A semi-structured overlay network for large-scale peer-to-peer systems

Peer-to-peer (P2P) communication and computing frameworks are important for constructing robust large-scale distributed systems. Overlay network systems use distributed hash-table (DHT) to provide scalable and efficient node search capabilities. However, the DHT-based method has a problem for the maintenance cost of dynamically changing large-scale-network, in which nodes are frequently joining and leaving. This paper proposes a novel technique of P2P communication path management. The proposed technique devises a robust semi-structured overlay network called Ordered Tree with Tuft (OTT for short). OTT provides not only efficient node searching, but also low-cost self-maintenance capabilities for the dynamically changing network. In this method, joining and leaving of a node are managed in O(1) with high probability. Furthermore, the proposed OTT-based technique can find and construct a path shorter than that on the normal ordered tree, by setting up bypass links between remote nodes on OTT.