Peer-to-Peer Without Peer

Peer-to-peer networks (like the infamous KaZaa) are here to stay. Ignoring legality aspects, it's technologically a very efficient way to store and transfer files among lots of users. I've long since abandoned KaZaa for many reasons, but I've recently starting using BitTorrent. This new peer-to-peer protocol is quickly growing in popularity and has worked extremely well in my testing.

BitTorrent is unique in that it requires all users downloading a particular file to also upload portions of that file. Large files are broken into several chunks and uploads are shared amongst a "swarm". There is a "tracker" that manages connections among clients who are uploading and downloading the same file. The tracker only knows about connecting hosts and sockets, it has no knowledge of the filename, size, or type of data being transferred. In this way, as more people start downloading a particular file, everyone's download speed increases. The Wikipedia has an excellent entry on BitTorrent that explains this better and in more detail.

"OK. So how do I get started?"

First, you'll need to teach your browser how to handle .torrent files by downloading the correct installer from here. Then when you click on a .torrent file link, the browser will know how to handle it.

Second, you'll probably want a graphical client to help you manage all the stuff you'll be downloading. I've been using ABC (Another BitTorrent Client) on SourceForge mainly because it's free and seems to do the job well. But there are lots of others to choose from.

Third, if you're behind a firewall, you'll need to open up (via port forwarding or port triggering) TCP ports 6881-6999. If you don't, your transfer speeds will be abysmal.

Finally, you need to know where to find .torrent files that interest you. There's a huge variety out there. You will probably be amazed at what you can find. I once missed an episode of Amazing Race and was able to get it via BitTorrent, burn it to VideoCD and watch it in my DVD player. You just have to know where to look. I won't list the sites here, but the WikiPedia entry above has a great start.

Once you get the file downloaded to your system, you may still have to figure out what to do with it and what utilities are required to decompress, extract, reassemble, and burn it. But that's not as difficult as it might seem and is left as an exercise for the reader. After all, we've got Google for questions like these.

Happy downloading this weekend! I hope you have ample space on your harddrive. Posted by Chris on 8/06/2004 01:39:00 PM :: Permalink   
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