Method and system for network management providing access to application bandwidth usage calculations

1. An apparatus for managing bandwidth within a distributed data processing system, the apparatus comprising:

means for establishing a bandwidth history comprising bandwidth usage data associated with multiple entities within the distributed data processing system, wherein an entity within the distributed data processing system is a user or an application;

means for predicting bandwidth usage by the requested action in response to a requested action within the distributed data processing system;

means for selecting, by an administrative user, a user to be monitored for bandwidth usage; means for generating a packet filter object containing a packet filtering parameter that identifies the selected user;

means for dynamically deploying, in response to a request by the administrative user, packet snooper objects in association with the packet filter object to a set of devices throughout the distributed data processing system;

means for executing the dynamically deployed packet snooper objects at the set of devices to monitor bandwidth usage by the selected user with respect to a given device or a given subnet; and

means for receiving bandwidth usage data from the dynamically deployed packet snooper objects.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

means for snooping network packets from multiple sources within the distributed data processing system;

means for filtering the network packets against multiple filter parameters, wherein a filter parameter comprises a user identifier, an application identifier, or an endpoint identifier;

means for reporting packet snoop data to be associated with the requesting entity;

means for computing bandwidth usage data from the packet snoop data; and

means for the storing bandwidth usage data as the bandwidth history.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

means for inserting a packet filtering parameter in the packet filter object that specifies a packet type to be snooped.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

means for inserting a packet filtering parameter in the packet filter object that specifies a packet size to be snooped.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

means for displaying the predicted bandwidth usage for the requested action to the system administrator.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising:

means for querying the bandwidth history by the application that generated the requested action.

7. An apparatus for managing bandwidth within a distributed data processing system, the apparatus comprising:

means for establishing a bandwidth history comprising bandwidth usage data associated with multiple entities within the distributed data processing system, wherein an entity within the distributed data processing system is a user or an application;

means for predicting bandwidth usage by the requested action in response to a requested action within the distributed data processing system;

means for selecting, by an administrative user, an application to be monitored for bandwidth usage;

means for generating a packet filter object containing a packet filtering parameter that identifies the selected application;

means for dynamically deploying, in response to a request by the administrative user, packet snooper objects in association with the packet filter object to a set of devices throughout the distributed data processing system;

means for executing the dynamically deployed packet snooper objects at the set of devices to monitor bandwidth usage by the selected application with respect to a given device or a given subnet; and

means for receiving bandwidth usage data from the dynamically deployed packet snooper objects.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising:

means for inserting a packet filtering parameter in the packet filter object that specifies a packet type to be snooped.

9. The apparatus of claim 7 further comprising:

means for inserting a packet filtering parameter in the packet filter object that specifies a packet size to be snooped.

10. An apparatus for managing bandwidth within a distributed data processing system, the apparatus comprising:

means for establishing a bandwidth history comprising bandwidth usage data associated with multiple entities within the distributed data processing system, wherein an entity within the distributed data processing system is a user or an application;

means for predicting bandwidth usage by the requested action in response to a requested action within the distributed data processing system;

means for deriving a set of logical routes from a network topology mapping, wherein each logical route is a series of endpoints that comprise an endpoint-to-endpoint route for completing the requested action;

means for dynamically deploying, in response to a request by the administrative user, packet snooper objects in association with a packet filter object along the set of logical routes throughout the distributed data processing system, wherein the packet filter object specifies packet types or packet sizes to be snooped;

means for executing the dynamically deployed packet snooper objects at devices along the set of logical routes to monitor bandwidth usage; and

means for receiving bandwidth usage data from the dynamically deployed packet snooper objects.

11. A computer program product stored in a computer-readable storage-type medium for use in a distributed data processing system for managing bandwidth, the computer program product comprising:

instructions for establishing a bandwidth history comprising bandwidth usage data associated with multiple entities within the distributed data processing system, wherein an entity within the distributed data processing system is a user or an application;

instructions for predicting bandwidth usage by the requested action in response to a requested action within the distributed data processing system;

instructions for selecting, by an administrative user, an application to be monitored for bandwidth usage;

instructions for generating a packet filter object containing a packet filtering parameter that identifies the selected application;

instructions for dynamically deploying, in response to a request by the administrative user, packet snooper objects in association with the packet filter object to a set of devices throughout the distributed data processing system;

instructions for executing the dynamically deployed packet snooper objects at the set of devices to monitor bandwidth usage by the selected application with respect to a given device or a given subnet; and

instructions for receiving bandwidth usage data from the dynamically deployed packet snooper objects.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 further comprising:

instructions for snooping network packets from multiple sources within the distributed data processing system;

instructions for filtering the network packets against multiple filter parameters, wherein a filter parameter comprises a user identifier, an application identifier, or an endpoint identifier;

instructions for reporting packet snoop data to be associated with the requesting entity;

instructions for computing bandwidth usage data from the packet snoop data; and

instructions for the storing bandwidth usage data as the bandwidth history.

13. The computer program product of claim 11 further comprising:

instructions for inserting a packet filtering parameter in the packet filter object that specifies a packet type to be snooped.

14. The computer program product of claim 11 further comprising:

instructions for inserting a packet filtering parameter in the packet filter object that specifies a packet size to be snooped.

15. The computer program product of claim 11 further comprising:

instructions for displaying the predicted bandwidth usage for the requested action to the system administrator.

16. The computer program product of claim 11 further comprising:

instructions for querying the bandwidth history by the application that generated the requested action.

17. A computer program product stored in a computer-readable storage-type medium for use in a distributed data processing system for managing bandwidth, the computer program product comprising:

instructions for establishing a bandwidth history comprising bandwidth usage data associated with multiple entities within the distributed data processing system, wherein an entity within the distributed data processing system is a user or an application;

instructions for predicting bandwidth usage by the requested action in response to a requested action within the distributed data processing system;

instructions for selecting, by an administrative user, a user to be monitored for bandwidth usage; instructions for generating a packet filter object containing a packet filtering parameter that identifies the selected user;

instructions for dynamically deploying, in response to a request by the administrative user, packet snooper objects in association with the packet filter object to a set of devices throughout the distributed data processing system;

instructions for executing the dynamically deployed packet snooper objects at the set of devices to monitor bandwidth usage by the selected user with respect to a given device or a given subnet; and

instructions for receiving bandwidth usage data from the dynamically deployed packet snooper objects.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 further comprising:

instructions for inserting a packet filtering parameter in the packet filter object that specifies a packet type to be snooped.

19. The computer program product of claim 17 further comprising:

instructions for inserting a packet filtering parameter in the packet filter object that specifies a packet size to be snooped.

20. A computer program product stored in a computer-readable storage-type medium for use in a distributed data processing system for managing bandwidth, the computer program product comprising:

instructions for establishing a bandwidth history comprising bandwidth usage data associated with multiple entities within the distributed data processing system, wherein an entity within the distributed data processing system is a user or an application;

instructions for predicting bandwidth usage by the requested action in response to a requested action within the distributed data processing system;

instructions for deriving a set of logical routes from a network topology mapping, wherein each logical route is a series of endpoints that comprise an endpoint-to-endpoint route for completing the requested action;

instructions for dynamically deploying, in response to a request by the administrative user, packet snooper objects in association with a packet filter object along the set of logical routes throughout the distributed data processing system, wherein the packet filter object specifies packet types or packet sizes to be snooped;

instructions for executing the dynamically deployed packet snooper objects at devices along the set of logical routes to monitor bandwidth usage; and

instructions for receiving bandwidth usage data from the dynamically deployed packet snooper objects.