We are excited to announce the beta testing phase of the Facilitating Advances in Network Topology Analysis (FANTAIL) platform (https://www.caida.org/projects/fantail/), a cutting-edge topology query system designed to search vast archives of raw Internet end-to-end path (traceroute) measurement data. FANTAIL is poised to support and advance various research domains within the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) field that heavily rely on the emerging sub-discipline of Internet cartography. Key areas of focus include:

• Understanding the intricate ownership and interconnection structures and dynamics of Internet infrastructure.
• Exploring methods for device identification and characterization within the digital landscape.
• Enhancing the ability to detect and respond to network outages and route hijacking incidents.
• Investigating network congestion patterns and their impact on data flow and quality of service.
• Identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities within network topologies.

FANTAIL consists of four components:

1. Interactive Web Interface: FANTAIL Web Interface
2. Application Programming Interface (API): Built on web standards (FANTAIL API Documentation)
3. Full-Text Search System
4. Big Data Processing System

The system’s central data type is the traceroute path, representing the inferred IP-level Internet path that network traffic would take between two hosts, from the measurement vantage point to the destination, as determined with the traceroute technique by scamper (https://catalog.caida.org/software/scamper). FANTAIL leverages annotated and indexed data generated through the utilization of Spark, SQLite, and Elasticsearch, originating from CAIDA Internet traceroute probing data dating back to 2015.

Academic researchers interested in accessing the platform can request access by emailing fantail-info@caida.org.

We will prioritize users who can commit to regular feedback and participation throughout the beta testing period. 

This entry was posted on Friday, August 9th, 2024 at 12:37 pm and is filed under Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.