(OT) Bit Torrent usage ...

[bruce]

mike...

the torrent technology is essentially a technology to share files in a
distributed manner. at a fundamental level, it works by breaking up a file
into chunks and allowing these chunks to be transferred/downloaded to your
machine by a client, although the given chnucks might be located on multiple
machines on the net... there is no security issue, other than the fact that
you need to specify/open ports, and you need to 'trust' your client app.

the rationale behind the torrent tecnology, was a realization that the isp
provides a greater download than upload speed. if you break up the file into
chunks, and allow the user to dowwnload the chunks in parallel from multiple
servers, then you have the potential to fill up your download pipe in a more
efficient manner. of course this might essentially be equal to what you'd
get if you were already downloading the file from a robust mirror...

bittorrent works relatively well when you're dealing with large files, that
lots of people are downloading, in that the network of possible places your
client can select to download the chunks gets pretty large... when the file
you want is not downlaoded by many people, it's often better to find a good
mirror...

the reason for allowing others to in turn use your machine to download the
file is the ability to 'give' back, but it's also tied into the way the
client works... the author/client attempts to specifically cap your download
speed based upon how freely you allow others to download from you.  the more
you allow people to download from you, the looser the restrictions on your
download speed.

hope this helps you get a little better understanding..

-bruce


-----Original Message-----
From: fedora-list-bounces at redhat.com
[mailto:fedora-list-bounces at redhat.com]On Behalf Of Mike McCarty
Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2005 2:02 PM
To: For users of Fedora Core releases
Subject: Re: (OT) Bit Torrent usage ...


Phil Schaffner wrote:
> On Wed, 2005-07-27 at 16:21 -0400, Ugo Bellavance wrote:
>
>>Mike McCarty wrote:
>>
>>>I see that the Red Hat site suggests Bit Torrent.
>>>
>>>I went to the website, and I don't see where it would
>>>help. And I don't understand the bit about "if you don't
>>>allow Bit Torrent to upload from your machine, you won't
>>>get improved download rates."
>>>
>>>They specifically state that it is a means for publishing
>>>things from one's own machine to the world.
>>>
>>>Can anyone explain, in ordinary language, what possible
>>>advantage it would give me over, say, wget?
>>>
>>>Mike
>>
>>The most obvious advantage is not for you.  It is that Bit Torrent uses
>>everyone's bandwidth instead of only using the mirror's (which is costly).
>>
>>Bittorrent only "publish" the files you want to publish.
>
>
> It can give better effective bandwidth for you on the download by
> getting data from a number of peers rather than from a single server
> with limited IO capacity and bandwidth.  It is also good form to leave
> your client open after the download finishes to "give back" to the
> community by sharing your bandwidth.

Umm, lessee if I understand correctly. (The figures below are the
actual rates wget obtained for me when I downloaded the FC4 CD
ISOs.)

I download some package or other, using Bit Torrent. I have ADSL, and
get 60-80 KBps during the download, using an Australian site. This
maxes out my download (I regularly have 864 Kbps as the download rate).
Then others can pull the same file I downloaded using my machine as
a source (384 Kbps max) for some of the data.

Sounds like a very likely source of a security breach to me, with little
or no advantage offered in return.

I'm not complaining, I'm just trying to uderstand what exactly Bit
Torrent offers, and to whom, and to ascertain whether it be something
I might find useful. Even if the only reward is an intangible
thing like feeling good about contributing to the general welfare
of the people on Earth.

Mike
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