There is a probem that I and others in my area are running in to. I am a student at IU and like almost half the other students live off campus. Most people have either cable or xdsl connection being shared by roomates. People seem to favor using some old PC they keep running in a closet to share the connection with all their roomates. The cable and dsl service around here doesn't come close to meeing specs either. I started to look for wasy to optimize our bandwidth when I thought of something. A sort-of proxy server for gnutella clients.
Heres a rough idea:

A 'server' would be setup and started on the computer that shares the net connection. Preferably it can operate in unattended mode since this machine will most be likely... unattended.
Specialized clients on the individual computers interface with the server and access the gnutella network via the server.
All incomming and outgoing searches and file requests are handled by the server.

I'll leave it to pros to make the call, but I think it would help the end-users as well as the network in general. Outside clients would see a 'gnutella server' as just another single client even though it is a unifying frontend for the 2 or 3 or 4 roomates computers hooked up on a home network.
This would help the network because these pseudo-servers would be up all the time further increasing stability.
Outside clients would benifit because this method could operate much more transparently. Shares would be setup on and controlled by the server; all you need to do is use samba (or simmilar protocol) to allow the server to access the other computers files on the LAN.

Whatever, I think you might get my point now.
Feedback?

PS: I would jump all over this, except the only laguage I know in and out is VB which wouldn't be the most desirable one for something liek this. I am just proposing a theory and seeing if anyone has some opinions.

I forgot to add something. The idea behind this would be to reduce the bandwidth inefficiencies of running a client on each machine of a 3 or 4 computer home LAN with a crappy cable or dsl connection.

I think that's a great idea, I would certainly use it.

If no one makes something like that in the next year then I will make my own. Until then I'm happy to discuss possibilities.

Guys,

I have to agree that this would be a great concept, this is why I am starting to develop such a solution along with my own GnuTella client application as well.




Did,

What programming languages do you use, as I am fluent in a few, although I am looking at using Delphi 6.

This feature is already in most of today's Gnutella clients. It's called an 'Ultrapeer'. You set one computer as the Ultrapeer and set the other clients as leaves and you connect the leaves to the Ultrapeer. The Ultrapeer is connected to the Gnutella network and processes all of the search results, etc. The Leaves send the searches and stuff to the Ultrapeer and the Ultrapeer directs the searches to the rest of the network. Then the search results come back, through the Ultrapeer, and then to the Leaves. Some clients that support Ultrapeers:

BearShare
LimeWire
Shareaza
Gnucleus

linuxrocks,

Yes, that is correct, but you cannot run any of these applications as a system daemon, (in my situation, my firewall is a linux server, with no screen or keyboard attached, and it is already running a few services so there is no X running on it.) so I am going to build a daemonisable "UltraPeer"/"Proxy" for my own network.

Regards
Brian.

So how does one go about connecting leaves to an ultrapeer, do I just type the ultrapeer's ip address into the connect box?

Also, wouldn't passing messages through this 'server' add to the number of hops and so reduce the visible horizon. Searches don't travel as far and would return fewer hits.

FWIW, I'm working on a Gnutella Proxy based on Ultrapeer features. Its a Windows NT/2000/XP service with a remote console (like telnet) to configure it. I'll be releasing a Beta soon, probably by the end of this week (Nov 17-23), so if anyone is interested in testing it send me a PM with your request.

cultiv is ur program going to use connect method which is available with most proxies... or will to service firewalled comps that dont support CONNECT....

Pinku, its not a proxy in its classic form - its generally a Gnutella client redirecting traffic for other Gnutella clients (hence based on the Utlrapeer principles).

Therefore, if you are referring to "CONNECT" as in the HTTP CONNECT method, no it will not support that. As for all standard Gnutella v0.6 handshakes, yes it will support those.

Unforntunately, my proxy will not support a pass-thru-proxy either - meaning it would have to run on a deciated machine with unblocked access to the Internet on the common Gnutella ports.

However, I believe this is a step in the right direction to help home users with multiple PCs save some bandwidth, as well for ISPs and universities that are dealing with high bandwidth consumption from Gnutella clients.