Topology inference from BGP routing dynamics

This paper describes a method of inferring logical relationships between network prefixes within an Autonomous System (AS) using only passive monitoring of BGP messages. By clustering these prefixes based upon similarities between their update times, we create a hierarchy linking the prefixes within the larger AS. We can frequently identify groups of prefixes routed to the same ISP Point of Presence (POP), despite the lack of identifying information in the BGP messages. Similarly, we observe disparate prefixes under common organizational control, or with long shared network paths. In addition to discovering interesting network characteristics, our passive method facilitates topology discovery by potentially reducing the number of active probes required in traditional traceroute-based Internet mapping mechanisms.

[1]  Donald F. Towsley,et al.  On characterizing BGP routing table growth , 2002, Global Telecommunications Conference, 2002. GLOBECOM '02. IEEE.

[2]  Bill Cheswick,et al.  Mapping and Visualizing the Internet , 2000, USENIX Annual Technical Conference, General Track.

[3]  Lakshminarayanan Subramanian,et al.  An investigation of geographic mapping techniques for internet hosts , 2001, SIGCOMM 2001.

[4]  Brian Everitt,et al.  Clustering of large data sets , 1983 .

[5]  Ramesh Govindan,et al.  Heuristics for Internet map discovery , 2000, Proceedings IEEE INFOCOM 2000. Conference on Computer Communications. Nineteenth Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies (Cat. No.00CH37064).

[6]  Walter Willinger,et al.  Inferring AS-level Internet topology from router-level path traces , 2001, SPIE ITCom.

[7]  Ratul Mahajan,et al.  Understanding BGP misconfiguration , 2002, SIGCOMM 2002.

[8]  Azer Bestavros,et al.  On the marginal utility of network topology measurements , 2001, IMW '01.

[9]  Béla Bollobás,et al.  Random Graphs , 1985 .

[10]  Donald F. Towsley,et al.  On routing table growth , 2002, CCRV.

[11]  Balachander Krishnamurthy,et al.  On network-aware clustering of Web clients , 2000, SIGCOMM.

[12]  Ratul Mahajan,et al.  Measuring ISP topologies with rocketfuel , 2002, TNET.

[13]  Lakshminarayanan Subramanian,et al.  An investigation of geographic mapping techniques for internet hosts , 2001, SIGCOMM.

[14]  Balachander Krishnamurthy,et al.  Topology modeling via cluster graphs , 2001, IMW '01.