On the Cost of Participating in a Peer-to-Peer Network

TL;DR

This paper models the costs for peers in peer-to-peer networks, helping to understand disincentives and evaluate different routing geometries for distributed hash tables, with implications for network design.

Contribution

It introduces a cost model for peer participation in P2P networks, linking costs to load and connectivity, and applies it to various DHT routing geometries.

Findings

Cost depends on load and connectivity.

Model applies to multiple DHT routing geometries.

Raises open questions for future research.

Abstract

In this paper, we model the cost incurred by each peer participating in a peer-to-peer network. Such a cost model allows to gauge potential disincentives for peers to collaborate, and provides a measure of the ``total cost'' of a network, which is a possible benchmark to distinguish between proposals. We characterize the cost imposed on a node as a function of the experienced load and the node connectivity, and show how our model applies to a few proposed routing geometries for distributed hash tables (DHTs). We further outline a number of open questions this research has raised.