Preferential walk: towards efficient and scalable search in unstructured peer-to-peer networks

To improve search efficiency and reduce unnecessary traffic in Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks, this paper proposes a trust-based probabilistic search algorithm, called preferential walk (P-Walk). Every peer ranks its neighbors according to searching experience. The highly ranked neighbors have higher probabilities to be queried. Simulation results show that P-Walk is not only efficient, but also robust against malicious behaviors. Furthermore, we measure peers' rank distribution and draw implications.