BitTorrent Communication - Essay Example

BITTORRENT COMMUNICATION BitTorrent Communication Affiliation Introduction In the past few years, there have emerged a wide variety of tools and applications that use the power of the Internet to attain different objectives. A large number of protocols have been developed to support different kind of communications over the Internet. In this scenario, BitTorrent is a very popular protocol designed for the transmission of the contents all over the Internet. Basically, this protocol is developed to provide support for peer-to-peer sharing and software distribution of huge data files, for instance complete TV shows and movies, by allowing end- users to perform the role of network reorganization nodes. In fact, this protocol has been given a number of different descriptions such as a "crowded, throw and collect" file transfer protocol (Rouse, 2009; Love, 2012). The working of this protocol is simple, in fact it does not transfer a target file to each client asking for it, in its place the file owner or distributor transfers it to one client who, sequentially, transfers it to other clients. In this scenario, all the clients taking part in this communication process have parts of the desired file from side to side until all the clients get the entire file. Hence, this kind of communication arrangement allows the key server to take care of a large number of users’ requests for huge files even without requiring them to have huge amounts of bandwidth. This protocol was written by Bram Cohen using the Python language. This protocol appeared in the market for usage in 2001. In view of the fact that it is an open source software so it is available free of cost and there is no need for a license to use it. This protocol was designed with the purpose of downloading and transferring huge contents files from a large number of different locations, as a result increasing the download speed and decreasing the download time, particularly for those clients who have much quicker download speeds than upload (Rouse, 2009; Love, 2012). This paper presents a detailed analysis of the BitTorrent protocol. The basic purpose of this research is to analyze BitTorrent protocol with respect to different aspects such as its working, its applications, working conditions, its technological structure and so on. BitTorrent Protocol Though, BitTorrent is not a very old protocol as it was developed in 2001 and there is no particular company that supported its development or promoted this protocol. However, it has still become a worldwide leader in supporting the distribution of huge files using the Internet. In fact, with a customer base of more than 160 million all over the world, it can be considered as a traditional files transmission economics on its crown. Additionally, the speed of data transfer depends on the popularity of a media file. Hence, the basic objective of BitTorrent protocol is to deliver a superior digital entertainment capability for all the Internet users (BitTorrent, Inc., 2014; Carmack, 2014). Basically, a protocol is a combination of rules and actions to support communication over the network. Also, every protocol is developed to support a specific kind of communication. However, the BitTorrent protocol is developed to enable internet users to download or transfer huge data files such as movies and TV shows speedily by facilitating the users transferring or downloading the content to transfer (download) pieces of it all at once. At the present, the majority of internet users make use of this protocol to transfer or download huge files, files offered for free or files that are very popular for the reason that it is much quicker, cheaper and more efficient to transfer huge files by making use of this protocol than a standard download process (BitTorrent, Inc., 2014; Carmack, 2014). The communication process of BitTorrent protocol moves around a client. In this scenario, client is a computer software application that is intended to obey the rules of a protocol. The hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) is a good example of this scenario, which is used to move or view web pages and a web browser works as a client which is used to access these web pages. Additionally, some of the well-known instances of these browsers comprise, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari. In view of the fact that all these web browsers are developed to follow the same set of rules so they work in the same manner. However, BitTorrent protocol is aimed at providing the users with a quick access to the world of content (BitTorrent, Inc., 2014; Carmack, 2014). Normally, the internet users access a web site or specific section using a URL (universal resource locator) such as www.yahoo.com, in the same way they need a “torrent file” (that contains the necessary information required for downloading the content they want) to download the content files. However, this torrent file can be easily attained from a torrent website. In addition, at the present a