Application-Aware Topology Formation Algorithm for Peer-to-Peer Networks

When constructing an unstructured P2P topology, one should consider the application running on top of it in order to achieve a good performance for the whole P2P system. It is not enough only to consider the "topology" objective when forming an overlay such as minimizing a P2P network diameter because it does not achieve a good performance for the whole P2P system. For example, minimizing a P2P network diameter may overload some peers under a flooding search application because of their excess connections. Therefore, one should consider the behavior of the application on top of the topology such that the topology can adapt itself in order to benefit the application. To fulfil this objective, we propose an application-aware topology formation algorithm which can be "tuned" so as to achieve load-balancing for a spectrum of P2P applications. Furthermore, we provide a very detailed analytical model to understand the behavior of our algorithm under any heterogeneous environment. The analytical results are validated by the simulations.