Scaling in the structure of directory trees in a computer cluster

Abstract

We describe the topological structure and the underlying organization principles of the directories created by users of a computer cluster when storing his/her own files. We analyze degree distributions, average distance between files, distribution of communities and allometric scaling exponents of the directory trees. We find that users create trees with a broad, scale-free degree distribution. The structure of the directories is well captured by a growth model with a single parameter. The degree distribution of the different trees has a non-universal exponent associated with different values of the parameter of the model. However, the distribution of community sizes has a universal exponent analytically obtained from our model.

refined data analysis and modeling, completely reorganized version, 4 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (4)

• The structure and function of complex networks
• Defining and identifying communities in networks
• Self-similar community structure in organisations
• Community analysis in social networks

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Zipf law in the popularity distribution of chess openings
• Universal scaling in the branching of the Tree of Life
• Scaling properties of protein family phylogenies
• Anomalous scaling in an age-dependent branching model
• Simple models for scaling in phylogenetic trees
• A complementary view on the growth of directory trees
• Information slows down hierarchy growth
• Log-periodic oscillations in degree distributions of hierarchical scale-free networks