Abstract: The present invention includes a generic monitoring system and method having a generic core that includes a logical control layer, various network adaptors at a network adaptor layer and application specific modules at a graphical interface layer. The generic core has the essential components, operational model and functionalities that are common across monitoring tools. Network adaptors glue the core to different kinds of active networks so that messages from the active networks can be translated into a format understood by the core. Application specific modules are used to customize the user interfaces and event handling functions so that the generic monitoring system and method can be tailored to individual application needs. The present invention can be applied to multiple active packet networks with minimum adaptation or modification of the generic core.