A typical feature of huge, random network topologies is that they are too large to allow a fully detailed description. Such enormous, complex network topologies are encountered in numerous settings and have generated many research investigations. Well-known examples are the Internet and its logical overlay networks, such as the World Wide Web as well as online social networks. At the same time, extensive and rapidly growing wireless ad hoc and sensor networks also lead to hard topology modeling questions. In the current paper, we primarily focus on large, random wireless networks but also consider Web and Internet models. We survey a number of existing models that aim at describing the network topology. We also exhibit common generalizations of various sets of models that cover a number of known constructions as special cases. We demonstrate that higher levels of abstraction, despite their very general nature, can still be meaningfully analyzed and offers quite useful and unique help in solving certain hard networking problems. We believe that this research area can and will generate further significant contributions to the analysis of very large networks.
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