1,139 research outputs found
Taxonomy of P2P Applications
Peer-to-peer (p2p) networks have gained immense popularity in recent years and the number of services they provide continuously rises. Where p2p-networks were formerly known as file-sharing networks, p2p is now also used for services like VoIP and IPTV. With so many different p2p applications and services the need for a taxonomy framework rises. This paper describes the available p2p applications grouped by the services they provide. A taxonomy framework is proposed to classify old and recent p2p applications based on their characteristics
On the Optimization of BitTorrent-Like Protocols for Interactive On-Demand Streaming Systems
This paper proposes two novel optimized BitTorrent-like protocols for
interactive multimedia streaming: the Simple Interactive Streaming Protocol
(SISP) and the Exclusive Interactive Streaming Protocol (EISP). The former
chiefly seeks a trade-off between playback continuity and data diversity, while
the latter is mostly focused on playback continuity. To assure a thorough and
up-to-date approach, related work is carefully examined and important open
issues, concerning the design of BitTorrent-like algorithms, are analyzed as
well. Through simulations, in a variety of near-real file replication
scenarios, the novel protocols are evaluated using distinct performance
metrics. Among the major findings, the final results show that the two novel
proposals are efficient and, besides, focusing on playback continuity ends up
being the best design concept to achieve high quality of service. Lastly,
avenues for further research are included at the end of this paper as well.Comment: 20 page
Distributed Optimization of P2P Media Delivery Overlays
Media streaming over the Internet is becoming increasingly popular. Currently, most media is delivered using global content-delivery networks, providing a scalable and robust client-server model. However, content delivery infrastructures are expensive. One approach to reduce the cost of media delivery is to use peer-to-peer (P2P) overlay networks, where nodes share responsibility for delivering the media to one another.
The main challenges in P2P media streaming using overlay networks include: (i) nodes should receive the stream with respect to certain timing constraints, (ii) the overlay should adapt to the changes in the network, e.g., varying bandwidth capacity and join/failure of nodes, (iii) nodes should be intentivized to contribute and share their resources, and (iv) nodes should be able to establish connectivity to the other nodes behind NATs. In this work, we meet these requirements by presenting P2P solutions for live media streaming, as well as proposing a distributed NAT traversal solution.
First of all, we introduce a distributed market model to construct an approximately minimal height multiple-tree streaming overlay for content delivery, in gradienTv. In this system, we assume all the nodes are cooperative and execute the protocol. However, in reality, there may exist some opportunistic nodes, free-riders, that take advantage of the system, without contributing to content distribution. To overcome this problem, we extend our market model in Sepidar to be effective in deterring free-riders. However, gradienTv and Sepidar are tree-based solutions, which are fragile in high churn and failure scenarios. We present a solution to this problem in GLive that provides a more robust overlay by replacing the tree structure with a mesh. We show in simulation, that the mesh-based overlay outperforms the multiple-tree overlay.
Moreover, we compare the performance of all our systems with the state-of-the-art NewCoolstreaming, and observe that they provide better playback continuity and lower playback latency than that of NewCoolstreaming under a variety of experimental scenarios.
Although our distributed market model can be run against a random sample of nodes, we improve its convergence time by executing it against a sample of nodes taken from the Gradient overlay. The Gradient overlay organizes nodes in a topology using a local utility value at each node, such that
nodes are ordered in descending utility values away from a core of the highest utility nodes. The evaluations show that the streaming overlays converge faster when our market model works on top of the Gradient overlay.
We use a gossip-based peer sampling service in our streaming systems to provide each node with a small list of live nodes. However, in the Internet, where a high percentage of nodes are behind NATs, existing gossiping protocols break down. To solve this problem, we present Gozar, a NAT-friendly gossip-based peer sampling service that: (i) provides uniform random samples in the presence of NATs, and (ii) enables direct connectivity to sampled nodes using a fully distributed NAT traversal service. We compare Gozar with the state-of-the-art NAT-friendly gossip-based peer sampling service, Nylon, and show that only Gozar supports one-hop NAT traversal, and its overhead is roughly half of Nylon’s
Simulation and data analysis of peer-to-peer traffic for live video streaming
Evaluating and testing changes or configurations to peer-to-peer systems or even understanding their behaviour can be complicated. One approach is to simulate a large peer-to-peer system and visualise the results. In this master's thesis a study is performed to understand how an actual implementation of a hybrid peer-to-peer live video streaming system behaves and performs under different scenarios. The behaviour and performance of a hybrid live video streaming system consisting of an unstructured mesh-pull-based P2P network and a classic content delivery network solution is studied by simulating the system with different scenarios such as flash crowds and flash disconnects. The simulation system includes a network model taking latency and bandwidth into consideration. As expected the mesh-based system performed well under user churn. Although the system consisted of approximately 80% free-riders the utilisation of the content distribution network was reduced by 95% on average. The data analysis was successful in improving the system's overall performance. Furthermore, the visualisations and data analysis were used to understand the system's behaviour
The Structured Way of Dealing with Heterogeneous Live Streaming Systems
International audienceIn peer-to-peer networks for video live streaming, peers can share the forwarding load in two types of systems: unstructured and structured. In unstructured overlays, the graph structure is not well-defined, and a peer can obtain the stream from many sources. In structured overlays, the graph is organized as a tree rooted at the server and parent-child relationships are established between peers. Unstructured overlays ensure robustness and a higher degree of resilience compared to the structured ones. Indeed, they better manage the dynamics of peer participation or churn. Nodes can join and leave the system at any moment. However, they are less bandwidth efficient than structured overlays. In this work, we propose new simple distributed repair protocols for video live streaming structured systems. We show, through simulations and with real traces from Twitch, that structured systems can be very efficient and robust to failures, even for high churn and when peers have very heterogeneous upload bandwidth capabilities
A credit-based approach to scalable video transmission over a peer-to-peer social network
PhDThe objective of the research work presented in this thesis is to study
scalable video transmission over peer-to-peer networks. In particular,
we analyse how a credit-based approach and exploitation of social networking
features can play a significant role in the design of such systems.
