Stochastic analysis and file availability enhancement for BT-like file sharing systems

Abstract

In this paper, we present the mathematical analysis of two important performance measures for a BitTorrent (BT) like P2P file sharing system, namely, average file downloading time and file availability. For the file downloading time, we develop a model using the "stochastic differential equation" approach, which can capture the system more accurately than some previous approach and can capture various network settings and peers behavior. We study the steady-state behavior and obtain the closed-form solutions for performance measures which allow us to carry sensitivity analysis on various performance measures for various system parameters. We then extend this model to consider multiclass peers wherein some peers are behind firewalls which may impede the uploading service. We also present the mathematical model to study the file availability of a BT-like system. The model helps us gain the understanding of why the "rarest-first" chunk selection policy is used in today's BT protocol. We propose a novel chunk selection algorithm to enhance the overall system file availability. Extensive simulations are carried to validate our analysis.