Data transfer scheduling for P2P storage

In Peer-to-Peer storage and backup applications, large amounts of data have to be transferred between nodes. In general, recipient of data transfers are not chosen randomly from the whole set of nodes in the Peer-to-Peer networks, but they are chosen according to peer selection rules imposing several criteria, such as resource contributions, position in DHTs, or trust between nodes. Imposing too stringent restrictions on the choice of nodes that are eligible to receive data can have a negative impact on the amount of time needed to complete data transfer, and scheduling choices influence this result as well. We formalize the problem of data transfer scheduling, and devise means for calculating (knowing a posteriori the availability patterns of nodes) optimal scheduling choices; we then propose and evaluate realistic scheduling policies, and evaluate their overheads in transfer times with respect to the optimal. We show that allowing even a small flexibility in choosing nodes after the peer selection step results in large improvements on time to complete transfers, and that even simple informed scheduling policies can significantly reduce transfer time overhead.