The invention facilitates improved configuration of
computer network data collection. In one respect, the invention is a method for determining a
network data collection configuration for an entity utilizing a
computer network. The method determines which nodes in the network are associated with the entity, reads a view definition associated with the entity and determines which network variables are components of the
health score, selects from the nodes associated with the entity those nodes that are components of the view, and produces a configuration file that specifies the network variables for each corresponding selected node. The data collection preferably utilizes the SNMP protocol. The determining step preferably queries a
database that stores entity-node associations. The view definition is preferably an
XML file and refers to all nodes of a particular
device type, so that the selecting step can filter network nodes by
device type. In a preferred form, the network is
the Internet, the method is performed by an
Internet service provider, and the entity is a customer of
the Internet service provider. Optionally, the method reads and utilizes a template for the configuration file. In another respect, the invention is an apparatus. The apparatus comprises a first
database that stores entity-node associations, a view definition associated with an entity, a second
database that stores node
device type information, and a
network data collection
configuration generation tool, connected to the above. The
network data collection
configuration generation tool generates a network data collection configuration file customized to the view definition.