchical levels in a first display pane;
• selecting one of said hierarchical levels;
• and
• displaying said form corresponding to said one of said hierarchical levels in a second display pane and permitting modification of at least one of said accessible operational parameters.

A system for displaying information regarding components in a computer network, for use in a computer system including a computer and a display, the system comprising:

• a data structure comprising a plurality of operational parameters about different components in a computer network, said operational parameters further organized into a plurality of hierarchical levels;
• a forms module comprising a plurality of forms which enable the display and modification of one or more of said operational parameters, each of said forms corresponding to one of said hierarchical levels;
• and
• a display module configured
• to display said hierarchical levels in a first display pane,
• to enable the selection of ones of said hierarchical levels,
• to display said form corresponding to said one selected hierarchical level in a second display pane, and further configured such that in response to the selection of another one of said hierarchical levels via said first display pane, said display module will cause the replacing of the display of the form corresponding to said one hierarchical level with the display of the form corresponding to the selected another one of said hierarchical levels.