P2P - Search #5

A peer-to-peer (P2P) network is a type of decentralized and distributed network architecture in which individual nodes in the network (called "peers") act as both suppliers and consumers of resources, in contrast to the centralized client–server model where client nodes request access to resources provided by central servers.
In a peer-to-peer network, tasks (such as searching for files or streaming audio/video) are shared amongst multiple interconnected peers who each make a portion of their resources (such as processing power, disk storage or network bandwidth) directly available to other network participants, without the need for centralized coordination by servers.

While P2P systems had previously been used in many application domains, the concept was popularized by file sharing systems such as the music-sharing application Napster (originally released in 1999).[citation needed] The peer-to-peer movement allowed millions of Internet users to connect “directly, forming groups and collaborating to become user-created search engines, virtual supercomputers, and filesystems.” The basic concept of peer-to-peer computing was envisioned in earlier software systems and networking discussions, reaching back to principles stated in the first Request for Comments, RFC 1.

Tim Berners-Lee's vision for the World Wide Web was close to a P2P network in that it assumed each user of the web would be an active editor and contributor, creating and linking content to form an interlinked "web" of links. The early Internet was more open than present day, where two machines connected to the Internet could send packets to each other without firewalls and other security measures. This contrasts to the broadcasting-like structure of the web as it has developed over the years.

The idea of peer-to-peer began in the 1960s, when ARPANET was created as a network to share files between US research facilities and every host was seen as equal, none more important than the others. As a precursor to the Internet, ARPANET was a successful client-server network where “every participating node could request and serve content.” However, ARPANET was not self-organized and it lacked the ability to “provide any means for context or content based routing beyond ‘simple’ addressed based routing.”

Therefore, a distributed messaging system that is often likened as an early peer-to-peer architecture was established: USENET. USENET was developed in 1979 and is a system that enforces a decentralized model of control. The basic model is a client-server model from the user or client perspective that offers a self-organizing approach to newsgroup servers. However, news servers communicate with one another as peers to propagate Usenet news articles over the entire group of network servers. The same consideration applies to SMTP email in the sense that the core email relaying network of Mail transfer agents has a peer-to-peer character, while the periphery of e-mail clients and their direct connections is strictly a client–server relationship.[citation needed]

In May 1999, with millions more people on the Internet, Shawn Fenning introduced the music and file-sharing application called Napster. Napster was the beginning of peer-to-peer networks, as we know them today, where “participating users establish a virtual network, entirely independent from the physical network, without having to obey any administrative authorities or restrictions.”

Of conclusion: Peer-to-peer networks underlie numerous applications. The most commonly known application is file sharing, which popularized the technology. Peer-to-peer networking involves data transfer from one user to another without using an intermediate server. Companies developing P2P applications have been involved in numerous legal cases, primarily in the United States, primarily over issues surrounding copyright law. Two major cases are Grokster vs RIAA and MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd.. In both of the cases the file sharing technology was ruled to be legal as long as the developers had no ability to prevent the sharing of the copyrighted material.



Search by John Goes
IT Manager, IS expert and researcher.