Abstract
The importance of the Internet has increased dramatically over the last ten years because of the convenience with which it allows individuals to access both professional services and entertainment. Unlike client-server technology, peer-to-peer (P2P) protocols increase the availability of the Internet to improve users’ daily lives. The P2P overlay network is an abstract virtual network based on a physical network. Each peer in a P2P overlay network acts as both server and client such that the bottleneck of the client-server architecture is eliminated. In a P2P overlay network, any two peers can directly share information without the need for intermediate servers. This dissertation proposes a self-scaling overlay network known as SSONAG, which is based on an arrangement graph. The SSONAG method uses the characteristics of the arrangement graph to construct an overlay network using the single-digit difference property. The ID of any peer in SSONAG differs by only one digit from any adjacent peer, and this property is used to develop the routing algorithm. A replica mechanism is used to increase data availability and decrease the average number of routing hops. A virtual peer mechanism is also employed. Peers that do not exist in the system are managed by other real peers to maintain the completeness of SSONAG. Finally, a self-scaling mechanism is proposed to overcome limitations on the maximum capacity of the arrangement graph. This mechanism can adjust the system scale according to the number of real peers in the system. Experimental results demonstrate the good performance of the proposed system. The SSONAG network can decrease average number of routing hops and minimize system overhead by leveraging the properties of the arrangement graph and the replica mechanism. Furthermore, the self-scaling mechanism allows for a flexible network structure.