Patent ID: 7551922

Claim:
A method for collecting data associated with a communications network that includes a plurality of devices, the method comprising: creating a data collection profile comprising a series of executable commands which may be executed by a data collection agent on a distributed device, the data collection profile defining data that is to be collected and a condition under which the data is to be collected, and conditions under which the collected data is to be transmitted; identifying a targeted subset of the plurality of devices in the communications network, wherein the targeted subset of devices are identified based on the characteristics of the targeted subset, the targeted subset capable of collecting data defined in the data collection profile; distributing the data collection profile to the data collection agent of each of the targeted subset of devices, wherein the data collection agent is configured to execute the data collection profile, collect data defined in the data collection profile in response to a detected condition; transform the collected data into a metrics package, and send the metrics package according to the conditions defined in the data collection profile; and receiving, from at least some of the targeted subset, the data that has been generated at the device and collected in response to the data collection agent of the targeted subset detecting a condition of the data collection profile.