6,558 research outputs found
Understanding Churn in Decentralized Peer-to-Peer Networks
This dissertation presents a novel modeling framework for understanding the dynamics
of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks under churn (i.e., random user arrival/departure)
and designing systems more resilient against node failure. The proposed models are
applicable to general distributed systems under a variety of conditions on graph construction
and user lifetimes.
The foundation of this work is a new churn model that describes user arrival and
departure as a superposition of many periodic (renewal) processes. It not only allows
general (non-exponential) user lifetime distributions, but also captures heterogeneous
behavior of peers. We utilize this model to analyze link dynamics and the ability
of the system to stay connected under churn. Our results offers exact computation
of user-isolation and graph-partitioning probabilities for any monotone lifetime distribution,
including heavy-tailed cases found in real systems. We also propose an
age-proportional random-walk algorithm for creating links in unstructured P2P networks
that achieves zero isolation probability as system size becomes infinite. We
additionally obtain many insightful results on the transient distribution of in-degree,
edge arrival process, system size, and lifetimes of live users as simple functions of the
aggregate lifetime distribution.
The second half of this work studies churn in structured P2P networks that are
usually built upon distributed hash tables (DHTs). Users in DHTs maintain two types of neighbor sets: routing tables and successor/leaf sets. The former tables determine
link lifetimes and routing performance of the system, while the latter are built for
ensuring DHT consistency and connectivity. Our first result in this area proves that
robustness of DHTs is mainly determined by zone size of selected neighbors, which
leads us to propose a min-zone algorithm that significantly reduces link churn in
DHTs. Our second result uses the Chen-Stein method to understand concurrent
failures among strongly dependent successor sets of many DHTs and finds an optimal
stabilization strategy for keeping Chord connected under churn
Comparing Maintenance Strategies for Overlays
In this paper, we present an analytical tool for understanding the
performance of structured overlay networks under churn based on the
master-equation approach of physics. We motivate and derive an equation for the
average number of hops taken by lookups during churn, for the Chord network. We
analyse this equation in detail to understand the behaviour with and without
churn. We then use this understanding to predict how lookups will scale for
varying peer population as well as varying the sizes of the routing tables. We
then consider a change in the maintenance algorithm of the overlay, from
periodic stabilisation to a reactive one which corrects fingers only when a
change is detected. We generalise our earlier analysis to underdstand how the
reactive strategy compares with the periodic one.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure
The Role of Peer Influence in Churn in Wireless Networks
Subscriber churn remains a top challenge for wireless carriers. These
carriers need to understand the determinants of churn to confidently apply
effective retention strategies to ensure their profitability and growth. In
this paper, we look at the effect of peer influence on churn and we try to
disentangle it from other effects that drive simultaneous churn across friends
but that do not relate to peer influence. We analyze a random sample of roughly
10 thousand subscribers from large dataset from a major wireless carrier over a
period of 10 months. We apply survival models and generalized propensity score
to identify the role of peer influence. We show that the propensity to churn
increases when friends do and that it increases more when many strong friends
churn. Therefore, our results suggest that churn managers should consider
strategies aimed at preventing group churn. We also show that survival models
fail to disentangle homophily from peer influence over-estimating the effect of
peer influence.Comment: Accepted in Seventh ASE International Conference on Social Computing
(Socialcom 2014), Best Paper Award Winne
Storage and Search in Dynamic Peer-to-Peer Networks
We study robust and efficient distributed algorithms for searching, storing,
and maintaining data in dynamic Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks. P2P networks are
highly dynamic networks that experience heavy node churn (i.e., nodes join and
leave the network continuously over time). Our goal is to guarantee, despite
high node churn rate, that a large number of nodes in the network can store,
retrieve, and maintain a large number of data items. Our main contributions are
fast randomized distributed algorithms that guarantee the above with high
probability (whp) even under high adversarial churn:
1. A randomized distributed search algorithm that (whp) guarantees that
searches from as many as nodes ( is the stable network size)
succeed in -rounds despite churn, for
any small constant , per round. We assume that the churn is
controlled by an oblivious adversary (that has complete knowledge and control
of what nodes join and leave and at what time, but is oblivious to the random
choices made by the algorithm).
2. A storage and maintenance algorithm that guarantees (whp) data items can
be efficiently stored (with only copies of each data item)
and maintained in a dynamic P2P network with churn rate up to
per round. Our search algorithm together with our
storage and maintenance algorithm guarantees that as many as nodes
can efficiently store, maintain, and search even under churn per round. Our algorithms require only polylogarithmic in bits to
be processed and sent (per round) by each node.
