Assignment: Data Communication (Keew3202) Student: Indira Karimova (Kew100701)

ASSIGNMENT: DATA COMMUNICATION (KEEW3202)
STUDENT: INDIRA KARIMOVA (KEW100701)

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INTRODUCTION
[1] When attempting to access information on devices such as PC, laptop, PDA, or cell phone, the data might not
be physically stored on their device. In this case, a request to access that information must be made to the device where
the data resides. The request for data can occur and be fulfilled using the client/server model, application layer services
and protocols, and peer-to-peer (P2P) networking and applications. The peer-to-peer (P2P) model involves two distinct
forms which are peer-to-peer network design and peer-to-peer applications. Both forms have similar features but work
differently. The current network scenario is dominated by the TCP/IP protocol that naturally suits the P2P model.
However, there is also a need to provide the following services which P2P will pivot [2]:
a) Subscription service used by the current members to reject or accept new subscriptions to a group. Peers wishing to join
a peer group must first locate a current member, and then request to join.
b) Discovery service used by peer members to search for peer-group resources. Only the peers that are currently logged on
will be the ones that are searched.
c) Peer monitoring service to keep a close track of a peer's status. Such a service is useful when features such as reliability
and guaranteed service times are to be provided to the subscriber of a P2P network.
d) Access Service used to validate requests made by one peer to another. The peer requiring data from another peer
provides its credentials and particulars about the request being made. The access service has to determine if the access is
permitted and if the request is warranted.
P2P SYSTEMS
Peer-to-peer systems have been defined in many papers. Here are two definitions that cover the concepts peer-topeer network and peer-to-peer systems [3]:
Distributed network architecture may be called a peer-to-peer network, if the participants share a part of their own
hardware resources (processing power, storage capacity, network link capacity, printers). These shared resources are
necessary to provide the Service and content offered by the network (e.g. file sharing or shared workspaces for
collaboration). They are accessible by other peers.
Peer-to-peer systems are distributed systems consisting of interconnected nodes able to self-organize into network
topologies with the purpose of sharing resources such as content, CPU cycles, storage and bandwidth, capable of
adapting to failures and accommodating transient populations of nodes while maintaining acceptable connectivity and
performance, without requiring the intermediation or support of a global centralized server or authority.
[1] To better appreciate the P2P model, lets have a brief review of the client/server model. In the client/server
model, the device requesting the information is called a client and the device responding to the request is called a server.
This model is considered to be in the application layer. There exist a server that is the place where resources are stored.
The client (a PC host) makes a request for a file to the server and the server respond by transferring the file to the client.
In a similar manner, the client can also transfer a file to the server for storage purpose.
In a P2P network, a dedicated server is not required. Multiple computers can be connected through a network to
share resources such as printers and files with needing the assistance of a server. Each of the end devices connected is
called a peer and can function as either a server or a client on a per-request basis. One computer might also assume the
roles both the server and client simultaneously for several simultaneous transactions.
Figure 1: Example of P2P networks
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A P2P application, unlike a peer-to-peer network, allows a device to act as both a client and a server within the
same communication session. P2P applications can be used on peer-to-peer networks, in client/server networks, and
across the Internet. Figure 3 shows two phones belonging to the same network sending an instant message with the digital
traffic between the two phones shown on top. Both can initiate a communication and are considered equal in the
communication process. However, each end device needs to provide a user interface and run a background service. When
you launch a specific peer-to-peer application, it invokes the required user interface and background services. After that,
the devices can communicate directly.
Figure 2: Example of P2P applications

[7] Devices will need to be installed with a P2P program that creates a virtual network between these
communities of P2P users. It will appear to the users as if their device is in a P2P network allowing them to share files to
other users and download files shared by other users. It is very similar to our Instant Messaging like Yahoo, AOL or
GTalk where even though the person we are communicating with are on a different network but a virtual network is
created where it looks like we are on a same network and we can share files and chat.