large number of web sites support torrents for downloading files. For instance, OpenOffice.org allows the Internet users to download this office using BitTorrent. In addition, there are also a large number of other web sites such as legaltorrents.com, which contain a wide variety of torrents. However, these web sites do not essentially develop any contents but they actually provide repositories of torrents of all kinds of things. Once a user is able to get the torrent file from anywhere, they just need to enter it into BitTorrent. In this scenario, this torrent can be imported into BitTorrent using several ways (BitTorrent, Inc., 2014; Carmack, 2014): First of all a user needs to click on the File button given in the menu bar and then they can select option ‘Add Torrent’ in BitTorrent. In addition, this process can be completed by pressing ‘CTRL+O’. This option allows the users to find the torrent file. If the client has associated .torrent files with BitTorrent then it can be processed through a double click on the torrent file. There is another option which is used by the advanced level users. This option allows the client to add torrent from a URL in BitTorrent. This option is also available in the file menu and this URL gives the .torrent file. However, before downloading a file using BitTorrent the users must obtain all the necessary information. This information is given in the guide that comes with BitTorrent. In this scenario, the users will be able to download files quickly and smoothly. Figure 1 demonstrates the working of BitTorrent arrangement: (BitTorrent, Inc., 2014; Carmack, 2014). End to End working of BitTorrent Figure 1How BitTorrent Works?, Image Source: (Carmack, 2014) OSI Layer for BitTorrent It is believed that BitTorrent runs on 7th layer (application layer) of the OSI (open system interconnection) model. Basically, the application layer is used offer network services to end-user applications. In view of the fact that users use BitTorrent application to access files and this application breaks down links. So basically this application runs at the application layer. In addition, network services consist of a wide variety of protocols that use the users data throughout the communication process. In case of a Web browser application, the application layer uses the HTTP protocol to package the data required for sending and receiving Web page content. In this scenario, the application layer is also responsible for providing data to the presentation layer (Mitchell, 2014; Rouse, Application layer, 2006). Use of IPv4 or IPV 6? Though, the currently the deployment of BitTorrent is completely based on IPv4. However, it provides a considerable support for IPv6 as well. It is an admitted fact that the address overtiredness of the IPv4 Internet, and the corresponding placement of NAT (Network Address Translation) devices, harshly decreased the efficiency of the BitTorrent protocol for the reason that this increase in the number of peers have made the access out-of-the-way in several occasions. Hence, one of the most significant solutions that was suggested to resolve this issue was to install BitTorrent over the IPv6 protocol. Actually, IPV6 encompass enough address space so it cannot be affected due to address exhaustion. Up till now, a large number of attempts have been made to extend the BitTorrent protocol with the purpose of allowing it to run over IPv6. Unluckily, the majority of solutions permit searching IPv6 peers through peer exchange or trackers instead of DHT (Cifliklia, Gezera, Ozsahin, & Ozkasapb, 2010; Chroboczek, 2009). Support for TCP and UDP At the present, more than 98% of the Internet traffic is passed through TCP (Transmission Control Protocol). In view of the fact that is a critical element of the internet protocol and for this reason internet traffic is known as TCP/IP traffic. In fact, this protocol guarantees logical and consistent transmission of information so it is believed to be very useful protocol. Additionally, it establishes, negotiates and maintains a link to almost any server and ensures that no information will be affected while transferring. On the other hand, remaining 2% of the internet traffic is maintained by UDP (user datagram protocol). It is the compliment of TCP and also a very important member of IP family. However, its undependability has discouraged the majority of internet traffic towards its usage. In view of the fact that the majority of applications do not use UDP and they prefer to manage the Internet traffic using TCP. Additionally, the design and structure of TCP allows internet traffic to be simply filtered, easily throttled, and safely delayed to ensure the quality service. Hence, TCP loses speed of control at various occasions. Due to these causes, BitTorrent developers decided not to use TCP on the side of UDP. Now, BitTorrent is believed to be an excellent UDP application (Hallock, 2008; Beijnum, 2008) Security and Piracy Concerns It is believed that there are some of the piracy concerns with the application. However, the