The University of Arizona

Evolution of Internet Topology



Overview

This project attempts to understand the Internet topology and its evolution. Such a topology is a time-varying graph where a node represents an Autonomous System (AS) and a link represents the existence of one or multiple BGP routing sessions between the particular nodes. Specifically, the goal is an empirical desciption and articulated model of the topology evolution: when and where AS nodes and inter-AS links are added or removed over time. The resulting model predicts that the effect of transient routing dynamics on the observed topology decreases exponentially over time, and the real topology changes can be modeled as the combination of a constant-rate birth process and a constant-rate death process. This model was tested over three different data sources: BGP logs, traceroute, and Internet registries. A similar methodology is being applied to other Internet routing data, such as data on network stability.

People
Faculty
Lixia Zhang (UCLA)
Publications
Ricardo V. Oliveira, Beichuan Zhang and Lixia Zhang. "Observing the evolution of internet as topology", SIGCOMM 2007: 313-324.
Data Set
Daily Internet Topology Data
Funding
NETS-FIND: Collaborative Research: Enabling Future Internet Innovations through Transit Wire (eFIT)
National Science Foundation.
September 1 2007 to August 31 2010
(Beichuan Zhang (PI))
"WIT" A Watchdog System for Internet Routing
DHS (subcontract from Colorado State).
March 21 2008 to March 20 2010
(Beichuan Zhang (PI))
Named Data Networking
National Science Foundation, CNS-1040868
Division of Computer and Network Systems
September 1, 2010 to August 31, 2013
(Lixia Zhang (PI), Deborah Estrin (Co-PI), Jeffrey Burke (Co-PI))

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