About P2P
A peer-to-peer (or P2P) computer network is a network
that relies on the computing power and bandwidth
of the participants in the network rather than concentrating
it in a relatively low number of servers. P2P networks
are typically used for connecting nodes via largely
ad hoc connections. Such networks are useful for
many purposes. Sharing content files (see file sharing)
containing audio, video, data or anything in digital
format is very common, and realtime data, such as
telephony traffic, is also passed using P2P technology.
A pure peer-to-peer network does not have the
notion of clients or servers, but only equal peer
nodes that simultaneously function as both "clients"
and "servers" to the other nodes on
the network. This model of network arrangement
differs from the client-server model where communication
is usually to and from a central server. A typical
example for a non peer-to-peer file transfer is
an FTP server where the client and server programs
are quite distinct, and the clients initiate the
download/uploads and the servers react to and
satisfy these requests.
|
