Tree-Based Overlay Networks for Scalable Applications

The increasing availability of high-performance computing systems with thousands, tens of thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of computational nodes is driving the demand for programming models and infrastructures that allow effective use of such large-scale environments. Tree-based Overlay Networks (TBŌNs) have proven to provide such a model for distributed tools like performance profilers, parallel debuggers, system monitors and system administration tools. We demonstrate that the extensibility and flexibility of the TBŌN distributed computing model, along with its performance characteristics, make it surprisingly general, particularly for applications outside the tool domain. We describe many interesting applications and commonly-used algorithms for which TBŌNs are well-suited and provide a new (non-tool) case study, a distributed implementation of the mean-shift algorithm commonly used in computer vision to delineate arbitrarily shaped clusters in complex, multi-modal feature spaces. 1

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

Broadcasting in Prefix Space: P2P Data Dissemination with Predictable Performance

A broadcast mode may augment peer-to-peer overlay networks with an efficient, scalable data replication function, but may also give rise to a virtual link layer in VPN-type solutions. We introduce a simple broadcasting mechanism that operates in the prefix space of distributed hash tables without signaling. This paper concentrates on the performance analysis of the prefix flooding scheme. Starting from simple models of recursive $k$-ary trees, we analytically derive distributions of hop counts and the replication load. Extensive simulation results are presented further on, based on an implementation within the OverSim framework. Comparisons are drawn to Scribe, taken as a general reference model for group communication according to the shared, rendezvous-point-centered distribution paradigm. The prefix flooding scheme thereby confirmed its widely predictable performance and consistently outperformed Scribe in all metrics. Reverse path selection in overlays is identified as a major cause of performance degradation.Comment: final version for ICIW'0