BIT TORRENT TECHNOLOGY

Presentation by:
Arya Jayachandran
S7 IT
Roll no: 28
 BITTORRENT
 BitTorrent is a protocol (a set of rules that
different computer systems agree to use) based
on P2P that can be used to share large files very
efficiently, using minimum bandwidth.
 Bram Cohen is the creator of BitTorrent, one of
the most successful peer-to-peer programs ever.
 It is just a tool used to download files. The
.torrent files are usually located via HTTP thru
search engines and trackers.
 45% of all Internet bandwidth was used by
BitTorrent at the end of 2009.
 TORRENT JARGON
 Torrent – At the beginning of all this is the torrent
file itself. The .torrent file is not the entire file. It is
extremely small and it just contains the
information that points to the actual file and the
people who are sharing it. It is like a map which is
used by the BitTorrent client to assemble all the
pieces together.
 BitTorrent client – A Bit Torrent client is one of
the most important parts of the torrent process.
It is a piece of software which takes the .torrent
file, reads the information in it and starts the
download.
 TORRENT JARGON
 Peer - A peer is any computer participating in the
download and upload of a torrent file.
 Seeder - A seed (or seeder) is anyone who has a
complete copy of the file being shared across the
torrent network.
 Leecher - A leech (or a leecher) is the person who
does not have the complete file yet but has joined
the network to download it. A leecher becomes a
seeder when he downloads the entire file and
then shares it across the network.
 TORRENT JARGON
 Share ratio – The ratio is the amount of data a
user has uploaded divided by the amount of data
they have downloaded for a particular torrent
(UL÷DL). A share ratio of 1+ has a positive effect
on the user’s reputation because it means that
the user has sent more data to other users than
he has received. Conversely, share ratios under 1
have a negative effect.
 Swarm – The swarm is the sum total of all the
leechers and seeders (i.e. all the computers)
participating in the torrent process.
 TORRENT JARGON
 Tracker – The tracker is a server which has the
information of who has what files and who needs
which ones, thus acting as a bridge between
seeders and leechers. Some trackers are private
requiring a registration where most are public.
 Index – An index is, as the name implies, a
searchable list of .torrent files, hosted on a
website.
TRADITIONAL CLIENT-SERVER
DOWNLOADING
 Client-server computing or networking is
a distributed application architecture that
partitions tasks or work loads between service
providers (servers) and service requesters, called
clients.
 It works like this:
- You open a Web page and click a link to
download a file to your computer.
- The Web browser software on your computer
(the client) tells the server to transfer a copy of
the file to your computer.
TRADITIONAL CLIENT-SERVER
DOWNLOADING
 - The transfer is handled by a protocol (a set of
rules), such as FTP (File Transfer Protocol) or HTTP
(Hypertext Transfer Protocol).
 DRAWBACKS
 Traffic congestion on the network has been an
issue since the inception of the client-server
paradigm. As the number of simultaneous client
requests to a given server increases, the server
can become overloaded.
 The client-server paradigm lacks the robustness
of a good P2P network. Under client-server,
should a critical server fail, clients’ requests
cannot be fulfilled. In P2P networks, resources
are usually distributed among many nodes.
 THE BITTORRENT
PROTOCOL
 Peer-to-peer file sharing is different from
traditional file downloading. In peer-to-peer
sharing, you use a software program (rather than
your Web browser) to locate computers that have
the file you want. Because these are ordinary
computers like yours, as opposed to servers, they
are called peers.
 BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing
protocol allowing users to distribute large
amounts of data without putting the level of
strain on their computers that would be needed
for standard Internet hosting.
 THE BITTORRENT
PROTOCOL
 The protocol works as an alternative data
distribution method that makes even small
computers with low bandwidth capable of
participating in large data transfers.
 COMPONENTS OF THE PROTOCOL

 Metainfo file- Provides meta-information

regarding the file to be shared like:
 – tracker server’s URL
 – file name
 – file size
 – checksums of pieces
 COMPONENTS OF THE PROTOCOL

