  Currently, the world is witnessing a mounting avalanche of data due to the
increasing number of mobile network subscribers, Internet websites, and online
services. This trend is continuing to develop in a quick and diverse manner in
the form of big data. Big data analytics can process large amounts of raw data
and extract useful, smaller-sized information, which can be used by different
parties to make reliable decisions. In this paper, we conduct a survey on the
role that big data analytics can play in the design of data communication
networks. Integrating the latest advances that employ big data analytics with
the networks control/traffic layers might be the best way to build robust data
communication networks with refined performance and intelligent features.
First, the survey starts with the introduction of the big data basic concepts,
framework, and characteristics. Second, we illustrate the main network design
cycle employing big data analytics. This cycle represents the umbrella concept
that unifies the surveyed topics. Third, there is a detailed review of the
current academic and industrial efforts toward network design using big data
analytics. Forth, we identify the challenges confronting the utilization of big
data analytics in network design. Finally, we highlight several future research
directions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first survey that
addresses the use of big data analytics techniques for the design of a broad
range of networks.