CHARACTERISTICS OF MOST P2P SYSTEMS [3]
a) Resource sharing each peer contributes system resources to the operation of the P2P system. Ideally this resource
sharing is proportional to the peers use of the P2P system, but many systems suffer from the free rider problem.
b) Networked all nodes are interconnected with other nodes in the P2P system, and the full set of nodes is members of a
connected graph. When the graph is no longer connected, the overlay is said to be partitioned.
c) Decentralization the behavior of the P2P system is determined by the collective actions of peer nodes, and there is no
central control point.
d) Symmetry nodes assume equal roles in the operation of the P2P system. In many designs this property is relaxed by
the use of special peer roles such as super peers or relay peers.
e) Autonomy participation of the peer in the P2P system is determined locally, and there is no single administrative
context for the P2P system.
f) Self-organization the organization of the P2P system increases over time using local knowledge and local operations
at each peer, and no peer dominates the system.
g) Scalable This is a pre-requisite of operating P2P systems with millions of simultaneous nodes, and means that the
resources used at each peer exhibit a growth rate as a function of overlay size that is less than linear. It also means that the
response time doesnt grow more than linearly as a function of overlay size.
h) Stability Within a maximum churn rate, the P2P system should be stable, i.e., it should maintain its connected graph
and be able to route deterministically within a practical hop-count bounds.
P2P SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURES

[3] In a pure P2P network, there is no notion of clients/servers but only equal peer nodes that simultaneously
function as both "clients" and "servers" to the other nodes on the network. This differs from the client/server model where
communication is usually to and from a central server.
The modern peer-to-peer systems are often implemented using an abstract overlay network, built at Application
Layer, on top of the native or physical network topology. Such overlays are used for indexing and peer discovery and
make the P2P system independent from the physical network topology. Content is typically exchanged directly over the
underlying Internet Protocol (IP) network. The two main P2P overlay architectures which are the unstructured P2P
overlay architecture and structured P2P overlay architecture. We will only discuss an overview of the structured P2P
overlay but we will be discussing about unstructured P2P overlay in more detailed. The definition of an overlay network:
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An overlay network is an application layer virtual or logical network in which end points are addressable and that
provides connectivity, routing, and messaging between end points. Overlay networks are frequently used as a substrate
for deploying new network services, or for providing a routing topology not available from the underlying physical
network. Many peer-to-peer systems are overlay networks that run on top of the Internet.
a) Unstructured P2P overlay architecture [4]
An unstructured overlay is an overlay in which a node relies only on its adjacent nodes for delivery of messages to other
nodes in the overlay. Example message propagation strategies are flooding and random walk. Our study will focus on the
file sharing application, which is one of the most important applications for P2P networks. Unstructured overlays can be
further classified into centralized, distributed, hybrid and some other approaches for file sharing.
Figure 3: Search process in unstructured P2P networks. (a) Napster (b) Gnutella (c) Kazaa (d) BitTorrent
i. A Centralized Approach: Napster
Napster file sharing system consists of a central directory server and a set of registered users (or peers). The server
maintains information of all files in the system, including an index with metadata (such as file name and size) of all files
in the system, a list of all registered peers, and a list showing the files that each peer holds and shares. When a new peer
joins the system, it contacts the server and reports a list of files it maintains and shares. When a peer wants to search for a
file, it sends a request to the server. The server will return a list of peers that hold the matching file. The searching peer
then contacts the returned peers to download the file. Figure 3(a) shows the search process in Napster. When peer A wants
to search for some file, it contacts the central server. The server returns some peers that hold the file, say, peer B. Peer A
then starts to download the file from peer B.
Napster is easy to be implemented as we only needs to deploy and maintain a central server. The system is also
highly adaptive to peer joining and leaving. However, it is not scalable and the server needs to have much resource (such
as computational capability and bandwidth) to support a large number of peers. In addition, the server forms a single point
of failure. If the server is down, the whole system is broken.
ii. A Distributed Approach: Gnutella
In the basic Gnutella protocol, when a new peer joins the system, it first connects to some public peers then sends
a PING message to any peer it is connected to, to announce the existence of the new peer. Upon receiving a PING
message, a Gnutella peer returns a PONG message and propagates the PING message to its neighbors. In a dynamic
network with frequent peer joining and leaving, a peer periodically sends PING messages its neighbors. Search in
Gnutella is based on flooding, which is broadcasting in the overlay. To reduce the amount of query messages in the
network, each query message contains a time-to-live (TTL) field.