 Tracker- A central server keeping track of peers

and seeds sharing and downloading the file(s).
 Peer- A user on the network downloading the
file(s), and sharing the parts that have been
successfully downloaded.
 Seed- A peer that has the complete file or files
available for sharing. At least one seed is needed
in the beginning for the sharing to be possible.
 Client.-An application implementing the
BitTorrent protocol.
 OPERATION
 Files are broken into pieces.
 Users each download different pieces from the
original uploader (seed).
 This process is organized by a centralized server
called the Tracker.
 BitTorrent client software communicates with
the tracker to find other computers running
BitTorrent that have the complete file and those
with a portion of the file.
 OPERATION
 The tracker identifies the swarm, which is the
connected computers that have all of or a portion
of the file and are in the process of sending or
receiving it.
 The tracker helps the client software trade pieces
of the file you want with other computers in the
swarm. Your computer receives multiple pieces of
the file simultaneously.
 If you continue to run the BitTorrent client
software after your download is complete, others
can receive .torrent files from your computer.
 OPERATION
 Downloading pieces of the file at the same time
helps solve a common problem with other peer-
to-peer download methods: Peers upload at a
much slower rate than they download.
 By downloading multiple pieces at the same time,
the overall speed is greatly improved. The more
computers involved in the swarm, the faster the
file transfer occurs because there are more
sources of each piece of the file.
 PIECE SELECTION
 The order in which pieces are selected by
different peers is critical for good performance
 If a bad algorithm is used, we could end up in a
situation where every peer has all the pieces
that are currently available and none of the
missing ones
 If the original seed is taken down, the file
cannot be completely downloaded!
 PIECE SELECTION
 Piece selection mechanisms used are:
 Random First Piece
 Special case, at the beginning
 Rarest First Piece
 General rule
 Endgame Mode
 Special case
 RANDOM FIRST PIECE
 Initially, a peer has nothing to trade
 Important to get a complete piece as soon as
possible.
 Rare pieces are typically available at fewer
peers, so downloading a rare piece initially is
not a good idea
 Policy: Select a random piece of the file and
download it
 RAREST FIRST PIECE

 Policy: Determine the pieces that are most rare

among your peers and download those first
 This ensures that the most common pieces are
left till the end to download
 Rarest first also ensures that a large variety of
pieces are downloaded from the seed
 ENDGAME MODE

 Policy: When all the sub-pieces that a peer

doesn’t have are actively being requested, these
are requested from every peer.
 When the sub-piece arrives, the replicated
requests are cancelled.
 This ensures that a download doesn’t get
prevented from completion due to a single peer
with a slow transfer rate.
 Some bandwidth is wasted, but in practice, this is
not too much.
 ADVANTAGES
 BitTorrent is an open-source program offers a
spyware- and nuisance-free installation. 
 Allows users to share large amounts of data in a
short span of time.
 Discourages “freeloading” by rewarding fastest
uploaders.
 BitTorrent requires that users share files back
with the community, so no one can get files
without also giving files — this level of reciprocity
makes the system stronger and faster.
 ADVANTAGES
 The more popular a file is — the more people
want a copy of it — the faster it can be
downloaded, because there are more places to
get pieces of it.
 Does not require high technical knowledge to use
the BitTorrent- an average person needs not a
user guide .
 By downloading a fraction of the file (1/10th) from
ten to fifteen computers at the same time, the file
is downloaded much faster.
 ADVANTAGES
 BitTorrent enables distributors to share the
distribution load with all the people who get a
copy of it, reducing the bandwidth burden on the
distributor.
 BitTorrent is decentralized
 BitTorrent also supports "trackerless" torrents
 LIMITATIONS

 Lack of anonymity- BitTorrent does not offer its

users anonymity.
 The leech problem- A BitTorrent user may often
choose to leave the swarm as soon as they have a
complete copy of the file they are downloading.
 The cheater problem- There are "cheating" clients
like BitThief which claim to be able to download
without uploading.
 LIMITATIONS

 Speed- Average BitTorrent download speed is

limited by the combined average upload speed of
"peers" (other nodes with partial copies which
are also downloading) and "seeds" (complete
copies that are only uploading).
 CONCLUSION

 BitTorrent not only is already implemented,

but is already widely deployed. It routinely
serves files hundreds of megabytes in size to
hundreds of concurrent downloader's.
THANK YOU