Trends in Computer Network Modeling Towards the Future Internet

Abstract: This article provides a taxonomy of current and past network modeling efforts. In all these efforts over the last few years we see a trend towards not only describing the network, but connected devices as well. This is especially current given the many Future Internet projects, which are combining different models, and resources in order to provide complete virtual infrastructures to users. An important mechanism for managing complexity is the creation of an abstract model, a step which has been undertaken in computer networks too. The fact that more and more devices are network capable, coupled with increasing popularity of the Internet, has made computer networks an important focus area for modeling. The large number of connected devices creates an increasing complexity which must be harnessed to keep the networks functioning. Over the years many different models for computer networks have been proposed, and used for different purposes. While for some time the community has moved away from the need of full topology exchange, this requirement resurfaced for optical networks. Subsequently, research on topology descriptions has seen a rise in the last few years. Many different models have been created and published, yet there is no publication that shows an overview of the different approaches.