Figure 3(b) shows the search process in Gnutella. Suppose peer A wants to search for some file. It floods its
search query to its neighbors, i.e., peers B and D in the figure. When peer B receives the query, it checks whether itself
holds the matching file. If not, it forwards the query to its neighbors. As in the example, peer B forwards the query to its
neighbor C. Suppose C holds the file that A wants. C returns a response to the peer that sends it the query, which is B in
the figure. B then continues forwarding the response to the query sender A. Finally, A contacts C to download the file.
Gnutella is a dynamic, self-organized network unlike Napster. Each peer independently connects to and
communicates with a few other peers in the system. The system is highly robust to peer dynamics through the exchange of
PING and PONG messages. A limitation of Gnutella is its relatively low search efficiency.
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iii. A Hybrid Approach: FastTrack/Kazaa

The hybrid approach combines the approach used in purely centralized networks and purely distributed networks
to overcome limitations. FastTrack is a typical example as a partially centralized P2P protocol. In FastTrack, peers with
the fastest Internet connections and the most powerful computers are automatically designated as supernodes. A super
node maintains information about some resource and connections with other supernodes. A peer first searches for the
closest super node, which returns immediate results if any and refers the search to other supernodes if needed. Two
practical softwares based on FastTrack are Kazaa and Grokster. But the latter closed its service in 2005 due to the
copyright issue.
Figure 3(c) shows the search process in Kazaa. When peer A wants to search for some file, it sends the search
query to the closest super node. The super node either returns some matching peers, or forwards the query to other
supernodes. Finally, A will obtain some matching peers from the super node (say, peer B in the figure) and download the
file from these peers. Therefore, an ordinary peer (e.g., peer A in the figure) communicates with a super node as if
communicating with the server in Napster. Then, Gnutella like search is performed in a highly pruned overlay network of
supernodes.
Kazaa achieves much lower search time compared to purely distributed networks like Gnutella. Search among
supernodes is much faster than search among all peers, because the number of supernodes is much smaller than the total
number of peers. The high bandwidth and large storage space of supernodes can efficiently process a large amount of
queries from ordinary peers. The system hence makes good use of peer heterogeneity. In addition, unlike Napster, it does
not form a single point of failure. The peers connecting to them can connect to other supernodes if some supernodes go
down.
iv. Other Approach: BitTorrent
BitTorrent is a P2P system that does not belong to any of the above categories. BitTorrent uses a central location
to coordinate data upload and download among peers. To share a file f, a peer first creates a small torrent file, which
contains metadata about f, e.g., its length, name and hashing information. Usually, BitTorrent cuts a file into pieces of
fixed size, typically between 64 KB and 4 MB each. Each piece has a checksum from the SHA1 hashing algorithm, which
is also recorded in the torrent file. Most importantly, the torrent file contains the URL of a tracker, which keeps track of
all the peers who have file f (either partially or completely) and the lookup peers. A peer that wants to download the file
first obtains the corresponding torrent file, and then connects to the specified tracker. The tracker responds with a random
list of peers which are downloading the same file. The requesting peer then connects to these peers for downloading.
Figure 3(d) shows the search process in BitTorrent. When peer A wants to search for some file, it first needs to
obtain the corresponding torrent for the file. From the torrent, A knows the address of the tracker and connects to the
tracker. The tracker then returns a list of peers who are downloading or sharing the file. A then exchanges data with these
peers.
The centralization of trackers in BitTorrent systems brings some limitations. If a tracker is down, peers will not be
able to start their sharing (by uploading their torrents to the tracker), and new incoming peers cannot start their
downloading. To overcome this, the latest BitTorrent clients implement a decentralized tracking mechanism (e.g.,
Torrent, BitComet, KTorrent). In the mechanism, every peer acts as a mini-tracker. Peers first join a DHT network,
which is inherently implemented in the BitTorrent client. A torrent is then stored at a certain peer according to the DHT
storage method. All peers in the DHT network can search for the torrent through DHT search. Therefore, this mechanism
eliminates central trackers from the system.
