Network Traffic Monitoring and Analysis

This chapter covers the foundations of Network Traffic Monitoring and Analysis (NTMA) by providing a thorough review of its fundamental ideas while highlighting the crucial part it plays in evaluating network activity and performance. Coupled with the massive influx of users onto our networks, activities such as web browsing and video streaming have gained increasing popularity, further necessitating measures and standards for maintaining the quality of service (QoS) of network environments. It is thus crucial to forecast network traffic parameters, such as upload and download rates, that have a direct influence on QoS. This is followed by exposure to cutting-edge NTMA approaches currently being used by worldwide organizations and major telecommunications operators. Moreover, an overview of NTMA approaches for categorizing and forecasting network traffic is also given. This chapter thus focuses on the theoretical aspects of the framework upon which the NTMA proceedings in this book are based.