The invention discloses a network topology generating method and apparatus which relate to the network path defining and visualization technologies of an internet network. The technical schemes of the invention comprises: configuring the data packet acquisition port of a computer network as a probe and displaying the probe as a type of node on an interface; when a user triggered network path node adding condition is detected, popping out an adding window for the network path node; receiving the node type the user inputs through the window as well as the node information; and displaying a network path node on the interface while displaying the node information of the network path node; when a user triggered network path adding condition is detected, popping out an adding window for the network path; receiving the start point and the terminate point of the network path inputted by the user through the window; and displaying the network path from the start point to the terminate point wherein the arrow of the network path points to the terminal.