company is working really hard to resolve all these concerns raised by small and large content producers. These producers work very hard to develop these contents but BitTorrent gives access to these contents at no cost. In this scenario, these people call it as pirating method. Normally, this communication is believed to be secure for the reason that bits of huge files are not transmitted among a large number of computers scattered in different locations. In fact, these contents and data files are similar distributed between clients that you authorize. In addition, these files are distributed in the form of encrypted data. For the encryption of these files advance encryption standard with 256-bit key is used. This encryption makes use of security keys that can be either established manually or automatically. In view of the fact user’s data or details are not stored on any server, hence it can be acknowledge as a much secure approach than others such as Dropbox (Potter, 2013). Location of the files Normally, the files that need to be transferred are broken down into small pieces and clients taking part in this communication process needs to have a distinctive link file known as a Torrent. This link file is essential for all the clients in order to determine how to assemble all the components back in the same sequence. As discussed above, these torrents files can be downloaded from web sites and added into the BitTorrent application. In this scenario, all the clients and peers taking part in this communication process share the corresponding torrent link loaded into their client. Hence, if a client wants share their own file with others needs to develop a torrent for this file (BitTorrent, Inc/, 2014). Real Life Applications At the present, there are a large number of applications and examples of BitTorrent uses. In fact, a large number of self-styled “new media” content producers and distributers make use of BitTorrent as distribution channel in order to reduce distribution expenditures. Some of the real-life applications of BitTorrent are outlined below (PB Works, 2014): Revision3 Internet Television Network allows its vewers to watch a number of shows directly using their website. However, in order reduce their bandwidth expenditures, they have developed and maintained their own BitTorrent tracker. In this scenario, their viewers can access and download new episodes by making use of BitTorrent. A well-known group, Subpop Records has allowed its users to access their artistis’s contents for free using BitTorrent. These contents include some of the well-known titles such as The Postal Service and The Shins Flight of the Conchords. Folx a client of BitTorrent technology uses it in order to comply with the downloading requirements of peer to peer protocol users. In addition, it also offers the feature to suitably transfer torrents through other torrent tracker (PB Works, 2014). References Beijnum, I. v. (2008, December 02). ?Torrent’s switch to UDP and why the sky isn’t falling. Retrieved from http://arstechnica.com/uncategorized/2008/12/utorrents-switch-to-udp-and-why-the-sky-isnt-falling/ BitTorrent, Inc. (2014). What is BitTorrent? Retrieved from http://www.bittorrent.com/help/guides/beginners-guide BitTorrent, Inc/. (2014). Creating a Torrent. Retrieved from http://www.bittorrent.com/help/guides/creating-torrent Carmack, C. (2014). How BitTorrent Works. Retrieved from How Stuff Works?: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/bittorrent.htm Chroboczek, J. (2009, November 20). BitTorrent DHT Extensions for IPv6. Retrieved from http://www.bittorrent.org/beps/bep_0032.html Cifliklia, C., Gezera, A., Ozsahin, A. T., & Ozkasapb, O. (2010). BitTorrent packet traffic features over IPv6 and IPv4. Simulation Modelling Practice and Theory, Volume 18 Issue 9, 1214-1224. Hallock, R. (2008, December 01). Will BitTorrent’s switch to UDP kill the internet? Retrieved from http://icrontic.com/article/will-bittorrents-switch-to-udp-kill-the-internet Love, D. (2012, April 23). Everything You Need To Know About BitTorrent, The Legal (And Illegal) Way To Download Anything You Want. Retrieved from BusinessInsider.com: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-bittorrent-2012-4 Mitchell, B. (2014). Visual Networking Overview - The OSI Model - Application Layer . Retrieved from About.com: http://compnetworking.about.com/od/basicnetworkingconcepts/l/blbasics_osi7.htm PB Works. (2014). Emerging Applications of P2P Technologies. Retrieved from http://p2peducation.pbworks.com/w/page/8897427/FrontPage Potter, C. (2013, August 06). BitTorrent Sync: Unlimited, Fast, Secure File Sharing for Editors. Retrieved from ScreenLight.Tv: http://www.screenlight.tv/blog/2013/08/06/bittorrent-sync/ Rouse, M. (2006, August). Application layer. Retrieved from TechTarget.com: http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/Application-layer Rouse, M. (2009, April). BitTorrent. Retrieved from TechTarget.com: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/BitTorrent Read More