An overview of different techniques and algorithms for network topology discovery

Network topology discovery describes the physical structure of the network, which in turn reflects the purpose of this network design. Used tools and techniques vary depending on that structure in order to choose the optimal methods for implementing the appropriate distributed applications. Mobile agents have become a focus of attention for implementing distributed management architectures because of their autonomy, flexibility and ability of asynchronous communication, while centralized models affect on the network performance such as latency, throughput and jitter. The main objective of this study is to discuss the use of mobile agent for discover the network topology either by traditional methods, protocols or by graphic theory, Genetic and Swarm algorithms that belong to the artificial intelligence filed and compare between them. As a result, identify the appropriate technique for extracting the network management information to obtain optimal itineraries for mobile agents.