Broadcasting in Prefix Space: P2P Data Dissemination with Predictable Performance

TL;DR

This paper introduces a prefix space broadcasting method for P2P networks that offers predictable performance and outperforms existing models like Scribe in scalability and efficiency, supported by analytical and simulation results.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel prefix flooding broadcast scheme operating without signaling in DHTs, with comprehensive performance analysis and comparison to Scribe.

Findings

Prefix flooding has predictable hop count and load distributions.

The scheme outperforms Scribe in all evaluated metrics.

Reverse path selection degrades overlay performance.

Abstract

A broadcast mode may augment peer-to-peer overlay networks with an efficient, scalable data replication function, but may also give rise to a virtual link layer in VPN-type solutions. We introduce a simple broadcasting mechanism that operates in the prefix space of distributed hash tables without signaling. This paper concentrates on the performance analysis of the prefix flooding scheme. Starting from simple models of recursive $k$-ary trees, we analytically derive distributions of hop counts and the replication load. Extensive simulation results are presented further on, based on an implementation within the OverSim framework. Comparisons are drawn to Scribe, taken as a general reference model for group communication according to the shared, rendezvous-point-centered distribution paradigm. The prefix flooding scheme thereby confirmed its widely predictable performance and consistently outperformed Scribe in all metrics. Reverse path selection in overlays is identified as a major cause of performance degradation.