Network Topology Generation and Discovery Tools: a Review of Recent Developments

Achieving a deep understanding of the Internet topology has proved very challenging since it involves solving difficult task, e.g. mapping the actual topology, characterising it and developing generation models that capture the fundamental properties. There are two categories of tools which were developed to deal with network topology, namely, topology generations tools and network/topology discovery tools. Topology generation tools are used for studying and simulating the Internet. Discovery tools are mostly useful for more practical purposes such as real data acquisition for network monitoring and management but also can be helpful if there is a need to simulate network before planning and applying certain changes. Both categories are targeted as components for the integrated Network Design and Simulation Environment (NeDaSE) developed by the authors. The purpose of this paper is to make an overview of the capabilities of some of these tools.