b) Structured P2P overlay architecture
[5] Structured P2P overlay is a network overlay that connects nodes using a particular data structure or protocol
to ensure that node lookup or data discovery is deterministic. Early versions P2P systems mainly consisted of
unstructured overlays that organize nodes into random data structures. These unstructured overlays use techniques such as
walking or flooding the nodes in the system for lookup, and are often optimized for some common lookup queries. But, in
general, these unstructured overlays are quite un- predictable for finding rare items and for some real-time applications
such as voice, video sharing etc. To overcome these issues, structured overlays are developed to provide deterministic
bounds on the data discovery. Structured overlays provide scalable network overlays based on a distributed data structure
that supports deterministic behavior for data lookup. Structured P2P overlays impose restrictions on node placement in the
overlay and hence, improve the efficiency of data lookup. We categorize structured P2P systems in terms of the bound on
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numbers of hops required for data lookup and present issues such as node lookup, finger table maintenance, and join/leave
properties of the overlays.
[3] Each peer has a local routing table which is used by the forwarding algorithm. The peers routing table is
initialized when the peer joins the overlay, using a specified bootstrap procedure. Peers periodically exchange routing
table changes as part of overlay maintenance. The majority of structured overlays use key-based routing in which a set of
keys is associated with addresses in the address space such that the nearest peer to an address stores the values for the
associated keys, and the routing algorithm treats keys as addresses. A distributed hash table (DHT) is a structured
overlay that uses key-based routing for put and get index operations and in which each peer is assigned to maintain a
portion of the DHT index. Because the address space is virtualized and peer addresses are typically randomly assigned,
peers which are neighbors in the overlay can be distant in the underlying network. While this improves the fault tolerance
of the overlay, it causes significant performance loss. Consequently, topology-aware overlays use measurements of
proximity of peers in the underlying network to create neighbor peers in the overlay.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF P2P NETWORKS AND APPLICATIONS [2]
P2P networks has advantage of providing us with increased availability of resources by sharing of resources
between peers in the same network, may it be computational resources or content. It also provides enhanced load
balancing feature. In a situation where a piece of data is present only at a particular peer, it is possible that the peer is
overburdened with requests. P2P can circumvent this problem by providing multiple copies of data. Also, using explicit
caching algorithms, intermediate peers cache frequently used data and helps to distribute the content more evenly. Thus
query load is more evenly balanced. P2P networks also provides redundancy and fault tolerance feature. In case a peer in
the network goes down, we can rely on other peers to perform the required task or as source of the same data because of
the fast duplication of data in P2P model. Besides that, P2P networks also enable content based addressing. In the present
Internet scene, there may be very little correspondence between the site name a person typed and its contents. In P2P, the
exact address of a node storing a particular content remains transparent to the user. The user queries the network for the
content and P2P software translates the requests into specific nodes that hold the content. This procedure can lead to a
grouping of addresses based on the content the respective nodes store which can lead to more refined data repository.
P2P network has disadvantage of having spurious content and poor connection due to lack of central authority,
thus, the quality of the content posted on the peer group is questionable. For example the Mp3 version of the same song
may be available as a copy with a very good sound quality and another copy with poor quality. But for the P2P search
both versions are part of the same search and indistinguishable, until actually heard. Also, slow and error prone dial up
connections used by some of the peers may disrupt the normal functioning of the network. P2P networks also have
numerous security considerations that are discussed in the next section.
SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS OF P2P [8]
Security is an important issue when implementing a system. The first issue that needs to be considered is to
which extent the nodes in the system can be trusted. If all the nodes in the system are fully trusted (all the nodes are
trusted to never act in a malicious way), P2P architecture can achieve a high level of security. However, if nodes are not
fully trusted and can be expected to behave in malicious ways, providing an acceptable level of security in a P2P
environment becomes significantly more challenging because of its distributed ownership and lack of centralized control.
The P2P model networks decentralize the resources on a network, thus, information can be located anywhere on
any connected device without the need of a dedicated server. However, this makes it more difficult to enforce security and
access policies in networks that have many computers. User accounts and access rights must be set individually on each
peer device.
P2P allows attackers to passively obtain valid IP addresses of potential victims without performing active scans
because a given peer is typically connected to multiple peers. This attack is much more efficient than performing scans
when the address space to be scanned is large such as the current IPv6 address space and sparsely populated. Additionally,
due to the high correlation between a particular application and a particular operating system, an attacker can launch
attacks that exploit known specific vulnerabilities of an operating system.
