Measurement, Modeling and Analysis of the Internet

Paul Barford (Department of Computer Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison)  pb@cs.wisc.edu

Measurement, Modeling and Analysis of the Internet

There are many reasons for taking measurements in the Internet; from serving as a basis for scientific study to performing day to day operational management tasks. While taking measurements in the Internet can be as simple as running "pings" from a single desktop system, systematic large scale measurements are fraught with difficulty. In this tutorial we will describe the standard tools and techniques for taking measurements of a variety of Internet features and behaviors. We will also present the major infrastructures that have been deployed recently (and not so recently) for taking large scale measurements of the Internet. These infrastructures are principally used to gather data on Internet topology, routing, and traffic behavior. We will follow this with an overview of the standard techniques for organizing and analyzing Internet measurement data. We will conclude with a discussion of the many challenges facing researchers who wish to conduct Internet measurement studies or to use data gathered in Internet measurement infrastructures.