SURVEY OF SEARCH AND REPLICATION SCHEMES IN UNSTRUCTURED P2P NETWORKS Sabu M. Thampi Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Rajagiri School of Engineering and Technology. Rajagiri Valley, Kakkanad, Kochi- 682039, Kerala (India) Tel: +91-484-2427835 E-mail:
[email protected] Chandra Sekaran. K Department of Computer Engineering, National Institute of Technology Karnataka. Surathkal-575025, Karnataka (India) Tel: +91-824-2474000 E-mail:
[email protected] Abstract P2P computing lifts taxing issues in various areas of computer science. The largely used decentralized unstructured P2P systems are ad hoc in nature and present a number of research challenges. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive theoretical survey of various state-of-the-art search and replication schemes in unstructured P2P networks for file-sharing applications. The classifications of search and replication techniques and their advantages and disadvantages are briefly explained. Finally, the various issues on searching and replication for unstructured P2P networks are discussed. Keywords: Replication, Searching, Unstructured P2P network. 1 1. Introduction Computing has passed through many transformations since the birth of the first computing machines. A centralized solution has one component that is shared by users all the time. All resources are accessible, but there is a single point of control as well as a single point of failure. A distributed system is a group of autonomous computers connected to a computer network, which appears to the clients of the system as a single computer. Distributed system software allows computers to manage their activities and to share the resources of the system, so that clients recognize the system as a single, integrated computing facility.