Essay On P2p Networking

777 Words2 Pages

1. Introduction

From the beginning stages, the Internet was built through the idea of fulfilling peer-to-peer communication across large distances. Throughout the last decade, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networking has grown to become worthwhile for use in business models and Internet applications. Studies performed by multiple major Internet Service Providers found that the amount of P2P traffic throughout the Internet is often higher than 50 percent [1]. The high usage is unsurprising, as P2P allows for a combination of the resources available on the computers of each connected user, as opposed to a client/server model where the users rely on the special servers to provide the resources. By presenting each user within the network as both a client and a server, P2P networking allows for applications and services to provide benefits such as real-time distributed processing, communication, collaboration, and content distribution.

2. Peer-to-Peer Network Definition

A P2P network can be defined as a network filled with autonomous peers that is completely decentralized and self-organized regarding resource distribution. The users within the peer-to-peer network form a virtual network that is independent of the actual physical network [1]. The aspects resource distribution and self-organization are key to a P2P network. As such, they are discussed in more detail below:

2.1. Resource Distribution

Within a P2P networking system, the resources to be shared throughout the network are equally distributed without providing unfair advantages for any peer. Each peer is interconnected through the formed virtual network and typically are dynamically given a new Internet address whenever connecting to the network [1, 2]. Due to this, P2P systems a...

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...music. Napster worked through the use of a main server hosted by Napster that contained a central repository. Users would connect to this main server to search for a desired MP3 file and the server would search the server database for a different user in possession of that file. Once a user with the file was found, the two users would become directly connected and the file could be downloaded. Due to the use of this central server, Napster could be considered a type of “brokered” P2P networking, as the two peers only connect after Napster resolved the IP addresses between the two PCs [4]. Regardless of the moral or legal issues surrounding Napster, it is irrefutable that Napster was instrumental in how peer-to-peer networks work today.

REFERENCES

[5] Oram, A. (Ed.). (2001). Peer-to-peer: Harnessing the Benefits of a Disruptive Technologies. O'Reilly Media, Inc.

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