Adapting to NAT timeout values in P2P overlay networks

Abstract--Nodes within existing P2P networks typically exchange periodic keep-alive messages in order to maintain network connections between neighbours. Keep-alive messages serve a dual purpose, being used to detect node failures and preventing idle connections being expired by NAT devices. However, despite keep-alive messages being widely used the interval between messages is typically fixed below the timeout value of most NAT devices based upon crude rules of thumb. Furthermore, although many studies have been conducted to traverse NAT devices while others seek to improve failure detection in P2P overlay networks; the limitations of NAT devices have received little research attention. This paper explores algorithms which allow nodes to adapt to the timeout values of individual NAT devices and investigates the resulting trade-offs.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: IPPS
• Authors: Richard Price, Peter Tiño
• Keywords: Distributed And Parallel Computing, IPPS 2010, Keep-alive Messages, NAT Devices, Timeout Values