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Putting P2P To Work

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the it's-all-data-anyhow dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Looks like some folks at IBM have had moderate success in getting P2P adopted within the corporate enterprise. One new paper on the site describes experiences in deploying a decentralized search network spanning machines in 43 countries. Another describes a system for peer-to-peer sharing of dynamic web applications instead of static files. The idea is to support development and distribution of simple modules that themselves form meta p2p networks. Neat."

8 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. Project Jxta by Isosonys · · Score: 3, Informative

    www.jxta.org does this now, p2p search, and much more.

    1. Re:Project Jxta by Bert690 · · Score: 3, Informative
      There's a lot in YouServ that is not in JXTA. YouServ is an application, JXTA is more about infrastructure with a loose collection of apps atop it, none of which provide all the features offered by YouServ (web hosting with transparent site failover to buddy machines, dynamic dns, integrated authentication system and certificate authority for single sign-on and support of HTTPS, browser compatible access, p2p search over file *content* as well as filenames, and so on...)

      Sure you could probably build something like this with JXTA, but nobody has done it yet.

  2. Ad-hoc p2p on OS X by h0tblack · · Score: 4, Informative

    One great feature of 10.2.x has become apparent through use of Rendezvous (aka OpenConf) and iChat. Rather than connecting to a central iChat (ie AOL) server, you can easily and automagically create an ad-hoc iChat network between any capable (running 10.2 and have a network connection) machines. This enables people to easily chat, exchange files etc. wherever they may be, by setting up simple wired or wireless networks. Look out for more of this at various conferences (wireless ad-hoc networks) and in the workplace.
    This sort of technology is being pushed by Apple and will be included in future updates to various "iApps" including iTunes...

  3. Re:Security? by Bert690 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Every YouServ node is granted an SSL certificate from an integrated certificate authority, and uses it for support of HTTPS/SSL. Use of HTTPS guarantees there is no man in the middle.

    YouServ is a bit different than traditional P2P apps most people are familiar with. For one, there is accountability: Every one of the files you share has YOUR NAME embedded within the URL required for accessing that file, even if that file resides on another machine at the time of download (e.g. from the ability to replicate your site to other machines). Unless you don't value your job, you'd be highly unlikely to use this system for sharing porn / MP3's / etc, a point made in the paper on the search function.

    Two, it's not just for sharing files that are world readable. It's also for sharing stuff with only designated users and groups. Every node is tied together by a single sign-on infrastructure so you can use one and only one password to access secured content on any node, without the possibility of malicious nodes sniffing and stashing your password.

    Third, it's at its core web compatible. You access the network with a regular web browser. There s no need to install spyware riddled clients to get at anything. Each node provides a web accessible search interface for searching the globally shared content or site-specific content. You only install the software if you want to host stuff.

  4. Re:Oh oh! Not compatible? Bahhhh by Bert690 · · Score: 3, Informative
    That's a pretty minor issue since it only affects HTTPS/SSL (which is used for file uploads to protect auth credentials).

    A worse one (for YouServ compatability and anything else reyling on dynamic DNS) is the fact that Mozilla caches IP addresses until the browser is completely restarted. How's that for stupid?

    Please vote to have this issue fixed right here.

  5. Re:For a real challenge, try P2P-ing the database by Bert690 · · Score: 5, Informative
    As a developer of the system, I can tell you that a p2p database is not, nor will it be, one of the goals of YouServ.

    The system is intended for personal web hosting, that is, for use by mostly non-technical users for sharing files, creating web logs, guest books, and so on, using their own hardware (and that of their friends). In no way are we trying to provide p2p solutions to business class functions such as serving an online store (though I agree it would be cool if someone did that).

    Indeed the existing plugins are simple (my development time has been limited and this component is very new), and at this point are intended only to demonstrate the API features. But even quite simple plugins, if they cooperate across multiple machines, can do some very cool things, a few examples of which are proposed in the paper: sharing files on multiple other p2p networks, distributed content caching ("akamai for free"), cooperative weblogging, and so on. Again, you woudln't use this to build a high-traffic online store, but it does give you many new and easy to use ways to enhance and publish your own (web) content.

  6. Re:For a real challenge, try P2P-ing the database by sailesh · · Score: 4, Informative

    Look at the PIER project at the Database group in UC Berkeley.

    PIER is a P2P Query Processor .. it stands for "P2P Information Exchange and Retrieval"

    http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~huebsch/pier/

  7. Re:Security? by bastion_xx · · Score: 3, Informative

    A P2P network based on PKI could perform authentication without requiring 24/7 access to a central server.

    Once the file has been signed by a certificate authority and the CA's public key is loaded in the P2P software, the validity of the file can be confirmed. Of course, certificate revocation lists are more problematic, but they too could be distributed via P2P.

    If the network is used to insert files on a continueos basis, subordinate CA's could handle the load a redundancy.