The Kad network is a peer-to-peer (P2P) network which implements the Kademlia P2P overlay protocol. The majority of users on the Kad Network are also connected to servers on the eDonkey network, and Kad Network clients typically query known nodes on the eDonkey network in order to find an initial node on the Kad network. A peer-to-peer (or P2P) computer network is a network that relies on the computing power and bandwidth of the participants in the network rather than concentrating it in a relatively few servers. ... Kademlia is a distributed hash table for decentralized peer to peer computer networks designed by Petar Maymounkov and David Mazières. ... The correct title of this article is . ... In computing, a client is a system that accesses a (remote) service on another computer by some kind of network. ...

Usage

The Kad network uses UDP to: User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is one of the core protocols of the Internet protocol suite. ...

• Find sources for ed2k hashes.
• Search for ed2k hashes based on keywords in the file name.
• Find comments and ratings for files (hashes).
• Provide buddy services for firewalled (Low ID) nodes.
• Store locations, comments and (keywords out of) filenames.

Note that the Kad network is not used to actually transfer files across the P2P network. Instead, when a file transfer is initiated, clients connect directly to each other (using the standard IP network). ed2k can refer to: eDonkey2000 Network - popular file sharing network used by millions of people. ... This article is about the network security device. ... eMule is a peer-to-peer file sharing application for Microsoft Windows. ... The Internet Protocol (IP) is a data-oriented protocol used for communicating data across a packet-switched internetwork. ...

As with all decentralized networks, the Kad network requires no official or common servers. As such, it cannot be disabled by shutting down a given subset of key nodes. However, because nodes are constantly communicating with each other, it can place a higher strain on individual machines when compared to connecting to a central database server. Decentralisation (or decentralization) is any of various means of more widely distributing decision-making to bring it closer to the point of service or action. ... Node(Latin nodus ‘knot’) is critical element of any computer network. ...

Clients

Only three major clients currently support the Kad network implementation. However, they comprise greater than 80% of the user base and are probably closer to 95% of ed2k installations. The clients are:

• aMule: A cross-platform fork from lMule and xMule that focuses on UNIX platforms.
• MLDonkey: A free software client that runs on many platforms and supports numerous other file-sharing protocols as well.
• eMule: An open source Windows client which is the most popular client, with 80% of network users. Also runs on Linux under Wine.

There are a number of minor variants or forks of eMule which support the same basic features as eMule itself. In computing, aMule is a peer-to-peer file sharing application that works with the eDonkey2000 network and the Kad Network, but offers more features than the standard eDonkey client, including support for Kademlia. ... A cross-platform (or platform independent) programming language, software application or hardware device works on more than one system platform (e. ... In software engineering, a project fork or branch happens when a developer (or a group of them) takes a copy of source code from one software package and starts to independently develop a new package. ... LMule (meaning Linux Mule) was an early attempt to bring an eMule-like client to Linux, starting in January 2003. ... xMule — the X11 Mule — is a client for the eDonkey peer-to-peer file sharing network, intended to bring it to virtually all the major UNIX platforms, with a particular emphasis on Linux. ... Filiation of Unix and Unix-like systems Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX®, sometimes also written as or ® with small caps) is a computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy. ... MLDonkey is an open source, free software multi-network peer-to-peer application. ... Clockwise from top: The logo of the GNU Project, the Linux kernel mascot Tux, and the BSD Daemon Free software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions only... eMule is a peer-to-peer file sharing application for Microsoft Windows. ... Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ... “Windows” redirects here. ... Wine is a project which aims to allow a PC with an x86 architecture processor running a Unix-like operating system and the X Window System to execute programs that were originally written for Microsoft Windows. ...

Search

The Kad network supports searching of files by name and a number of secondary characteristics such as size, extension, bitrate, etc.

See also

• Distributed hash table
• Kademlia