Class 8, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) & Bit-Torrent

Class 8, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) & Bit-Torrent

Up until now during our class periods, we have focused our cue in learning about the client-server network architecture. Client-server is often referred as the "classic" network architecture. Yet, there are relatively newborn and/or different network architectures, such as the peer-to-peer (P2P) and distributed computing architectures. In this blog post, I would like to elaborate and explain further details regarding the topic of peer-to-peer networks and the Bit-Torrent network structure.

Simply explained, a P2P network can be created when two or more personal computers are connected, with resources sharing capability without using, or going through, a separate server computer. This form of network can be considered as an "ad hoc" connection. An ad hoc connection can be referred to couple computers connected through universal serial bus to transfer data. A P2P network can be a viable network on a bigger picture, when special applications are established to allow direct relationships among numerous internet users. The P2P network was first established in the early 80s, and nowadays, it is a common internet network structure that millions of users utilize to send and receive files and data over the internet, with greater ease.

 

BitTorrent is a protocol for the actual practice of P2P networks. BitTorrent is one of the most common and general protocols used in transferring large sized files. BitTorrrent's popularity can be supported by the fact that it was responsible for more than 3% of the worldwide bandwidth, a shockingly big number considering 6% of worldwide bandwidth was used in filesharing. We have discovered that BitTorrent is a famous platform that realized the functions and objectives of the peer-to-peer networks.