Patent ID: 8331257

Claim:
A method for generating network traffic metrics for a group of network devices, comprising: causing association of tags with interfaces representing network devices that belong to multiple, different groups of network devices, each tag identifying at least one of the multiple, different groups of network devices; identifying a particular tag that corresponds to and enables monitoring of a particular group of network devices included in the multiple, different groups of network devices; identifying, from among the interfaces associated with the tags, a subset of the interfaces that were associated with the particular tag that corresponds to and enables monitoring of the particular group of network devices; accessing the network traffic metrics measured for each interface included in the identified subset of the interfaces that were associated with the particular tag; aggregating the network traffic metrics to determine collective network traffic metrics for the particular group of network devices; and storing data representing the collective network traffic metrics determined for the particular group of network devices based on the aggregation of the network traffic metrics.