Date: Mar. 5, 2001
Link: http://www.webreview.com/mmedia/2001/03_02_01.shtml
Source Author or Organization: Steve McCannell, WebReview.com

This article examines recent improvements in scalability of the Gnutella network.

After experiencing an influx of thousands of Napster users during the first temporary Napster shutdown, dial-up hosts were unable to keep up with network traffic and became bottlenecks, ultimately resulting in the Gnutella network "meltdown". This exposed a scalability problem Gnutella developers are responding to.

Connection-preferencing rules are being used by clients like BearShare and LimeWire. This involves pinging peers who stop sending information, and dropping those who don't respond. It has the effect of letting like-bandwidth users talk to one another, so dial-up users can still reside on the network. Another response is Clip2 Reflector, which introduces the idea of a special Gnutella server that runs on a fast connection and acts as a proxy for the dial-ups. The reflectors, acting as "Super Peers", move slower connections out to the network edge, allowing them to stay connected while reducing bandwidth demand.

The average number of like-bandwidth users users rose from 20,000 in November of 2000 to 180,000 recently, with a 30% increase on Napster's last court date, and the network held. The author advises the "next few weeks may prove crucial for Gnutella."