Networking Bible

Chapter 11. Peer-to-Peer Networks and Personal LANs

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Personal Local Area Networks

• Peer-to-peer (P2P) network models

• Large P2P systems

• Computer buses that can connect many devices

Personal Local Area Networks, or pLANs, are networks that have a small number of users and/or cover a small physical area. In this chapter, you look at several different technologies that implement networks of this type.

You also examine peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. A workgroup is an example of a P2P network that is composed of a dozen or less members. P2P networks can also be created by distributed applications. For a system to be P2P, all nodes must be both client and server; there is no central network management or services, and no routing function exists.

Peer-to-peer networks exist in many types. A pure P2P network is one that has no central service of any kind. A hybrid P2P may have a central index or lookup function, but the peers perform all of the data sharing between themselves.

In this chapter, you examine some of the more famous examples of P2P networks and the impact that they have had on network application architecture. Among the examples you look at are the pure P2P Gnutella and Freenet file sharing systems that use peer-to-peer discovery and an ad hoc mechanism to retrieve data. Napster and BitTorrent are given as examples of hybrid P2P systems.

The security and anonymity afforded by friend-to-friend (F2F) networks are considered.

Some computer buses play the role of personal networks. ...