Network mapping and usage determination

Abstract

A large computer network such as the Internet contains millions of computers, services and users, interconnected in a complicated and ever changing web. This article provides an introduction to network mapping and usage determination – the study of the physical connectivity of a computer network and how it is being utilised. The article discusses the different processes involved in gathering information about computer networks, such as host discovery, port scanning, service detection and operating system detection. Based on this information, topology determination techniques can be applied to infer network structure from the information. Techniques to visualise the information are discussed. IP geolocation (the ability to associate a geographical coordinate with a node in a network) and its applicability to visualising network information on geographical information systems are described. The research is illustrated by means of software tools that have been developed for this purpose