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Overview of P2P Culture

P2P (Peer To Peer) is when multiple computers think collectively towards a shared objective. Computer programs that use less central servers and rely on a collection of computers such as Gnutella, distributed media streaming, networks of DCC based IRC fservers etc. tend to be referred to as being more P2P. Computer programs where many end-users communicate with few central services tend to be referred to as being less P2P or not P2P. To fully understand and leverage P2P technology, one must separate his or her self from the dogma that our computer programs must be united by servers in our physical possession to synchronize activities. Rather, think of our computer programs from a more digital-life oriented perspective and break the computer software up over multiple machines and make no single part of the software critical to the collective objective.

P2P Philosophy

�Single servants are less powerful then a single server but the collective of many servants is more powerful then any single server� - Daniel Stephen Rule.

For example, a large software company gives each employee a very small amount of responsibility. Even if this means you get your month�s coding done in a few days, it is more beneficial to the company as a whole to not rely on any single employee too much and allows the company more overall stability and to ultimately write larger more complex software packages than any single person is capable of. Your software is more P2P if you leverage this same principle to achieve more bandwidth and computing speed.

Basic P2P Terminology

Peer or Servant

A computer program that acts as both a client and a server for the entire P2P network.

Connection Manager

A light server application that provides a starting point for applications which enter a P2P network. The less the connection manager is involved in the objective of your overall application, the more P2P your application is. The more P2P your application is, the less strain on your own hardware.

 

Simple P2P Chat Example

This example demonstrates a very simple but highly P2P application. This example consists of two fundamental P2P parts: a connection manager and a servant. The connection manager should be compiled and executed once. The servant should be compiled and its config.xml�s connectionmgr tag should be set to the IP address or domain name of the computer that is running the connection manager. Make multiple copies of the servant�s executable and config.xml and place them on multiple computers. Execute each servant on a different machine and they will contact the connection manager to resolve each other�s location and network with each other. Each servant will frequently ask the connection manager who is on the P2P network and keep their own publish list up to date. When a servant leaves the network, an updated list is published to all the other servants and they discontinue attempting to communicate with the servant who left.

Can I still try this out if I only have one computer to work with?

Yes. The connection manager assigns a new port number to each servant so each servant listens on a unique port number. You can run the servant executable as many times as you want on a single machine. For your first test, I would suggest running the connection manager once and then run the servant a couple of times on the same machine as the connection manager. Then chat in the servant windows to verify that the P2P network has been constructed on your computer. If you have other computers to work with, simply execute the servant on the other computers and chat to verify that they successfully joined the P2P network.