Bootstrapping of Peer-to-Peer Networks

Abstract

In this paper, we present the first heuristic for fully distributed bootstrapping of peer-to-peer networks. Our heuristic generates a stream of promising IP addresses to be probed as entry points. This stream is generated using statistical profiles using the IP ranges of start-of-authorities (SOAs) in the domain name system (DNS). We present experimental results demonstrating that with this approach it is efficient and practical to bootstrap Gnutella-sized peer-to-peer networks -- without the need for centralized services or the public exposure of end-user's private IP addresses.