Scheduling algorithms for peer-to-peer collaborative file distribution

Peer-to-Peer file sharing applications on the Internet, such as BitTorrent, Gnutella, etc., have been immensely popular. Prior research mainly focuses on peer and content discovery, overlay topology formation, fairness and incentive issues, etc, but seldom investigates the data distribution problem which is also a core component of any file sharing application. In this paper, we present the first effort in addressing this collaborative file distribution problem and formally define the scheduling problem in a simplified context. We suggest several types of algorithms, including a novel Bipartite Matching algorithm, for solving the problem. Simulation results show that our weighted bipartite algorithm finds an optimal solution for all cases tested. Therefore, we believe our algorithm is a promising solution to be employed as the core scheduling module in P2P file sharing applications, shortening the total download time experienced by users. © 2005 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

A Taxonomy of Data Grids for Distributed Data Sharing, Management and Processing

Data Grids have been adopted as the platform for scientific communities that need to share, access, transport, process and manage large data collections distributed worldwide. They combine high-end computing technologies with high-performance networking and wide-area storage management techniques. In this paper, we discuss the key concepts behind Data Grids and compare them with other data sharing and distribution paradigms such as content delivery networks, peer-to-peer networks and distributed databases. We then provide comprehensive taxonomies that cover various aspects of architecture, data transportation, data replication and resource allocation and scheduling. Finally, we map the proposed taxonomy to various Data Grid systems not only to validate the taxonomy but also to identify areas for future exploration. Through this taxonomy, we aim to categorise existing systems to better understand their goals and their methodology. This would help evaluate their applicability for solving similar problems. This taxonomy also provides a "gap analysis" of this area through which researchers can potentially identify new issues for investigation. Finally, we hope that the proposed taxonomy and mapping also helps to provide an easy way for new practitioners to understand this complex area of research.Comment: 46 pages, 16 figures, Technical Repor

QoE in Pull Based P2P-TV Systems: Overlay Topology Design Tradeoff

Abstract—This paper presents a systematic performance anal-ysis of pull P2P video streaming systems for live applications, providing guidelines for the design of the overlay topology and the chunk scheduling algorithm. The contribution of the paper is threefold: 1) we propose a realistic simulative model of the system that represents the effects of access bandwidth heterogeneity, latencies, peculiar characteristics of the video, while still guaranteeing good scalability properties; 2) we propose a new latency/bandwidth-aware overlay topology design strategy that improves application layer performance while reducing the underlying transport network stress; 3) we investigate the impact of chunk scheduling algorithms that explicitly exploit properties of encoded video. Results show that our proposal jointly improves the actual Quality of Experience of users and reduces the cost the transport network has to support. I

A Literature Survey of Cooperative Caching in Content Distribution Networks

Content distribution networks (CDNs) which serve to deliver web objects (e.g., documents, applications, music and video, etc.) have seen tremendous growth since its emergence. To minimize the retrieving delay experienced by a user with a request for a web object, caching strategies are often applied - contents are replicated at edges of the network which is closer to the user such that the network distance between the user and the object is reduced. In this literature survey, evolution of caching is studied. A recent research paper [15] in the field of large-scale caching for CDN was chosen to be the anchor paper which serves as a guide to the topic. Research studies after and relevant to the anchor paper are also analyzed to better evaluate the statements and results of the anchor paper and more importantly, to obtain an unbiased view of the large scale collaborate caching systems as a whole.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Extended Equal Service and Differentiated Service Models for Peer-to-Peer File Sharing

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) systems have proved to be the most effective and popular file sharing applications in recent years. Previous studies mainly focus on the equal service and the differentiated service strategies when peers have no initial data before their download. In an upload-constrained P2P file sharing system, we model both the equal service process and the differentiated service process when peers' initial data distribution satisfies some special conditions, and also show how to minimize the time to get the file to any number of peers. The proposed models can reveal the intrinsic relations among the initial data amount, the size of peer set and the minimum last finish time. By using the models, we can also provide arbitrary degree of differentiated service to a certain number of peers. We believe that our analysis process and achieved theoretical results could provide fundamental insights into studies on bandwidth allocation and data scheduling, and can give helpful reference both for improving system performance and building effective incentive mechanism in P2P file sharing systems

Utility Optimal Scheduling and Admission Control for Adaptive Video Streaming in Small Cell Networks

We consider the jointly optimal design of a transmission scheduling and admission control policy for adaptive video streaming over small cell networks. We formulate the problem as a dynamic network utility maximization and observe that it naturally decomposes into two subproblems: admission control and transmission scheduling. The resulting algorithms are simple and suitable for distributed implementation. The admission control decisions involve each user choosing the quality of the video chunk asked for download, based on the network congestion in its neighborhood. This form of admission control is compatible with the current video streaming technology based on the DASH protocol over TCP connections. Through simulations, we evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm under realistic assumptions for a small-cell network.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Accepted and will be presented at IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT) 201