MAP-IT: Multipass Accurate Passive Inferences from Traceroute

TLDR: A new algorithm, Multipass Accurate Passive Inferences from Traceroute (MAP-IT), for inferring the exact interface addresses used for point-to-point inter-AS links, as well as the specific ASes involved, are described, suggesting that MAP-IT is sufficiently reliable for network diagnostics.

Abstract: Mapping the Internet at scale is increasingly important to network security, failure diagnosis, and performance analysis, yet remains challenging. Accurately determining the interface addresses used for inter-AS links from traceroute traces can be hard because these interfaces are often assigned addresses from neighboring ASes. Identifying these interfaces can benefit Internet researchers and network diagnosticians by providing accurate IP-to-AS mappings where such mapping is most difficult -- at AS boundaries. We describe a new algorithm, Multipass Accurate Passive Inferences from Traceroute (MAP-IT), for inferring the exact interface addresses used for point-to-point inter-AS links, as well as the specific ASes involved. MAP-IT combines evidence of an AS switch from distinct traceroute traces; using traceroute data makes it portable across IP networks. Each pass leverages prior inferences to refine existing inferences and to discover additional inter-AS link interfaces. We test MAP-IT with interface-level ground truth information from Internet2, achieving 100% precision. Using approximate ground truth from Level 3 and TeliaSonera yields 95.0% precision. These results suggest that MAP-IT is sufficiently reliable for network diagnostics.