The peer-to-peer trace archive: design and comparative trace analysis

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) systems have gained a phenomenal popularity in the past few years; BitTorrent serves daily tens of millions of people and generates an important fraction of the Internet traffic. Measurement data collected from real P2P systems are fundamental for gaining solid knowledge of the usage patterns and the characteristics of these systems, and can improve the modeling, the design, and the evaluation of P2P systems. Although many P2P measurements have been carried out in the last decade [1, 2, 4, 6, 7], few measurement data sets are publicly available, and for these few the data are presented in different formats. This situation hampers the exchange, study, and reuse of existing traces. Furthermore, due to the lack of available datasets, many P2P studies have been based on unrealistic assumptions about the characteristics and usage patterns of P2P systems; as a consequence, many P2P algorithms and methods lack a realistic evaluation. To remedy this situation, we have set to create the P2P Trace Archive (P2PTA), a virtual meeting place that facilitates the collection and exchange of P2P traces.