Real-world large-scale complex networks such as the Internet, social networks and biological networks have increasingly attracted the interest of researchers from many areas. Accurate modelling of the statistical regularities of these large-scale networks is critical to understand their global evolving structures and local dynamical patterns. Traditionally, the Erdos and Renyi random graph model has helped the investigation of various homogeneous networks. During the past decade, a special computational methodology has emerged to study complex networks, the outcome of which is identified by two models: the Watts and Strogatz small-world model and the Barabasi-Albert scale-free model. At the core of the complex network modelling process is the extraction of characteristics of real-world networks. I have developed computer simulation algorithms for study of the properties of current theoretical models as well as for the measurement of two real-world complex networks, which lead to the isolation of three complex network modelling essentials. The main contribution of the thesis is the introduction and study of a new General Two-Stage growth model (GTS Model), which aims to describe and analyze many common-featured real-world complex networks. The tools we use to create the model and later perform many measurements on it consist of computer simulations, numerical analysis and mathematical derivations. In particular, two major cases of this GTS model have been studied. One is named the U-P model, which employs a new functional form of the network growth rule: a linear combination of preferential attachment and uniform attachment. The degree distribution of the model is first studied by computer simulation, while the exact solution is also obtained analytically. Two other important properties of complex networks: the characteristic path length and the clustering coefficient are also extensively investigated, obtaining either analytically derived solutions or numerical results by computer simulations. Furthermore, I demonstrate that the hub-hub interaction behaves in effect as the link between a network's topology and resilience property. The other is called the Hybrid model, which incorporates two stages of growth and studies the transition behaviour between the Erdos and Renyi random graph model and the Barabasi-Albert scale-free model. The Hybrid model is measured by extensive numerical simulations focusing on its degree distribution, characteristic path length and clustering coefficient. Although either of the two cases serves as a new approach to modelling real-world large-scale complex networks, perhaps more importantly, the general two-stage model provides a new theoretical framework for complex network modelling, which can be extended in many ways besides the two studied in this thesis.

Revolutionary mobile technologies, such as high-speed packet access 3G (HSPA+) and LTE, have significantly increased mobile data rate over the radio link. While most of the world looks at this revolution as a blessing to their day-to-day life, a little-known fact is that these improvements over the radio access link results in demanding tremendous improvements in bandwidth on the backhaul network. Having said this, today's Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are intemperately impacted as a result of this excessive smartphone usage. The operational costs (OPEX) associated with traditional backhaul methods are rising faster than the revenue generated by the new data services. Building a mobile backhaul network is very different from building a commercial data network. A mobile backhaul network requires (i) QoS-based traffic with strict requirements on delay and jitter (ii) high availability/reliability. While most ISPs and MNOs have promised advantages of redundancy and resilience to guarantee high availability, there is still the specter of failure in today's networks. The problems of network failures in today's networks can be quickly but clearly ascertained. The underlying observation is that ISPs and MNOs are still exposed to rapid fluctuations and/or unpredicted breakdowns in traffic; it goes without saying that even the largest operators can be affected. But what if, these operators could now put in place designs and mechanisms to improve network survivability to avoid such occurrences? What if mobile network operators can come up with low-cost backhaul solutions together with ensuring the required availability and reliability in the networks? With this problem statement in-hand, the overarching theme of this dissertation is within the following scopes: (i) to provide low-cost backhaul solutions; the motivation here being able to build networks without over-provisioning and then to bring-in new resources (link capacity/bandwidth) on occasions of unexpected traffic surges as well as on network failure conditions for particularly ensuring premium services (ii) to provide uninterrupted communications even at times of network failure conditions, but without redundancy. Here a slightly greater emphasis is laid on tackling the 'last-mile' link failures. The scope of this dissertation is therefore to propose, design and model novel network architectures for improving effective network survivability and network capacity, at the same time by eliminating network-wide redundancy, adopted within the context of mobile backhaul networks. Motivated by this, we study the problem of how to share the available resources of a backhaul network among its competitors, with whom a Service Level Agreement (SLA) has been concluded. Thus, we present a systematic study of our proposed solutions focusing on a variety of empirical resource sharing heuristics and optimization frameworks. With this background, our work extends towards a novel fault restoration framework which can cost-effectively provide protection and restoration for the operators, enabling them with a parameterized objective function to choose desired paths based on traffic patterns of their end-customers. We then illustrate the survivability of backhaul networks with reduced amount of physical redundancy, by effectively managing geographically distributed backhaul network equipments which belong to different MNOs using 'logically-centralized' physically-distributed controllers, while meeting strict constraints on network availability and reliability

