[ANet-devel] Re: Various Comments

[Benoit N. <be...@ma...>]

>    Although I agree that a downloading a list of files and browsing it=20
>locally will help to eliminate extensive file searches, we should address=
=20
>other types of content.  If ANet is going to be a backbone for distributed=
 a=20
>network then there are going to be other types of content floating around=
 the=20
>network.  Two examples in which people will actively need to look for=20
>something... (my apologizes if these have already been addressed)
>
>1.  Finding a users/machine/node for chat on the network
>2.  Finding services, or content by service type
>
>    The second one is important because of the new functionality this=20
>network-type could handle.  Examples:  distributed computing, large scale=
=20
>transfers, and distributed network based simulations.  I personally already=
=20
>have some new ideas for services.

Tell us. You might have not enough time to code them all, and other coders=
 might later be interested.

>>I don't think streaming content (more than just text)
>>would work properly with the current way ANet is defined...
>
>    Although not necessary now, I would like to see room for this addition=
=20
>later.  If you want know specifics to why or some of my ideas how, I'll=20
>gladly discuss it, but I don't feel it's necessary at this point.  To many=
=20
>other more important things to discuss.

We have to determine now what should be the relative maximum bandwidth=
 allowed for each type of data transfer (see Part 3). So, we have to=
 determine right now how streaming data can be handled by the current=
 mechanism and most importantly how this is going to affect the speed of the=
 network.

>Second - I'd like to dig into the services on top of ANet thing.  How are=
 we=20
>working the transition from the ANet to a machine with a usuable service on=
=20
>it?  We could rework the data passing through ANet to something=
 recognizable=20
>by existing services on a program to program basis, or we could do it by a=
 an=20
>entire sheet of data and let the service take only the data it normally=20
>takes.  How though are we going to keep track of what services are=
 available?=20

ANet is a protocol, and thus it doesn't need to care about the content of=
 the data. If a client registered to the ANet deamon for a service number,=
 then all data passing through the ANet node will be duplicated to the=
 client. The client souldn't have any control to the passing of data.

> We could design a custom type of search, or we could include service=20
>information right in the file list.

That's up to every service to have their own protocol (on top of ANet's) to=
 find which other nodes have the same service running. This is a bit like=
 TCP/IP, where you can't ask for a list of all open ports, and why you don't=
 really need to.

>    Personally, I could really get to like the idea that services could be=
=20
>browsed much like files.  I also feel it would help in situation I=
 mentioned=20
>above about searching.  I still feel that a mechanism for searching for=
 users=20
>is going to be necessary though, but trying to find ever node is a lot less=
=20
>congesting to a network than finding every *.mp3 on every node of network. =
=20
>Also, finding a user is a lot more like a community than finding a file. =
=20
>However, this bring up the issue of knowing who is really who, and how=
 secure=20
>the data recieved from a node actually is.  Benad mentioned Public Keys,=
 and=20
>I think this may be a solution.  This is something we're have to discuss.

=2E..But not right now. Security is something very important, but simply=
 making ANet work is, I think, more important. So, for now, if you receive=
 screwed up queries, duplicate static data or disconnected data transfers,=
 then live with it.

>Third - I checked out that article and it had some pretty good statistics=
 in=20
>it.  The whole site actually has some good information on it, it was my=
 first=20
>time there.  Definately worth checking out, thanks.

This means for the others: READ IT! ;-)

I'm off trying to post the docs in SourceForge and starting to write ANet's=
 introduction web page.

- Benad