Barlas Oguz

EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley

Technical Report No. UCB/EECS-2012-6

January 6, 2012

http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2012/EECS-2012-6.pdf

P2P systems provide a scalable solution for distributing large files in a network. The file is split into many chunks, and peers contact other peers to collect missing chunks to eventually complete the entire file. The so-called ‘rare chunk’ phenomenon, where a single chunk becomes rare and prevents peers from completing the file, is a threat to the stability of such systems. A protocol that forces peers to download the rarest chunk in the network first would solve this issue, however this solution requires global chunk availability information that is not readily available. We look for a distributed approximation to this solution. Although heuristics exist which perform well in practice, formal proofs of stability of such systems were lacking. In this document, we demonstrate a new system based on an approximate rare-chunk rule, allowing for completely distributed file sharing while retaining scalability and stability. We assume non-altruistic peers and the seed is required to make only a minimal contribution.

Advisors: Venkat Anantharam

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BibTeX citation:

@mastersthesis{Oguz:EECS-2012-6,
    Author= {Oguz, Barlas},
    Title= {Provably stable, distributed file sharing protocols},
    School= {EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley},
    Year= {2012},
    Month= {Jan},
    Url= {http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2012/EECS-2012-6.html},
    Number= {UCB/EECS-2012-6},
    Abstract= {P2P systems provide a scalable solution for distributing large files in a network. The
file is split into many chunks, and peers contact other peers to collect missing chunks
to eventually complete the entire file. The so-called ‘rare chunk’ phenomenon, where a
single chunk becomes rare and prevents peers from completing the file, is a threat to the
stability of such systems. A protocol that forces peers to download the rarest chunk in the
network first would solve this issue, however this solution requires global chunk availability
information that is not readily available. We look for a distributed approximation to this
solution. Although heuristics exist which perform well in practice, formal proofs of stability
of such systems were lacking. In this document, we demonstrate a new system based on an
approximate rare-chunk rule, allowing for completely distributed file sharing while retaining
scalability and stability. We assume non-altruistic peers and the seed is required to make
only a minimal contribution.},
}

EndNote citation:

%0 Thesis
%A Oguz, Barlas 
%T Provably stable, distributed file sharing protocols
%I EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley
%D 2012
%8 January 6
%@ UCB/EECS-2012-6
%U http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2012/EECS-2012-6.html
%F Oguz:EECS-2012-6