Les évolutions technologies mobiles majeures, tels que les réseaux mobiles 3G, HSPA+ et LTE, ont augmenté de façon significative la capacité des données véhiculées sur liaison radio. Alors que les avantages de ces évolutions sont évidents à l’usage, un fait moins connu est que ces améliorations portant principalement sur l’accès radio nécessitent aussi des avancées technologiques dans le réseau de collecte (backhaul) pour supporter cette augmentation de bande passante. Les fournisseurs d’accès Internet (FAI) et les opérateurs de réseau mobile doivent relever un réel défi pour accompagner l’usage des smartphones. Les coûts opérationnels associés aux méthodes traditionnelles de backhaul augmentent plus vite que les revenus générés par les nouveaux services de données. Ceci est particulièrement vrai lorsque le réseau backhaul doit lui-même être construit sur des liens radio. Un tel réseau de backhaul mobile nécessite (i) une gestion de qualité de service (QoS) liée au trafic avec des exigences strictes en matière de délai et de gigue, (ii) une haute disponibilité / fiabilité. Alors que la plupart des FAI et des opérateurs de réseau mobile font état des avantages de mécanismes de redondance et de résilience pour garantir une haute disponibilité, force est de constater que les réseaux actuels sont encore exposés à des indisponibilités. Bien que les causes de ces indisponibilités soient claires, les fluctuations rapides et / ou des pannes imprévues du trafic continuent d’affecter les plus grands opérateurs. Mais ces opérateurs ne pourraient-ils pas mettre en place des modèles et des mécanismes pour améliorer la survie des réseaux pour éviter de telles situations ? Les opérateurs de réseaux mobiles peuvent-ils mettre en place ensemble des solutions à faible coût qui assureraient la disponibilité et la fiabilité des réseaux ? Compte tenu de ce constat, cette thèse vise à : (i) fournir des solutions de backhaul à faible coût ; l’objectif est de construire des réseaux sans fil en ajoutant de nouvelles ressources à la demande plutôt que par sur-dimensionnements, en réponse à un trafic inattendu surgit ou à une défaillance du réseau, afin d’assurer une qualité supérieure de certains services (ii) fournir des communications sans interruption, y compris en cas de défaillance du réseau, mais sans redondance. Un léger focus porte sur l’occurrence de ce problème sur le lien appelé «dernier kilomètre» (last mile). Cette thèse conçoit une nouvelle architecture de réseaux backhaul mobiles et propose une modélisation pour améliorer la survie et la capacité de ces réseaux de manière efficace, sans reposer sur des mécanismes coûteux de redondance passive. Avec ces motivations, nous étudions le problème de partage de ressources d'un réseau de backhaul entre opérateurs concurrents, pour lesquelles un accord de niveau de service (SLA) a été conclu. Ainsi, nous présentons une étude systématique de solutions proposées portant sur une variété d’heuristiques de partage empiriques et d'optimisation des ressources. Dans ce contexte, nous poursuivons par une étude sur un mécanisme de recouvrement après panne qui assure efficacement et à faible coût la protection et la restauration de ressources, permettant aux opérateurs via une fonction basée sur la programmation par contraintes de choisir et établir de nouveaux chemins en fonction des modèles de trafic des clients finaux. Nous illustrons la capacité de survie des réseaux backhaul disposant d’un faible degré de redondance matérielle, par la gestion efficace d’équipements de réseau de backhaul répartis géographiquement et appartenant aux différents opérateurs, en s’appuyant sur des contrôleurs logiquement centralisés mais physiquement distribués, en respectant des contraintes strictes sur la disponibilité et la fiabilité du réseau / Revolutionary mobile technologies, such as high-speed packet access 3G (HSPA+) and LTE, have significantly increased mobile data rate over the radio link. While most of the world looks at this revolution as a blessing to their day-to-day life, a little-known fact is that these improvements over the radio access link results in demanding tremendous improvements in bandwidth on the backhaul network. Having said this, today’s Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are intemperately impacted as a result of this excessive smartphone usage. The operational costs (OPEX) associated with traditional backhaul methods are rising faster than the revenue generated by the new data services. Building a mobile backhaul network is very different from building a commercial data network. A mobile backhaul network requires (i) QoS-based traffic with strict requirements on delay and jitter (ii) high availability/reliability. While most ISPs and MNOs have promised advantages of redundancy and resilience to guarantee high availability, there is still the specter of failure in today’s networks. The problems of network failures in today’s networks can be quickly but clearly ascertained. The underlying observation is that ISPs and MNOs are still exposed to rapid fluctuations and/or unpredicted breakdowns in traffic; it goes without saying that even the largest operators