A server is connected to the network with a 100 Mbps link. Assume that all hosts

Question

A server is connected to the network with a 100 Mbps link. Assume that all hosts connected to the
network can upload and download files with 10 Mbps rate each. Now, assume that the server needs to
distribute a file to 20 hosts.
a) Which model of file distribution (client-server or peer-to-peer) will be better (faster) in this
case? Provide appropriate reasoning and/or calculation to justify your answer. [5]
b) Would the answer change (and if so, how) if the hosts were connected via slower links and
could only upload and download files with 5 Mbps each? Justify your answer. [5]
Question 8

Explanation / Answer

a) peer - to - peer. There could only be a maximum of 10 hosts that could connect to the server at any point. Since each host has a bandwidth of 10 Mbps and the host has a link of 100 Mbps, no. of host = bandwidth of server/ bandwith of host = 100 / 10 = 10 hosts. Lets assume that the hosts started download at random timing, therefore, there will be a point where the server has fully utilize the 100 Mbps link with 10 hosts connected to it. As the hosts did not started downloading at the same time, the first host which finish downloading will free up one slot for the subsequent host to download. Therefore, there are ten hosts downloading the files, one host completed downloading the file and there are nine hosts waiting to download from the server. Since the implementation is peer-to-peer, one of the host that is waiting to download can actually download from the host that has completed the download. Thus, there are actually eleven hosts downloading instead of ten hosts. Therefore, peer-to-peer is a faster method. b) The answer would change to client-server. If the host is connected by 5 Mbps, and the server is connected by 100 Mbps. Number of host = bandwith of server / bandwidth of host = 100 / 5 = 20 hosts. Since there are 20 hosts in the network, the server has the bandwith to to handle all 20 connections at any point of time.

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