An End-to-End Solution to Scalable Unstructured P2P Networking

Despite many improvements on original unstructured P2P networks, these systems still suffer from many problems, the most important of which are, (a) lack of guarantees on the integrity of the network topology in the face of churns, (b) excessive traffic cost, and (c) poor quality of search results. This paper introduces an end-to-end scalable unstructured P2P networking solution called SUPNET to address many of these issues. The solution consists of two sub-protocols, SUPNET-T and SUPNET-S, which are, respectively, responsible for network management and search. We investigate the end-to-end performance of our solution, both analytically and empirically. SUPNET-T is a scalable, highly robust protocol, capable of utilizing the heterogenous distribution of network resources. The high stability of SUPNET-T is the result of implementation of a novel distributed feedback mechanism. SUPNET-S, on the other hand, is capable of locating every item, even if a single copy of that item exists in the network. SUPNET-S does this while producing a traffic that scales provably sub-linear with the network size. The protocol also contains mechanisms for efficient search of popular items as well as distributed tuning algorithms. All this, along with a relative ease of implementation and a solid analytical foundation, make SUPNET a compelling solution for unstructured P2P networking.