Patent ID: 7437621

Claim:
A rack management system comprising: a plurality of racks, each for accommodating two or more apparatuses; a management terminal for managing operation states of the apparatuses accommodated in the plural racks; a plurality of configuration retaining apparatuses, corresponding one to each of said plural racks, each of which is for retaining configuration information of the apparatuses accommodated in the corresponding rack; and a communication network for exchanging information between said management terminal and the plural configuration retaining apparatuses, wherein said management terminal includes a management terminal communication section for communicating with each of said plural configuration retaining apparatuses through said communication network, a management terminal monitor for displaying information concerning the operation states of the apparatuses accommodated in said plural racks which information is to be referred to by a management operator, and a management terminal displaying controller for controlling a displaying state of said management terminal monitor, each said configuration retaining apparatus includes a configuration retaining apparatus communication section for communicating with said management terminal through said communication network, a configuration retaining apparatus monitor for displaying information concerning the operation states of the apparatuses accommodated in the corresponding rack which information is to be referred to by a maintenance operator, and a configuration retaining apparatus displaying controller for controlling a displaying state of said configuration retaining apparatus monitor; and in said management terminal, when said management terminal communication section receives failure information from one of the apparatuses through said communication network, the one apparatus that has issued the failure information is specified based on the failure information and said management terminal communication section sends information concerning the specified apparatus to one of said plural configuration retaining apparatuses corresponding to one of said plural racks that accommodates the specified apparatus, and in each said configuration retaining apparatus, if said configuration retaining apparatus communication section receives the information concerning the specified apparatus through said communication network, said configuration retaining apparatus displaying controller displays the information concerning the specified apparatus on said configuration retaining apparatus monitor.