Information

2002/01/29 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Internet

Bell Labs is a company that has been doing different maps on the Internet for years. These maps, taking into account different types of data, report on Internet routes. As the network is expanding this map is changing, so to analyze network development over time these data are being stored.

Maps

These maps are tree structures of 100,000 nodes or points. The program simulates all these points with a dozen simple rules. Making such a map requires a 20-hour processor work on a 400Mhz Pentium. These maps are used to locate the points of interest on the network or those that need an analysis. Once the map is completed, the information received can be distributed in different colors, for example, by geography, distance, capacity or IP address.

How is the map made?

In order to map, the program sends messages in the unreliable data protocol (UDP) to many different random ports. The TTL section of these messages, which limits the survival of the message, decreases every time it reaches the next point in the network. When the variable reaches zero, send the sender a message indicating its location.

With these messages they have completed the information of the edges of the network and have developed a more useful map. All this work is expected to be useful in the future to analyze possible network failures.

To see the maps click here

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