can be affected. But what if, these operators could now put in place designs and mechanisms to improve network survivability to avoid such occurrences? What if mobile network operators can come up with low-cost backhaul solutions together with ensuring the required availability and reliability in the networks? With this problem statement in-hand, the overarching theme of this dissertation is within the following scopes: (i) to provide low-cost backhaul solutions; the motivation here being able to build networks without over-provisioning and then to bring-in new resources (link capacity/bandwidth) on occasions of unexpected traffic surges as well as on network failure conditions for particularly ensuring premium services (ii) to provide uninterrupted communications even at times of network failure conditions, but without redundancy. Here a slightly greater emphasis is laid on tackling the ‘last-mile’ link failures. The scope of this dissertation is therefore to propose, design and model novel network architectures for improving effective network survivability and network capacity, at the same time by eliminating network-wide redundancy, adopted within the context of mobile backhaul networks. Motivated by this, we study the problem of how to share the available resources of a backhaul network among its competitors, with whom a Service Level Agreement (SLA) has been concluded. Thus, we present a systematic study of our proposed solutions focusing on a variety of empirical resource sharing heuristics and optimization frameworks. With this background, our work extends towards a novel fault restoration framework which can cost-effectively provide protection and restoration for the operators, enabling them with a parameterized objective function to choose desired paths based on traffic patterns of their end-customers. We then illustrate the survivability of backhaul networks with reduced amount of physical redundancy, by effectively managing geographically distributed backhaul network equipments which belong to different MNOs using ‘logically-centralized’ physically-distributed controllers, while meeting strict constraints on network availability and reliability

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Les attaques massives par déni de service représentent une menace pour les services Internet. Ils impactent aussi les fournisseurs de service réseau et menace même la stabilité de l’Internet. Il y a donc un besoin pressant de contrôler les dommages causés par ces attaques. De nombreuses recherches ont été menées, mais aucune n’a été capable de combiner le besoin d’atténuation de l’attaque, avec l’obligation de continuité de service et les contraintes réseau. Les contre mesures proposées portent sur l’authentification des clients légitimes, le filtrage du trafic malicieux, une utilisation efficace des interconnections entre les équipements réseaux, ou l’absorption de l’attaque par les ressources disponibles. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons un mécanisme de contrôle de dommages. Basé sur une nouvelle signature d’attaque et les fonctions réseaux du standard Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), nous isolons le trafic malicieux du trafic légitime et appliquons des contraintes sur la transmission du trafic malicieux. Le but est de rejeter suffisamment de trafic d’attaque pour maintenir la stabilité du réseau tout en préservant le trafic légitime. La solution prend en compte des informations sur l’attaque, mais aussi les ressources réseaux. Considérant que les opérateurs réseaux n’ont pas une même visibilité sur leur réseau, nous étudions l’impact de contraintes opérationnelles sur l’efficacité d’une contre mesure régulièrement recommandée, le filtrage par liste noire. Les critères d’évaluation sont le niveau d’information sur l’attaque ainsi que sur le trafic réseau. Nous formulons des scénarios auxquels chaque opérateur peut s’identifier. Nous démontrons que la l’algorithme de génération des listes noires doit être choisi avec précaution afin de maximiser l’efficacité du filtrage / Massive Denial of Service attacks represent a genuine threat for Internet service, but also significantly impact network service providers and even threat the Internet stability. There is a pressing need to control damages caused by such attacks. Numerous works have been carried out, but were unable to combine the need for mitigation, the obligation to provide continuity of service and network constraints. Proposed countermeasures focus on authenticating legitimate traffic, filtering malicious traffic, making better use of interconnection between network equipment or absorbing attack with the help of available resources. In this thesis, we propose a damage control mechanism against volumetric Denial of Services. Based on a novel attack signature and with the help of Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) network functions, we isolate malicious from legitimate traffic. We apply a constraint-based forwarding to malicious traffic. The goal is to discard enough attack traffic to sustain network stability while preserving legitimate traffic. It is not only aware of attack details but also network resource, especially available bandwidth. Following that network operators do not have equal visibility on their network, we also study the impact of operational constraints on the efficiency of a commonly recommended countermeasure, namely blacklist filtering. The operational criteria are the level of information about the attack and about the traffic inside the network. We then formulate scenario which operators can identify with. We demonstrate that the blacklist generation algorithm should be carefully chosen to fit the operator context while maximizing the filtering efficiency