Efficient Estimation of More Detailed Internet IP Maps

Router-level maps of the Internet implicate a large body of research on network management, overlay networks, performance evaluation, and security. The inaccuracies in these maps result in misleading conclusions. In this paper, we propose AROMA (accurate router-level map), a tool to infer router-level, layer-3 maps of the Internet. AROMA uncovers more routers and links in targeted (mapped) networks than existing tools with less probing overhead. For example, AROMA reveals the same number of routers and links as the Rocketfuel tool after sending less than 5.1% of the number of probes used by Rocketfuel, and reveals at least 100% more links and routers than Rocketuel while using the same number of probe packets. We use AROMA to draw the maps of four major ISP networks and revisit the conclusions drawn by earlier research on the Internet IP structure. Surprisingly, AROMA maps consistently reveal that core routers have a higher degree than edge routers in contrast to the recently suggested higher connectivity of routers at the network edge. The maps also reveal that routers´ degree distribution follows a power-law in contrast to the recently suggested Weibull distribution.