gnutella
2 ResultsDictionary
Gnutella
A popular peer-to-peer file sharing network on the Internet. Gnutella lets users share files from user machine to user machine without the use of a central directory, which was the original...
Dictionary
Definition: Gnutella
A popular peer-to-peer file sharing network on the Internet. Gnutella lets users share files from user machine to user machine without the use of a central directory, which was the original Napster architecture. Numerous client programs, such as LimeWire, Morpheus, BearShare and Mutella, have been developed that incorporate the Gnutella file sharing protocol. For more information, visit www.gnutella.com.
Developed by Nullsoft/AOL
Nullsoft, makers of the popular Winamp software media player, was acquired by AOL in 1999. In 2000, the Nullsoft division released the Gnutella software on the Internet, but AOL quickly pulled the plug the next day. However, licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), Gnutella spread rapidly in that short time, and Gnutella clients emerged soon after. The Gnutella name is a combination of GNU from the license and the chocolate-hazelnut spread Nutella.
How Files Are Shared
Each client in a Gnutella network is also a server, and the term "servent" is the combination of server and client. When starting for the first time, each Gnutella servent requires the IP address of at least one other servent, which it can obtain from a default list of UDP host caches (UHCs) or GWebcaches. UHCs crawl the Internet looking for Gnutella hosts (servents), and GWebcache servers are updated by the Gnutella hosts themselves.
Once a servent contacts another servent, that servent tries to contact the nodes it is aware of, and the request gets forwarded throughout the Gnutella network until the request times out. High-speed, non-firewalled servents can become "ultrapeers," which can connect to 32 other ultrapeers and 30 regular servents. The ultrapeers maintain key words of the files in the servents and forward them only requests for files they are likely to have. See peer-to-peer network.
THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY
All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.
© 1981-2010 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved.
Sponsored White Papers, Webcasts & Resources
-
Get Your Free Trial of Diskeeper 2011 Professional
Give your business desktops and laptops a boost. Diskeeper 2011 Professional prevents the majority of fragmentation before it can happen and brings data flow up to peak speed for the best possible...
-
File sharers leak government secrets
Government employees who handle sensitive information should not be installing file sharing software. But they are. And that information is readily available for anyone to look up.
-
Reality check: Comcast packet forging proves you can't have Internet freedom with limited government
OK, class, it is time for yet another civics lesson. According to Electronic Frontier Foundation testing, Comcast is not only forging BitTorrent packets, but Gnutella and even Lotus Notes...
Additional Results
-
File sharers leak government secrets
Government employees who handle sensitive information should not be installing file sharing software. But they are. And that information is readily available for anyone to look up.
-
Reality check: Comcast packet forging proves you can't have Internet freedom with limited government
OK, class, it is time for yet another civics lesson. According to Electronic Frontier Foundation testing, Comcast is not only forging BitTorrent packets, but Gnutella and even Lotus Notes...
-
Gnutella pioneer Gene Kan dies
Programmer and peer-to-peer pioneer Gene Kan has passed away. Kan, 25, rose to prominence online as one of the most articulate spokesmen for the Gnutella file-swapping community at the height of...
-
Will Gnutella get Morpheus back on track?
The parent company of the Morpheus file-swapping service is considering dropping its current software and moving millions of users onto the Gnutella network. It could create the biggest rift in...
-
Gnutella keeps growing--and growing
Thanks to some fast work by programmers, Gnutella has 20-times more capacity--enabling 2 million downloads daily. Is it ready to become a standard?
-
Gnutella worm squirms into PCs
A so-called proof-of-concept worm started spreading over the weekend among the PCs of people using the peer-to-peer file-swapping protocol known as Gnutella....
-
Size matters: Gnutella worm leaves a trail
The proof-of-concept worm hasn't spread very far and is limited because it can be identified by its size: 8,192 bytes.
-
Cookie monster: Gnutella may expose users to data theft
Inexperienced users of the popular file-sharing network may be sharing more than music and video files.
-
Gnutella gets a second wind
Gnutella finally has what it takes to compete with Napster.
-
Gnutella spreads thin
Predictions that Gnutella would quickly offer an effective file-swapping alternative to Napster have proven premature, with the technology's own developers admitting more work is needed before it...
-
Gnutella spreading itself thin
Slow downloads and sign in procedures that only a true geek would understand have put a damper on what could have been a monster success story.
-
Gnutella is going down in flames!
ZDNet Music's Aaron Pava finds that Gnutella is not as scalable as the Napster network. Translation: The more users, the less efficient.
-
Commentary: Gnutella is going down in flames!
Gnutella is not as scalable as the Napster network. Translation: The more users, the less efficient. Read the column. -- Aaron Pava, ZDNet Music See also: ZDNN's Commentary section.
-
Gnutella creator finds new way to tweak AOL's IM
Justin Frankel has a funny way of saying thank you. Last year, America Online Inc. bought Frankel's online music company, Nullsoft, for $86 million. It gave him a job creating software in San...
-
Napster, Gnutella users take more than they give
The nasty truth about file-sharing programs such as Napster and Gnutella may be that digital music lovers are more selfish than they should be, according to a study from two scientists at the...
-
Startup to spread Gnutella
Newtella Inc. on Monday announced it has begun operations to develop and promote software for sharing MP3 files using the Gnutella protocol. "Although peer-to-peer sharing of MP3 files is...
-
Update: Napster users overload Scour, Gnutella
Millions of Napster users swarmed onto other music download sites Thursday, in search of alternative ways to share digital music. By late in the day, two popular sites,...
-
Napster, Gnutella … and Josef Stalin?
At Jupiter Plug.In music forum, AOL-Time Warner merger exec decries the evils of file-swapping, but tells music industry to wake up.
The best of ZDNet, delivered
ZDNet Newsletters
Get the best of ZDNet delivered straight to your inbox
Vendor Showcase
