Directed Research Project Details
Characterizing Traffic in a Widely Deployed DHT
| Author: | Ghulam Memon |
|---|---|
| Date: | July 15, 2008 |
| Time: | 14:00 |
| Location: | 220 Deschutes |
| Committee: | Reza Rejaie (Chair) Jun Li Yannis Smaragdakis |
Abstract
Peer to Peer (P2P) systems offer a promising approach for distributed data management in a scalable fashion. Distributed Hash Table (DHT) is a subclass of P2P systems, which is often referred to as structured P2P system. DHTs have been an active area of research since 2001 but have not been deployed in a real world setting only until recently. As a result, characteristics of a widely deployed DHT are not well understood. Characterizing a DHT requires capturing the global view of the P2P system which is challenging due to the large size, and distributed and dynamic nature of P2P systems.
In this study, we propose a new measurement technique to accurately capture observed traffic by individual peers in a widely deployed DHT, called Kad. Toward this end, we use the idea of "minimally visible monitors" to minimize any potential disruption of measurement nodes on the system. We have implemented our technique in the form of a highly scalable and parallel python based Kad client. We rigorously validate our implementation, using actual Kad network, to determine its accuracy. Finally, we use our measurement tool to characterize three aspects of usage in Kad, namely: User Behavior, Protocol behavior, and Content properties.