To the best of our knowledge, our algorithms are the first-known,
fully-distributed storage and search algorithms that provably work under highly
dynamic settings (i.e., high churn rates per step).Comment: to appear at SPAA 201
Shuffling with a Croupier: Nat-Aware Peer-Sampling
Despite much recent research on peer-to-peer (P2P) protocols for the Internet, there have been relatively few practical protocols designed to explicitly account for Network Address Translation gateways (NATs). Those P2P protocols that do handle NATs circumvent them using relaying and hole-punching techniques to route packets to nodes residing behind NATs. In this paper, we present Croupier, a peer sampling service (PSS) that provides uniform random samples of nodes in the presence of NATs in the network. It is the ïŹrst NAT-aware PSS that works without the use of relaying or hole-punching. By removing the need for relaying and hole-punching, we decrease the complexity and overhead of our protocol as well as increase
its robustness to churn and failure. We evaluated Croupier in simulation, and, in comparison with existing NAT-aware PSSâ, our results show similar randomness properties, but improved robustness in the presence of both high percentages of nodes behind NATs and massive node failures. Croupier also has substantially lower protocol overhead
Query Load Balancing by Caching Search Results in Peer-to-Peer Information Retrieval Networks
For peer-to-peer web search engines it is important to keep the delay between receiving a query and providing search results within an acceptable range for the end user. How to achieve this remains an open challenge. One way to reduce delays is by caching search results for queries and allowing peers to access each others cache. In this paper we explore the limitations of search result caching in large-scale peer-to-peer information retrieval networks by simulating such networks with increasing levels of realism. We find that cache hit ratios of at least thirty-three percent are attainable
A framework for proving the self-organization of dynamic systems
This paper aims at providing a rigorous definition of self- organization, one
of the most desired properties for dynamic systems (e.g., peer-to-peer systems,
sensor networks, cooperative robotics, or ad-hoc networks). We characterize
different classes of self-organization through liveness and safety properties
that both capture information re- garding the system entropy. We illustrate
these classes through study cases. The first ones are two representative P2P
overlays (CAN and Pas- try) and the others are specific implementations of
\Omega (the leader oracle) and one-shot query abstractions for dynamic
settings. Our study aims at understanding the limits and respective power of
existing self-organized protocols and lays the basis of designing robust
algorithm for dynamic systems
Stochastic Analysis of a Churn-Tolerant Structured Peer-to-Peer Scheme
We present and analyze a simple and general scheme to build a churn
(fault)-tolerant structured Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network. Our scheme shows how to
"convert" a static network into a dynamic distributed hash table(DHT)-based P2P
network such that all the good properties of the static network are guaranteed
with high probability (w.h.p). Applying our scheme to a cube-connected cycles
network, for example, yields a degree connected network, in which
every search succeeds in hops w.h.p., using messages,
where is the expected stable network size. Our scheme has an constant
storage overhead (the number of nodes responsible for servicing a data item)
and an overhead (messages and time) per insertion and essentially
no overhead for deletions. All these bounds are essentially optimal. While DHT
schemes with similar guarantees are already known in the literature, this work
is new in the following aspects:
(1) It presents a rigorous mathematical analysis of the scheme under a
general stochastic model of churn and shows the above guarantees;
(2) The theoretical analysis is complemented by a simulation-based analysis
that validates the asymptotic bounds even in moderately sized networks and also
studies performance under changing stable network size;
(3) The presented scheme seems especially suitable for maintaining dynamic
structures under churn efficiently. In particular, we show that a spanning tree
of low diameter can be efficiently maintained in constant time and logarithmic
number of messages per insertion or deletion w.h.p.
Keywords: P2P Network, DHT Scheme, Churn, Dynamic Spanning Tree, Stochastic
Analysis
An Empirical Study of the I2P Anonymity Network and its Censorship Resistance
Tor and I2P are well-known anonymity networks used by many individuals to
protect their online privacy and anonymity. Tor's centralized directory
services facilitate the understanding of the Tor network, as well as the
measurement and visualization of its structure through the Tor Metrics project.
In contrast, I2P does not rely on centralized directory servers, and thus
obtaining a complete view of the network is challenging. In this work, we
conduct an empirical study of the I2P network, in which we measure properties
including population, churn rate, router type, and the geographic distribution
of I2P peers. We find that there are currently around 32K active I2P peers in
the network on a daily basis. Of these peers, 14K are located behind NAT or
firewalls.
Using the collected network data, we examine the blocking resistance of I2P
against a censor that wants to prevent access to I2P using address-based
blocking techniques. Despite the decentralized characteristics of I2P, we
discover that a censor can block more than 95% of peer IP addresses known by a
stable I2P client by operating only 10 routers in the network. This amounts to
severe network impairment: a blocking rate of more than 70% is enough to cause
significant latency in web browsing activities, while blocking more than 90% of
peer IP addresses can make the network unusable. Finally, we discuss the
security consequences of the network being blocked, and directions for
potential approaches to make I2P more resistant to blocking.Comment: 14 pages, To appear in the 2018 Internet Measurement Conference
(IMC'18
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