Efficient visualization of large routing topologies

As the Internet grows in size and complexity, network managers face a significant challenge in trying to understand the behaviour of routing protocols in large networks. In this paper, we present a tool called VLNT (Visualising Large Network Topologies), which helps network managers to analyse complex routing topologies. A key contribution of our system is a novel hybrid layout algorithm, which significantly reduces the computation time required to layout large network topologies in comparison to conventional layout approaches. In addition our algorithm includes a novel termination criterion that avoids unnecessary iterations when optimising the network layout. We demonstrate how the visualisation features of VLNT can be used to analyse and improve BGP routing topologies, and provide examples using real-life routing data. Contact author: Dr Christopher Leckie Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville 3010, Australia caleckie@cs.mu.oz.au Phone +61-3-8344 1413 Fax +61-3-9348 1184