Super-peer-based routing and clustering strategies for RDF-based peer-to-peer networks

Abstract

RDF-based P2P networks have a number of advantages compared with simpler P2P networks such as Napster, Gnutella or with approaches based on distributed indices such as CAN and CHORD. RDF-based P2P networks allow complex and extendable descriptions of resources instead of fixed and limited ones, and they provide complex query facilities against these metadata instead of simple keyword-based searches.In previous papers, we have described the Edutella infrastructure and different kinds of Edutella peers implementing such an RDF-based P2P network. In this paper we will discuss these RDF-based P2P networks as a specific example of a new type of P2P networks, schema-based P2P networks, and describe the use of super-peer based topologies for these networks. Super-peer based networks can provide better scalability than broadcast based networks, and do provide perfect support for inhomogeneous schema-based networks, which support different metadata schemas and ontologies (crucial for the Semantic Web). Furthermore, as we will show in this paper, they are able to support sophisticated routing and clustering strategies based on the metadata schemas, attributes and ontologies used. Especially helpful in this context is the RDF functionality to uniquely identify schemas, attributes and ontologies. The resulting routing indices can be built using dynamic frequency counting algorithms and support local mediation and transformation rules, and we will sketch some first ideas for implementing these advanced functionalities as well.