Autosave: 2024-08-09 16:00:02

zk/Packet_switching_British_precursors.md

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+---
+title: Packet_switching_British_precursors
+tags: []
+created: Friday, August 09, 2024
+---
+
+# Packet switching British precursors

zk/Peer_to_peer_network.md

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+---
+title: Peer_to_peer_network
+tags: [networks]
+created: Friday, August 09, 2024
+---
+
+# Peer to peer network
+
+A decentralised network model where each participant (peer) acts as both a
+client and a server.
+
+Resources are shared directly between peers rather than being coordinated via a
+server.
+
+Under a server architecture, multiple requests are made from different hosts for
+resources. The server manages this load and is in control of what is being
+shared, to whom, and when. With P2P there is no central authority equivalent to
+this. Each peer both shares and consumes resources and in this sense is both a
+client and a server.
+
+A practical example of this is [torrenting](Torrenting.md) - an applicaton of
+P2P technology to file sharing.
+
+## Benefits
+
+- Decentralisation, no central authority, also means no single point of failure.
+- Scalable: the network capacity grows with the number of users (contrast
+  servers)
+- Efficiency: idle resources of peers are put to use
+- Improved performance for popular content
+
+## Drawbacks
+
+- Security: potential for malicious peers and content
+- Inconsistent availability of resources

zk/Torrenting.md

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 ---
 title: Torrenting
-tags: [question]
+tags: [question, networks]
 created: Saturday, August 03, 2024
 ---
 
@@ -8,3 +8,13 @@ created: Saturday, August 03, 2024
 
 **What is torrenting? Is this the same thing as a peer-to-peer network? How do
 these technologies fit within the client-server paradigm?**
+
+Torrenting is a specific application of
+[peer_to_peer_networking](Peer_to_peer_network.md) applied to file-sharing.
+
+Each peer on the network both consumes resources and makes resources available
+to others.
+
+## Procedure
+
+Large files are divided into small