Abstract:

Peer-to-peer networking is not a new concept, but has been resurrected by services such as Napster and file sharing applications using Gnutella. The network infrastructure of todays networks are based on the assumption that users are simple clients making small requests and receiving, possibly large, replies. This assumption does not hold for many peer-to-peer services and hence the network is often used inefficiently.

This report investigates the reasons behind this waste of resources and looks at various ways to deal with these issues. Focusing mainly on file sharing various attempts are presented and techniques and suggestions on how improvements can be made are presented.

The report also looks at the implementation of peer-to-peer services and what kind of problems need to be solved when developing a peer-to-peer application. The design and implementation of a peer-to-peer framework that solves common problems is the most important contribution in this area.

Looking at other peer-to-peer services conclusions regarding peer-to-peer in general can be made. The thesis ends by summarizing the solutions to some of the flaws in peer-to-peer services and provides guidelines on how peer-to-peer services can be constructed to work more efficiently.