Towards Open Tracing of P2P File Sharing Systems

Since the release of Napster in 1999, peer-to-peer file-sharing has enjoyed a dramatic rise in popularity. A 2000 study by Plonka on the University of Wisconsin campus network found that file-sharing accounted for a comparable volume of traffic to web applications, while a 2002 study by Saroiu et al. on the University of Washington campus network found that file-sharing accounted for more than treble the volume of web traffic observed, thus affirming the significance of P2P in the context of Internet traffic. Empirical studies of peer-to-peer traffic are essential for supporting the design of next-generation peer-to-peer systems, informing the provisioning of network infrastructure and underpinning the policing of peer-topeer systems. This paper surveys existing work in the field of peerto-peer monitoring and based upon this assessment of the state-ofthe-art describes the design and implementation of the Open P2P tracing system. This system aims to improve the research community’s understanding of P2P file sharing systems by providing continuous and up-to-date traffic data which is anonymized and made freely accessible to all interested parties. Data from this system has been used in a variety of projects and papers, which are used to illustrate the broad range of research that can benefit from an open tracing system.