An image forming apparatus manages a plurality of external apparatuses
while collecting information regarding each external apparatus through a
network using a communication condition acquired through the network. A
managed object specifying part specifies managed object apparatuses that
are managed by the image forming apparatus through a communication part.
An apparatus correspondence communication condition acquiring part
receives via the communication part information regarding communication
condition corresponding to the managed object apparatuses specified by
the managed object specifying part, and stores in a memory part the
received information by relating to identification information of the
managed object apparatuses. An apparatus monitoring part refers to the
communication conditions stored in the memory part on an individual
managed object apparatus basis so as to acquire state information via the
communication part, and stores the acquired state information in the
memory part. An information providing part provides to external
apparatuses through the communication part the state information of each
managed object apparatus stored in the memory part.