CompTorrent: Applying BitTorrent Techniques to Distributed Computing

Abstract

This paper describes 'CompTorrent', a general purpose distributed computing platform that uses techniques derived from the popular BitTorrent file sharing protocol. The result is a grid swarm that requires only the creation and seed hosting of a comptorrent file, which contains the algorithm code and data set metrics, to facilitate the computing exercise. Peers need only obtain this comptorrent file and then join the swarm using the CompTorrent application. This paper describes the protocol, discusses its operation and provides directions for current and future research.