Hierarchical peer-to-peer networks using lightweight superpeer topologies

Abstract

The use of superpeers has been proposed to improve the performance of both structured and unstructured peer-to-peer (P2P) networks. In this paper, we study the performance of Yao-graph based superpeer topologies for hierarchical P2P networks. Since a Yao-graph is defined as a geometric structure, we are using the "highways" proximity clustering and placement scheme to assign geometric co-ordinates to superpeers and peers with respect to the underlying network conditions. Because of the lightweight structure of Yao-graphs, the resulting hierarchical P2P networks have promising properties with regard to scalability and performance, while still offering the benefits of the P2P approach with regard to resiliency.