Characterization and modeling of network traffic

This paper attempts to characterize and model backbone network traffic, using a small number of statistics. In order to reduce cost and processing power associated with traffic analysis. The parameters affecting the behavior of network traffic are investigated and the choice is that inter-arrival time, IP addresses, port numbers and transport protocol are the only necessary parameters to model network traffic behavior. In order to recreate this behavior, a complex model is needed which is able to recreate traffic behavior based on a set of statistics calculated from the parameters values. The model investigates the traffic generation mechanisms, and grouping traffic into flows and applications.