The IT Law Wiki

Overview[]

After the Napster decision. file-sharing programs largely moved away from the central-server model. Many of the newer programs used the FastTrack protocol, which uses a two-tiered system consisting of “super nodes” and ordinary nodes rather than a central server.[1] Each node consists of an individual user’s computer.

Super nodes” essentially perform the directory role that the centralized server provided in the original Napster architecture.[2] Using the file-sharing software, an ordinary node connects to a super node and sends a query for a file, and then the super node checks its index of files and sends the ordinary node a list of any matches.[3] The user can then click on a match to establish a direct peer-to-peer connection and obtain the file from the selected peer.

References[]

  1. The FastTrack protocol supported a number of different P2P file-sharing programs, including KaZaA and Grokster. Other protocols included Gnutella and eDonkey.
  2. A user’s computer may be selected by the software to serve as a super node automatically, based on its storage capacity and/or connection speed, for example.
  3. The super node also can forward the query to other super nodes, and send any responses it receives back to the user.