A storage area network ("SAN") includes one or more digital data processors that are coupled for communication with one or more storage devices (e.g., LUNs) over an interconnect. The improvement provides a mechanism for hierarchically displaying, e.g., on the administrator console or other output device, portions of the SAN topology. It includes a process that generates for application to the output device a plurality of graphical object that represent "segments" of the SAN and/or components of the SAN, along with the interconnections between them. The process selectively responds to operator/administrator selection of any of the graphical objects that represent a segment by regenerating the display to depict the interconnected segments and/or components that make up that segment.