Analysis of Messaging Load in a P2PP Overlay Network under Churn

We analyze the performance of a DHT-based P2P overlay network in resource access and overlay maintenance activities. We use a cross-platform implementation of the protocol called P2PP. Mobile systems are the main target platform of our protocol implementation; due to practical reasons, we conduct large-scale evaluations using a server array. The performance metric is the request accomplishment success ratio in the overlay network. The evaluations are conducted in the presence of churn i.e. the peers´ continuous activity of joining and leaving the overlay, which is crucial for realistic simulations. The online and offline time-periods of churning peers follow an exponential distribution. In addition to churn, we use overlay size and resource lookup activity as variable parameters. Measurements of request success ratio can be used to approximate the performance of a P2P overlay network and the load inflicted on it, when its number of peers and activity level are known.