NETWORK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM USING VIRTUAL REALITY TECHNIQUES TO DISPLAY AND SIMULATE NAVIGATION TO NETWORK COMPONENTS

A network management system allows a network administrator to intuitively manage all components of a heterogeneous networked computer system using views of any component or any set of components. These views are generated in a multi-dimensional, virtual reality environment. Navigation tools are provided that allow an operator to travel through the network hierarchy's representation in the virtual environment using an automatic flight mode. Automatic flight mode determines a reasonable trajectory to a network component that avoids collisions with intervening objects in the virtual environment. Since the system is capable of managing a world-wide network, views of a network component may be organized by continent, wide area network, city, building, subnet, segment, and computer. A view may also display internal hardware, firmware, and software of any network component. Views of network components may be filtered so only components pertaining to a specific business or other interest are displayed.