Subject: [P2Prg] Definition of p2p

From: Michael Rogers <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 2 Aug 2003 15:45:24 +0100 (BST)

Since nobody else seems keen to attempt a definition of peer-to-peer, I'll
have a stab. I think Clay Shirkey was right when he said that
peer-to-peer networks are characterised by existing at the edges of the
internet. Here's my attempt at expanding on that thought:

Peer-to-peer networks are defined by the following characteristics:

	Each node typically has a different owner.

	Participation is voluntary. Therefore p2p networks typically
	depend on commodity hardware, software and connectivity.

	Nodes are unreliable (compared to, say, corporate web servers).

	Nodes may behave selfishly or maliciously.

This definition is still too broad - would anyone like to help narrow it
down?

Michael

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From: C Wegrzyn <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 04 Aug 2003 07:16:52 -0400

Since the "big burst" of activity a month ago nothing has happened. Will 
the chair (chairs) tell me what is happening?

Chuck Wegrzyn

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From: Valentin Mesaros <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 04 Aug 2003 16:14:28 +0200

Hi there,

My name is Valentin Mesaros and I work within an international project
called (PEPITO -- PEer-to-Peer: Implementation and TheOry --
http://www.sics.se/pepito). 
We've been working for one year and a half now on different facets of
P2P computing such as: formal models, distributed algorithms and
services, and applications.

We came up with a possible definition of a P2P system that I thought you
might be intrested to know about. Here it is:

A Peer-To-Peer system is a distributed system based on resource sharing
by direct exchange
between nodes and which has at least the following properties:
- Decentralization: no single centralized coordination nor
administration;
- Scalability: the system size can grow arbitrarily while keeping the
system performance acceptable;
- Adaptation: the system adapts to frequent changes in content and load;
- Self-organization: despite frequent arrival and voluntary departure of
nodes, (nearly) optimal configurations emerge without manual
intervention; 
- Fault-tolerance: the impact of node/communication failures on the
overall system is minimized;
- Equal functionality: each node can play the role of client, server,
router and cache;
- Mobility: nodes do not have fixed IP addresses.

Valentin

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From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 05 Aug 2003 09:55:52 +0900

MY Definition of P2P:
 Distributed systems that don't fit in Client-Server architecture.

Personally I think the word peer-to-peer is too broad to define
technically. Maybe we can count ten or more technical characteristics
that usually considered P2P, and any one or some set of them make the
systems beyond traditional C/S arch.

e.g. 
 SETI@Home does client-server like communication, but the processing
has done in CLIENT side, not the server. Thus, it goes beyond
traditional client(thin-light-poor) and server(big-fat-rich)
architecture.

Yusuke

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From: Bill Yeager <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 04 Aug 2003 19:54:31 -0700

Hi Chuck,

This is Summer and lots of us are taking vacations. Not unusual for 
this time of year (-: I'm just back myself, and will have one more for 
the first 15 days of Sept. Then back to work. Those of you who are 
interested might go to the IEEE P2P conference Sept. 1-3. I'll be there 
and will give a keynote on P2P Security and Jxta:

http://www.ida.liu.se/conferences/p2p/p2p2003/

I see the major activity beginning in late September. I am working on a 
first meeting for the end of that month but can't promise anything 
until I work out the details.

Don't fret, we are gearing up so to speak ... Bobby and I will have a 
message to the group in the next two weeks to elaborate our plans.

Bill

On Monday, August 4, 2003, at 04:16 AM, C Wegrzyn wrote:

> Since the "big burst" of activity a month ago nothing has happened. 
> Will the chair (chairs) tell me what is happening?
>
> Chuck Wegrzyn

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From: Bill Yeager <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 04 Aug 2003 20:08:37 -0700

Please look at the P2P charter. This is the definition we are going to 
use as a basis for our work.

Thanks,

Bill

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From: Thorsten Strufe <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 11:27:29 +0200

Hi,

| Please look at the P2P charter. This is the definition we are going to
| use as a basis for our work.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a definition at hand which is a little
shorter? (_and_ a little less prose?)

I think that a definition shouldn't be too broad and that it shouldn't
take the application/user/ownership into account too much. There should
be no dev-goals in the definition.(?) (Scalability, Fault-Tolerance etc.
Most P2P-Systems aren't actually scalable (and scalability doesn't make
the term p2p more exact..), so it's a goal to make the systems scalable
and not an explanation...)

In my opinion something like:
	Peer-to-Peer-Systems are highly dynamic decentraliced
	distributed systems, in which every node performs, or at least
	is able to perform, the same tasks. In different links each node
	may either act as a client or a server.
would do the job.
That way we'd get rid of people who are calling SETI@home P2P ;-D, while
leaving enough room for different application domains such as
collaborative work, cycle-sharing, file-sharing (*sigh*) etc.
Hm. Mobility would be a missing point, but would I come away with the
explanation, that mobility is just a certain occurence of dynamics?

Main(?) research areas:
* Message forwarding/routing (Flooding/Routing Indices/DHT/...)
* Lookup/discovery (implementation of the namespace:
~  registry(dht/supernodes)/flat(flooding)/...)
* NAT-Traversal (or: IPv6, please!)
* Security-Issues (privacy, authentication
* Content Distribution (Multicast?)
* QoS in P2P(?)
* Interoperability(??)

The people researching mobile ad-hoc networks (manets) actually have
done quite some work, which might be of interest.
Loads of work has actually been done on lookup as well (as I had to
realize, when I started writing a paper on Lookup in P2P-Systems), as
most of the ideas/constraints for old fashioned lookup apply to
P2P-Systems as well...

My 5ct.

All the best,

Thorsten

- --
Dipl.-Inf. Thorsten Strufe         +49(0)3677-694553, CC 442
Fachgebiet Telematik               Institut Praktische Informatik	
Technische Universität Ilmenau     http://www-ia.tu-ilmenau.de/IPI/FGT
Sartre:Begehe keine Dummheit zweimal, die Auswahl ist doch groß genug!