Kad network
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Kad network is a peer-to-peer 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.
The kad network uses UDP to
- find sources for ed2k hashes,
- search for ed2k hashes based on keywords in the file name
- find comments and ratings on files (hashes)
- provide buddy services for firewalled (low ID) nodes.
- store locations, comments and (keywords out of) filenames.
Note that kad is not used to actually transfer the file in the P2P network.
[edit] Clients
Actually only 3 clients support Kad (but they have greater than 80% user base and are probably closer to 95% of ed2k installations):
- aMule: a cross-platform fork from lMule and xMule that focuses on unix platforms.
- Retroshare_Instant_Messenger: an open source Windows Instant Messenger client which is the most popular client for serverless messaging. Also runs compiled on Linux, or using Wine.
- 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 also lots of Mods of eMule.