Central elements in centralized architectures become an obvious target for attacks. P2P systems minimize the
amount of central elements and, thus, are more resilient against attacks targeted only at a few elements. Besides that, it is
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also important to consider a number of threats that are specific to P2P systems which mainly focus on the data storage
functions and the routing of P2P systems.
In a P2P system, messages between two given peers generally traverse a set of intermediate peers that help route
messages between the two peers. Those intermediate peers compromised by the attacker can attempt to a man-in-themiddle attacks since they are on the path between the two given peers. The Sybil attack is an example of such an attack.
This type of attack can be mitigated by controlling how peers obtain their identifiers such as by having a central authority.
We can also encrypt message parts that are not required for routing to prevent this type of attack. Without the key to
decrypt the message, the attacker will not be able to view the actual message content. Attackers can also attempt to launch
a set of attacks against the routing of the P2P system by modifying the routing of the system in order to be able to launch
on-path attacks. Attackers can use forged routing maintenance messages for this purpose. The Eclipse attack is an
example of such an attack. Enforcing structural constraints or enforcing node degree bounds can mitigate this type of
attack.
An attacker can create a message and claim that it was actually created by another peer. The attacker can even
take a legitimate message as a base and modify it to launch the attack. Peer and message authentication techniques can be
used to avoid this type of attack.
In P2P-specific attacks against the data storage function of a P2P system, an attacker can refuse to store a
particular data object or claim that a particular data object does not exist even if another peer created it and stored it on the
attacker. These are called DoS (Denial-of-Service) attacks and can be mitigated by using data replication techniques and
performing multiple, typically parallel, searches. It is also possible to launch DoS attacks by modifying or dropping
routing maintenance messages or by creating forged ones but we can mitigate this by having nodes get routing tables from
multiple peers. By creating churn, attackers can also launch a DoS attack. By leaving and joining a P2P overlay rapidly
many times, a set of attackers can create large amounts of maintenance traffic and make the routing structure of the
overlay unstable. We can mitigate this by limiting the amount of churn per node.
CONCLUSION
P2P systems provide many new opportunities of communicating, sharing resources, and computing over the Internet. New
advancement in software and hardware technology has eased the realization of P2P systems. Although there are still
numerous disadvantages and security considerations involved in P2P systems, many innovative ideas and much efforts are
done to enhance the P2P systems technology.
REFERENCES
[1] Mark, A. D., Rick, M., & Antoon, W. R. (2008). Application Layer Functionality and Protocols. Network
Fundamentals CCNA Exploration Companion Guide (pp. 63-98). Indianapolis, IN: Cisco Press
[2] Kini, U. A., & Shetty, S. M. (2001). Peer-to-Peer networking. Resonance, 6(12), 69-79
[3] Xuemin, S., Yu, H., Buford, J., & Akon, M. (2009). Introduction to Peer-to-Peer Networking. Handbook of
Peer-to-Peer Networking (pp. 44-154). New York, NY: Springer
[4] Xuemin, S., Yu, H., Buford, J., & Akon, M. (2009). Unstructured P2P Overlay Architectures. Handbook of
[5] Xuemin, S., Yu, H., Buford, J., & Akon, M. (2009). Structured P2P Overlay Architectures. Handbook of
[6] Wikipedia. Peer-to-peer. Retrieved 20, March, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer
[7] Vikran, K. (November, 2009). What do P2P Applications do and How to block Peer to Peer Applications
(P2P) using Symantec Endpoint Protection? Retrieved 20, March, 2013 from
http://www.symantec.com/connect/articles/what-do-p2p-applications-do-and-how-block-peer-peerapplications-p2p-using-symantec-endpoin
[8] Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). (November, 2009). RFC 5694 - Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Architecture:
Definition, Taxonomies, Examples, and Applicability. Retrieved 15, March, 2013 from
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5694
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Assignment: Data Communication (Keew3202) Student: Indira Karimova (Kew100701)

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ASSIGNMENT: DATA COMMUNICATION (KEEW3202)

STUDENT: INDIRA KARIMOVA (KEW100701)

Figure 1: Example of P2P networks