On the lack of typical behavior in the global Web traffic network

We offer the first large-scale analysis of Web traffic based on network flow data. Using data collected on the Internet2 network, we constructed a weighted bipartite clientserver host graph containing more than 18 ? 106 vertices and 68 ? 106 edges valued by relative traffic flows. When considered as a traffic map of the World-Wide Web, the generated graph provides valuable information on the statistical patterns that characterize the global information flow on the Web. Statistical analysis shows that client-server connections and traffic flows exhibit heavy-tailed probability distributions lacking any typical scale. In particular, the absence of an intrinsic average in some of the distributions implies the absence of a prototypical scale appropriate for server design, Web-centric network design, or traffic modeling. The inspection of the amount of traffic handled by clients and servers and their number of connections highlights non-trivial correlations between information flow and pat...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: WWW
• Authors: Mark Meiss, Filippo Menczer, Alessandro Vespignani
• Keywords: Internet Technology, Network Flow Data, Traffic Flows, Web Traffic, WWW 2005