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.