Traffic Tactics
Peer-to-Peer Network Tactics

Business growth
In case of most of the small business network, they experience growth as their business evolves. Although from the growth prospective it is a good sign, but from a network prospective this often mean disaster.
 
Corporate network
Most of the times large corporate networks are set up in the domain format whereas on the other hand  the small business networks are set up in peer-to-peer format.

P2P format
In the P2P format every PC is responsible for its own security access. In this case every PC is equal to every other PC in the network.
 
P2P is legal
P2P is absolutely legal and there are no qualms about distributing files through this system. What is illegal here is to use the software to download materials that are protected by copyright, it is so because you cannot use these materials without paying a royalty for its use, it is protected y law and downloading it with the help of applications and software amounts to criminal offence.

Attitude of the users
The attitude of the users is very important factor that decides the fate of your network. In case your users are security conscious, then there are high chances that your network will be secure too, in case your users are not security conscious there are chances that you may suffer from internal mishandling.

Domain controller
The network set up in this case has at least one server along with a domain controller. The domain controller helps to manage user and the computer access. Because of this it is possible for the network administer to relieve him from touching each and every PC in the network.

Logging in
When a user logs on to a particular PC in P2P network, the user just has to authenticate it, but in the case of domain system the procedure is a little more complicated, than just authentication.

Know what you are sharing
It is important that you know what you are sharing, when you share a file it becomes available to million of users all over the world, so it is very important that you know what you are sharing.

Protect your personal information
In case of some applications, files get shared automatically, in case of other applications your entire hard drive is made available for sharing. So make sure that your personal information does not get shared.

Safe download
It is important that you know what you are downloading and it is all the more important that you know who you are downloading files from.

The right source
It is very important to download from the right source because downloading can be a source of viruses and damaging software.

Latest anti-virus software
Make sure that your computer is equipped with the latest anti virus software and also try and scan all the files before you bring it on to your system.

Security tools
It is like wise very important that you use security tools.

No unlawful activities
It is important that you do not indulge in any unlawful activities. You can share games and music and other such stiff, but it is unlawful to share copyrighted stuff.

Spywares
Spy wares are very damaging to your privacy. Spy ware can collect information about your computer and transfer it to third parties.

File sharing programs
In case you are going to use the file sharing programs it is important that you remove any spy ware that is on your computer.

Be alert
Try and keep a check on what information your software is collecting, not all spy wares are bad. Still it is important to be on your alert, after all prevention is always better than cure.

Avoid giving personal information
It is best to avoid programs that collect a lot of personal information.

Protect your PC
Talk to the members of your families who share files online, there are real threats associated with sharing of files which should not be undermined. It is important that you take in to account all the above steps to protect your computer from viruses and damaging software.

Identifying of P2P users
In case of identifying P2P users there are only two choices that are available they are port based analysis and protocol analysis.

Port based analysis
To detect P2P user’s port based analysis is the most basic and the straight forward means. It is based on the principle that many of the P2P applications have default ports on which they function.

Port matching
Port matching is very simple to apply but then it has some very obvious drawbacks; most of the P2P applications allow users to change the default port number. They can do so by selecting whatever ports they like.

Protocol analysis
An administrator can go in for application layer protocol analysis if he is not happy with the results of simple port matching.
 
P2P application solutions
Most of the P2P application solutions these days include the L7-filter, Juniper's net screen-IDP, Cisco's PDML, Alteon Application Switches, and Net Scout.

Signature based authentication
Signature based authentication mainly means that the product should read and process the entire network traffic.

Application level
The signature based identification of the application level (L7) is highly resource intensive. The higher the bandwidth network, the larger the cost and resource requirement that you need to inspect it.

Naming the file
It is important that you name the file, so that the files can in some way promote your web site.

Traffic information
It is usually easy to derive traffic information from various network devices; it can actually be done without affecting network performance and the service availability.

Recommended P2P networks
There are certain recommended P2P networks they are:

1. Centralized P2P network such as napster 
2. Hybrid P2P network such as JXTA. 
3. Decentralized P2P network such as KaZaA 
4. Structured P2P network such as CAN 
5. Unstructured P2P network such as Gnutella

Gnutella
Gnutella is decentralized and it means that no company or organization controls it. It is a P2P protocol that is used by programs such as Lime Wire and Mopheus.