PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKING

Soutrik Gupta
BCA 3 Year
rd

Networking and Communication

Computer Networks
A computer network or data network is a
telecommunications network which allows computers to
exchange data. In computer networks, networked
computing devices pass data to each other along data
connections (network links). Data is transferred in the form
of packets. The connections between nodes are established
using either cable media or wireless media. The best-known
computer network is the Internet.

Computer Networks
Computer Networks are categorized into many different
ways and into many different types of network.
One way of categorizing network is by method of
connection
The two main types of connection methods are :
Wired Network

Wireless Network

Computer Networks
Another way of categorizing network is by Scale of the
network.
The classification of network using network scale are:
PAN : Personal Area Network

WAN : Wide Area Network

CAN : Campus Area Network

SAN : Storage Area Network

LAN : Local Area Network

VPN : Virtual Private Network

MAN : Metropolitan Area Network

Which network to be used for a specific job is decided by the scale

of job

Computer Networks
Another way of categorizing network is by the architecture of the
network
The Three main architectures are:
Active Networking
Client Server Networking
Peer To Peer Networking

Computer Networks
Active Networking: Active networking is a communication pattern that allows
packets flowing through a network to dynamically modify the operation of the
network.

Client-Server Network: In the Client-Server model, two processes are involved,

one on the client side and one on the server side. First client sends a message over
the network to the server, the client then waits for a reply. When the server
receives the request it performs the requested work and sends back a reply to the
client. This network becomes unusable if for any reason the server is down.

Peer-to-Peer Network : In the per-to-peer architecture individuals are connected

to a loose group can communicate with others in the group. There is no need to
distinguish clients the servers in this architecture. Every single node ( computers )
can communicate with all other computers in the network and the network wont be
affected if a single node is down.

Peer-To-Peer Networking
Any type of network architecture that is composed of contributors that make a part
of their resources available to other contributors as well as the connected members
on the same network without the need for a server to oversee the transfer of the
information is considered as a peer-to-peer network.

A peer-to-peer networks architecture is generally formed dynamically by an ad-hoc type of

addition of nodes, meaning the loss of a certain node does not have a significant impact on the
rest of the network.
This aspect of peer-to-peer networks gives the system the ability to easily scale to any size that
may be need for a certain application.
Regarding different types of peer-to-peer architecture, there are generally two major types,
structured and unstructured. These two types of networks also contain even more specific
underlying types of networks.

Peer-To-Peer
Un Structured
Networking

To be considered an unstructured peer-to-peer network, the network must not use any algorithm
for organization or optimization of the network.
For unstructured peer-to-peer networks there are three different models which include pure
peer-to-peer networks, hybrid peer-to-peer networks, and centralized peer-to-peer networks.
In a pure peer-to-peer network, or sometimes called a purely decentralized network, all nodes
are of equal ability meaning that there are no nodes that have any special infrastructure
function that could affect the network.

Peer-To-Peer
Un Structured
Networking
The second type of unstructured peer-to-peer networks is
called the hybrid peer-to-peer network.
In this type of network, infrastructure nodes are allowed to
exist and are often a type of central directory server.
All clients connected to the network must connect to one of
these servers.
The central server maintains a table of registered user
connection information (IP address, connection bandwidth
etc.) and a table listing the files that each user holds and
shares in the network, along with metadata descriptions of
the files(e.g. filename, time of creation, etc.)
A user that wishes to join the network must first contact the
central directory server and report its files that wish to be
shared. To find a file on this type of network, the user must
send a request for that file to the directory server. The server
then searches into database for said file and returns a list of
users that possess that file. The requesting user then opens
a direct connection with the list of users and downloads the

Peer-To-Peer
Un Structured
Networking
The final type of unstructured peer-to-peer network is
called a centralized peer-to-peer network.
These centralized peer-to-peer networks are very
similar to the pure peer-to-peer networks except for the
added concept of supernodes.
These supernodes are nodes that are dynamically
assigned the task of servicing a small subpart of the
peer network by indexing and caching files contained
therein.
Peers are chosen to be supernode automatically if said
peers bandwidth and processing power is sufficient. All
queries for files on this type of network are sent to and
processed by these supernodes.

Peer-To-Peer
Structured
Networking
Structured peer-to-peer networks generally hold the traits of using some type of algorithm for
organization or optimization of the network.
Structured peer-to-peer networks use some type of global protocol to ensure that any node in the
network can proficiently route a search to some peer that has a desired file.
Distributed hash tables are a class of decentralized distributed systems that provide a lookup service
similar to that of a hash table.
Pairs, key and value, are stored in the distributed has table and any connected node can proficiently
retrieve the value associated with a given key.
Maintaining the mapping from keys to values is the responsibility of each of the nodes in the
network.
This is done in such a way that a change to the set of peers causes a negligible amount of disruption
to the rest of the network.
The most popular example of a network using a distributed hash table is Bit Torrents distributed
tracker.

Peer-To-Peer
Networking
Advantages
and Limitation
One of the major advantages to a peer-to-peer network is that each time a new node is
connected to the network the total capacity of the system increases.
This point differs from the client-server model standpoint since the addition of new nodes to a
network that connects to a set number of servers could possibly slow data transfers for all of
the connected users.
Another advantage in regards to a pure peer-to-peer network is that there is no single
point of failure in the network.
When compared to the client-server model on this point if the server fails the network is
brought down since the server is unable to relay information to the connected nodes.
On the pure peer-to-peer side of the topic, if one of the nodes fails the rest of the nodes
are able

Peer-To-Peer
Networking
Advantages
and Limitation
One of the weaknesses of peer-to-peer networks is that of security. Generally speaking
peer-to-peer networks are more susceptible to security problems.
Another disadvantage of peer-to-peer networks is the high bandwidth usage required. This
high bandwidth usage has lead to Internet Service Providers starting to throttle, or limit,
peer-to-peer traffic.
On the other side, the server-client model usually consists of short quick bursts of data.
An emerging solution to this problem is called peer-to-peer caching.
Peer-to-peer caching is defined as a network traffic management service that accelerates
data delivered over peer-to-peer networks by means of the Internet Service Provider
storing pieces of files that are most accessed by peer-to-peer users.
Another disadvantage of peer-to-peer networks is the high bandwidth usage required. This
high bandwidth usage has lead to Internet Service Providers starting to throttle, or limit,
peer-to-peer traffic.

Peer-to-Peer
Networking
Applications
Some popular applications of peer-to-peer networking are:
File Sharing
Media Streaming
Grid Computing
Television Streaming

One of the very popular use of Peer-to-Peer technology is Grid

Computing.
Grid computing applications share processing power over a networking to accomplish
some type of goal.
The two most popular grid computing applications include BOINC and Folding@Home.

Thank You