0000000000300818
AUTHOR
Don Towsley
showing 5 related works from this author
Availability in BitTorrent Systems
2007
In this paper, we investigate the problem of highly available, massive-scale file distribution in the Internet. To this end, we conduct a large-scale measurement study of BitTorrent, a popular class of systems that use swarms of actively downloading peers to assist each other in file distribution. The first generation of BitTorrent systems used a central tracker to enable coordination among peers, resulting in low availability due to the tracker's single point of failure. Our study analyzes the prevalence and impact of two recent trends to improve BitTorrent availability: (i) use of multiple trackers, and (ii) use of Distributed Hash Tables (DHTs), both of which also help to balance load be…
Performance modeling of epidemic routing
2006
In this paper, we develop a rigorous, unified framework based on ordinary differential equations (ODEs) to study epidemic routing and its variations. These ODEs can be derived as limits of Markovian models under a natural scaling as the number of nodes increases. While an analytical study of Markovian models is quite complex and numerical solution impractical for large networks, the corresponding ODE models yield closed-form expressions for several performance metrics of interest, and a numerical solution complexity that does not increase with the number of nodes. Using this ODE approach, we investigate how resources such as buffer space and the number of copies made for a packet can be tra…
On the Benefits of Random Linear Coding for Unicast Applications in Disruption Tolerant Networks
2006
In this paper, we investigate the benefits of using a form of network coding known as Random Linear Coding (RLC) for unicast communications in a mobile Disruption Tolerant Network (DTN) under epidemic routing. Under RLC, DTN nodes store and then forward random linear combinations of packets as they encounter other DTN nodes. We first consider the case where there is a single block of packets propagating in the network and then consider the case where blocks of K packets arrive according to a Poisson arrival process. Our performance metric of interest is the delay until the last packet in a block is delivered. We show that for the single block case, when bandwidth is constrained, applying RL…
On Unstructured File Sharing Networks
2007
We study the interaction among users of unstructured file sharing applications, who compete for available network resources (link bandwidth or capacity) by opening multiple connections on multiple paths so as to accelerate data transfer. We model this interaction with an unstructured file sharing game. Users are players and their strategies are the numbers of sessions on available paths. We consider a general bandwidth sharing framework proposed by Kelly [1] and Mo and Walrand [2], with TCP as a special case. Furthermore, we incorporate the Tit-for-Tat strategy (adopted by BitTorrent [3] networks) into the unstructured file sharing game to model the competition in which a connection can be …
A Network Formation Game Approach to Study BitTorrent Tit-for-Tat
2007
The Tit-for-Tat strategy implemented in BitTorrent (BT) clients is generally considered robust to selfish behaviours. The authors of [1] support this belief studying how Tit-for-Tat can affect selfish peers who are able to set their upload bandwidth. They show that there is a "good" Nash Equilibrium at which each peer uploads at the maximum rate. In this paper we consider a different game where BT clients can change the number of connections to open in order to improve their performance. We study this game using the analytical framework of network formation games [2]. In particular we characterize the set of pairwise stable networks the peers can form and how the peers can dynamically reach…