Query Matching in a BitTorrent-Based P2P Database System

In our previous work ,we introduced the Wigan Peer-to-Peer database server, which is based on the popular BitTorrent file-sharing protocol. In Wigan, users (peers) cache the results of queries they receive and make these available to future users. A central component, known as the Tracker, keeps a record of which users have submitted which queries and uses this record to provide a new user submitting a query with a list of one or more peers that already have these query results. In this paper, we describe the query matching process which occurs at the Tracker, thus highlighting the differences between query matching in a P2P database and file matching in a P2P file-sharing system and the challenges these differences posed.