The simplest network, where each computer is able to communicate directly and share data with any computer is called peer-to-peer (P2P) network. This system does not have any authority computer or account that has more rights in network than others. Each of the computers is being configured individually by the user, and the user is the one who chooses the files that can be shared with other network participants and which can not. Every member of the network is able to send and/or receive data from/to every participant in the network.
Because the sharing options are being configured in the OS of the computers it is relatively easy to configure network – it is individual task of every user to configure his/her own machine and it does not require any additional skills to complete that task. This type of network is not requiring any additional expenses for maintenance or setup which makes it suitable for scenarios where saving money is critical.
Figure 1-1. Simple P2P network example.
What are advantages of Peer to Peer networks?
While there are many advantages, it is necessary to note that network is becoming less flexible while it is growing, and it is difficult to make some changes in the P2P of the large scale. Also, the network can be easily accessed by unauthorised client machines, since P2P is not implementing any security measures. While every machine can share information, there is no general file managing mechanism, meaning it is not possible to track which files were modified last and which version of the shared file is the latest.
Larger scale P2P networks are using Internet for people around the world to share information. Although, these connections are using specialised software that secures connection , unlike the traditional peer-to-peer networks.
