So how does this Bitorrent stuff work?

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ozziegn

The man behind the curtain...
Joined
Jan 13, 2001
Messages
17,533
okay, I'm new at all this bitorrent stuff so be gentle w/ me.

someone got me started using this bitorrent thing and I've been D/Ling a 3.2GB file which seems like its going to take around 2 days at a current rate of 16KB/s. but what I dont understand is why (and what) is my computer uploading at 30KB/s? is my computer uploading the same thing that I'm D/Ling from this bitorrent stuff or what?

also, what is this "seed" and "peer" stuff and what does it mean?
 
Bittorrent is based on the fact that once you start downloading you start sharing. The people seeding the file are the ones who have the full file, the peers are the ones trying to get the file. If a peer finishes the file and continues to share it then they're considered a seed.

Imagine your typical FTP setup. There's the FTP server which has a limited amount of bandwidth, then there's a bunch of clients connected to it and all downloading the same file. The more clients connect to it the slower every download gets.

Bittorrent essentially lets all the clients be aware of each other and share what they're downloading. Since client 1 uploads part of what it downloaded to client 2 and client 2 shares what it downloaded with client 1. That's less that the seed has to send them and since the seeds bandwidth is usually the limiting factor in file transfers, both client 1 and 2's transfers are faster.
 
ehhhh, okay. I think I understand.

so what does the "health" section mean?
 
I'm guessing you're referring to what a website lists the health of the torrent as? I'm not exactly sure how they determine the health of it, but usually the healthier torrents have more seeders and peers than the unhealthy. Think of it as a healthy torrent probably won't disappear before you're done downloading. An unhealthy torrent may have many peers, but no seeds so it's impossible to get the entire file.
 
I think he's talking about the Azureus health reading.
I lets you know whether your port is open to the internet, or blocked by a router. The port should always be forwarded.
 
Oline61 said:
I think he's talking about the Azureus health reading.
I lets you know whether your port is open to the internet, or blocked by a router. The port should always be forwarded.
Click to expand...

Makes sense. I use the actual bittorrent client which doesn't have a health reading.
 
MovieMan80 said:
very cool simulation. It's lot easier to show somebody that then to try to explain how it works.
Click to expand...

Showed it to my boss to help explain swarming network content distribution. It's a time saver thats for sure.
 
megabyte said:
Bit Torrent simulation. Enjoy

http://aphid.org/btsim/
Click to expand...
Wow!!

that is really awesome.... I know alot of people who use Bittorent but dont really understand exaclty how it works (or even care for that matter). I think this will spark their interest.

thanks!

EDIT: you have to press + and - to add peers and seeders, read just below the box.
 
One thing you have to take into account!

Regardless of the application of this data distribution method, there can be bad data and/or bad seeders. In the past i've even been in situations where someone is intentionally polluting with bad data as a seeder.

Generally you have a data block size, depending on this block size, depends on how much time you can waste before you realise your getting bad data. However the clients dont appear to block this bad data, assuming that it has been corrupted somewhere along transport.

Its generally better to have a higher block size of 1-2mb on large files but.. in this case it might be an idea to think about its application and the potential of bad data being transferred around.

I downloaded the same file 4 times on a torrent for a wow patch.. only to find one of the always online seeders had some bad data..
After redownloading all that, i went and found another torrent for the patch, seems my client (bitcomet) doesnt ignore the seeder after 'x' amount of bad data.

:(
 
ozziegn said:
what dont I see anything when I click on that link?

all it shows is a black box but it doesnt show anything.
Click to expand...

Click the box and then hit S or + on your keyboard to spawn nodes. I was very confused at first too :)
 
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