Abstract: A system gathers and displays information concerning status of a communications network without overloading the communications channels in the network. The monitoring system includes a monitor node, including an operator input interface. The monitor node is coupled to a first switching node in the distributed switching nodes of the network. The monitor node includes a first application maintaining topology data indicating the topology of the network and supporting a first protocol for updating the data with the first switching node. In addition, the monitor node includes a second application maintaining a list of alarm conditions entered in the node event logs in the network, and supporting a second protocol for updating the list with the plurality of distributed switching nodes. A third application runs in the monitor node for maintaining a monitor database indicating the configuration of the switching nodes as it is entered in the node configuration databases in the network.