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The Nature of Peer-to-Peer Traffic

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Handbook of Peer-to-Peer Networking

Abstract

The massive adoption of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) applications brings new challenges for network management. The increase of the bandwidth usage, the shift of the Internet habits of home users and the easiness to share and provide contents is changing the traffic characteristics, and breaking strong assumptions in which network design is based. As a response to concerns from network administrators and Internet Service Providers, traffic management is now a requirement instead of an option, making the traffic classification functionality into an essential administration tool. However, the evasive nature of most P2P applications renders the classification of their traffic a difficult task to achieve even through Deep Packet Inspections of the data units, mostly due to the application of encryption and randomizationmechanisms. In order to meet the demand for new and accurate methods for traffic classification in the dark, it is necessary to study and fully understand the deep nature of P2P traffic. In this chapter, the characteristics of this type of traffic are discussed and explained, and recent studies about traffic characterisation are introduced and analysed from the perspective that may enable their application for traffic classification.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Fundacção para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal, through the grant contracts SFRH/BDE/15592/2006, SFRH/BDE/15643/2006 and PTDC/EIA/73072/2006 TRAMANET: Traffic and Trust Management in Peer-to- Peer Networks, Nokia Siemens Networks Portugal S.A., Portugal and University of Beira Interior, Portugal.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nokia Siemens Networks Portugal, S. A., Alfragide, Rua Irmãos Siemens, 1, 2720-093, Amadora, Portugal

    João V. P. Gomes, Pedro R. M. Inácio & Paulo P. Monteiro

  2. Institute of Telecommunications - Networks and Multimedia Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Beira Interior, Rua Marquês de Á vila e Bolama, 6201-001, Covilhã, Portugal

    João V. P. Gomes, Pedro R. M. Inácio, Mário M. Freire & Manuela Pereira

  3. Institute of Telecommunications - Pólo de Aveiro, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    Paulo P. Monteiro

Authors
  1. João V. P. Gomes
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  2. Pedro R. M. Inácio
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  3. Mário M. Freire
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  4. Manuela Pereira
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  5. Paulo P. Monteiro
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to João V. P. Gomes .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, University Avenue W. 200, Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Xuemin Shen

  2. Huawei Technologies, Somerset Corporate Blvd. 400, Bridgewater, 08807, U.S.A.

    Heather Yu

  3. Avaya Labs Research, Mount Airy Road 233, Basking Ridge, 07920, U.S.A.

    John Buford

  4. Dept. Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, University Avenue W. 200, Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Mursalin Akon

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Gomes, J.V.P., Inácio, P.R.M., Freire, M.M., Pereira, M., Monteiro, P.P. (2010). The Nature of Peer-to-Peer Traffic. In: Shen, X., Yu, H., Buford, J., Akon, M. (eds) Handbook of Peer-to-Peer Networking. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09751-0_44

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-09751-0_44

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  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-09750-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-09751-0

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