Peer-to-peer systems are nowadays a valid alternative to the traditional
client-server architecture for the distribution of multimedia content, as
they transfer the workload from the service provider to the final user,
with a subsequent reduction of management costs for the former. On
the other hand, scalable video coding helps in dealing with network
heterogeneity, since the content can be tailored to the characteristics
or resources of the peers. First of all, we present a study that evaluates
subjective video quality perceived by the final user under different
transmission scenarios. We also propose a video chunk selection algorithm
that maximises received video quality under different network
conditions. Furthermore, challenges in building reliable peer-to-peer
systems for multimedia streaming include optimisation of resource allocation
and design mechanisms based on rewards and punishments that
provide incentives for users to share their own resources. Our solution
relies on a credit-based architecture, where peers do not interact with
users that have proven to be malicious in the past. Finally, if peers
are allowed to build a social network of trusted users, they can share
the local information they have about the network and have a more
complete understanding of the type of users they are interacting with.
Therefore, in addition to a local credit, a social credit or social reputation
is introduced. This thesis concludes with an overview of future
developments of this research work
Live Streaming in P2P and Hybrid P2P-Cloud Environments for the Open Internet
Peer-to-Peer (P2P) live media streaming is an emerging technology that reduces the barrier to stream live events over the Internet. However, providing a high quality media stream using P2P overlay networks is challenging and gives raise to a number of issues: (i) how to guarantee quality of the service (QoS) in the presence of dynamism, (ii) how to incentivize nodes to participate in media distribution, (iii) how to avoid bottlenecks in the overlay, and (iv) how to deal with nodes that reside behind Network Address Translators gateways (NATs).
In this thesis, we answer the above research questions in form of new algorithms and systems. First of all, we address problems (i) and (ii) by presenting our P2P live media streaming solutions: Sepidar, which is a multiple-tree overlay, and GLive, which is a mesh overlay. In both models, nodes with higher upload bandwidth are positioned closer to the media source. This structure reduces the playback latency and increases the playback continuity at nodes, and also incentivizes the nodes to provide more upload bandwidth.
We use a reputation model to improve participating nodes in media distribution in Sepidar and GLive. In both systems, nodes audit the behaviour of their directly connected nodes by getting feedback from other nodes. Nodes who upload more of the stream get a relatively higher reputation, and proportionally higher quality streams. To construct our streaming overlay, we present a distributed market model inspired by Bertsekas auction algorithm, although our model does not rely on a central server with global knowledge. In our model, each node has only partial information about the system. Nodes acquire knowledge of the system by sampling nodes using the Gradient overlay, where it facilitates the discovery of nodes with similar upload bandwidth.
We address the bottlenecks problem, problem (iii), by presenting CLive that satisfies real-time constraints on delay between the generation of the stream and its actual delivery to users. We resolve this problem by borrowing some resources (helpers) from the cloud, upon need. In our approach, helpers are added on demand to the overlay, to increase the amount of total available bandwidth, thus increasing the probability of receiving the video on time. As the use of cloud resources costs money, we model the problem as the minimization of the economical cost, provided that a set of constraints on QoS is satisfied.
Finally, we solve the NAT problem, problem (iv), by presenting two NAT-aware peer sampling services (PSS): Gozar and Croupier. Traditional gossip-based PSS breaks down, where a high percentage of nodes are behind NATs. We overcome this problem in Gozar using one-hop relaying to communicate with the nodes behind NATs. Croupier similarly implements a gossip-based PSS, but without the use of relaying
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