Introduction to IP Traffic

Before starting with the mathematical analysis of IP traffic, we give an introduction to the characteristics and special properties of the Internet, so as to get a better understanding in the different models and their justification. In this first chapter, we will explain the structure of the protocols and networks as well as the applications in the Internet with regard to their impact on mathematical modeling. We will take a birds eye position, without in depth explanations of technical details. For a mathematical treatment of selected aspects and discussions of further details we refer to the remainder of this book.