Title: Angels -- In-Network Support for Minimum Distribution Time in P2P Overlays

Authors: Raymond Sweha, Azer Bestavros, and John Byers

Date: 

Abstract:

This papers proposes the use of in-network caches (which we call
Angels) to reduce the Minimum Distribution Time (MDT) of a file from a
seeder to a set of leachers. An Angel is not a leacher in the sense
that it is not interested in receiving the entire file, but rather it
is interested in minimizing the MDT to all leachers, and as such uses
its storage and up/down-link capacity to cache and forward parts of
the file to other peers.  We extend the analytical results by Kumar
and Ross [1] to allow for the presence of angels by deriving a new
lower bound for MDT. We show that this new lower bound is tight by
proposing a distribution strategy under assumptions of a fluid
model. We present a GroupTree heuristic that addresses the
impracticalities of the fluid model.  We evaluate our designs through
simulations that show that our GroupTree heuristic outperforms other
heuristics, that it scales well, and that it operates near the optimal
theoretical bounds.