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Series in Distributed Computing
edited by Roger Wattenhofer
Vol. 6

Stefan Schmid,

Dynamics and Cooperation.
Algorithmic Challenges in Peer-to-Peer Computing.
1st edition/1. Aufl. 2008, 150 pages/Seiten, € 64,00. ISBN 3-86628-205-2

 

 

Peer-to-peer (p2p) computing is one of the most intriguing new networking paradigms. At the heart of the paradigm lies the idea of leveraging the resources of the system’s participants. Thus, potentially scalable and robust architectures can be built. However, making use of the decentralized resources is challenging. The peers are under the control of the individual users who may only connect to the network for a short period of time. Consequently, there are frequent membership changes and p2p systems are highly dynamic. Peer-to-peer solutions are also faced with the fact that it is not always in the (anonymous) users’ interest to contribute their resources. Rather, a user may seek to exploit the system without reciprocating.

This volume studies the challenges of the dynamics and cooperation in p2p computing. Algorithms for p2p systems are described which maintain desirable network properties in dynamic environments. A case study of BitTorrent – one of the most traffic intensive applications on the Internet – is presented, and we show that today’s peer-to-peer networks still fail to fend off uncooperative peers. Our game-theoretic analysis of unstructured p2p networks reveals that both the performance and the stability of a system can suffer severely in case of selfish behavior. Finally, a new mathematical framework is introduced which allows us to evaluate a system’s robustness to malicious attacks and which is also useful for the analysis of social networks. The theoretic findings are complemented by a case study which identifies vulnerabilities in the popular Kad network.

 

About the author:

 

Stefan Schmid received his MSc degree in computer science from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland in 2004. In the same year, he joined the Distributed Computing Group of Professor Roger Wattenhofer at ETH Zurich as a PhD student and research assistant. In 2008, he earned his PhD degree for his work on algorithmic challenges in peer-to-peer computing.

 

 

Keywords: Algorithms, Churn, Distributed Systems, Locality, Game Theory, Peer-to-Peer

 

Series in Distributed Computing in http://www.hartung-gorre.de

Hartung-Gorre Verlag

Hartung-Gorre Verlag / D-78465 Konstanz / Germany

Telefon: +49 (0) 7533 97227  Telefax: +49 (0) 7533 97228
http://www.hartung-gorre.de   eMail: verlag@hartung-gorre.de