File distribution using a peer-to-peer network--a simulation study
As the Internet became widespread, people saw it as a way of distributing content. But while the average bandwidth capacity is increasing, users around the world are trying to share more data. Although the servers are able to acquire more bandwidth, they cannot keep up with the rapidly increasing requests of the users. Several systems appeared that alleviate the server from the dissemination process. But such systems are not always suitable for disseminating highly anticipated files of considerable size. The evolution of peer-to-peer systems gave a new way of attacking this problem. Each user can assist the dissemination process by acting as a server as well. In this paper the way traditional systems meet users' demands is demonstrated, and simulation results of a peer-to-peer approach based on a mobile agent platform are presented. Our focus is on how different parameters can affect the dissemination process of a highly anticipated file in this network.