
Ask HN: Why are p2p CDNs not as prevalent? - pigpigs
P2P models make ddos-ing much harder and can help deliver content faster as well.<p>I see many solutions for the delivery of video via p2p (such as Peer5), but don&#x27;t see any applied for other static assets. Are they just not feasible for smaller sized data?
======
webscaleizfun
I've seen lots of potentially usable p2p CDN ideas, from storing data in each
visitors browser & using them to serve other visitors said static content, to
projects like IPFS where you can have a distributed website. The ultimate
problems are static asset storage & distribution, DNS (how'd you make a fault
tolerant, censorship resistant DNS solution that is updatable in nearly real
time), and any database component that a site may need.

Most of these are solved issues[1], but it breaks down to site operators don't
want to put in the extra effort or risk (what if a page has assets not load,
or worse, bad assets are loaded), and the apathy of the average user prevents
a web of trust or installation of any extra software from occurring unless it
is drop dead simple and requires zero maintenance.

As soon as someone can bundle up these technologies in a nice package for both
site owners and end users, they'll have a killer solution to improve site
reliability & reduce operating expenses (by offloading CDN costs to the end
users).

[1] - [https://github.com/redecentralize/alternative-
internet](https://github.com/redecentralize/alternative-internet)

~~~
pigpigs
IPFS, in particular, plan to have native browser support via a Javascript
dependency. There was also PeerCDN (and bunch of similar clones), but they all
don't tend to stick around for long or get widely used even though the setup
is supposedly one line.

~~~
shacharz
The problem with PeerCDN and other WebRTC based solutions is that they can't
solve the DNS DDOS problem. Since the WebRTC API needs a server for the
handshake to start communicating between 2 peers directly.

~~~
webscaleizfun
Eh, but the DNS server isn't necessarily the same as the bootstrapping server
for the WebRTC API, and in most cases it generally would not be.

------
brudgers
Windows 10 defaults to distributing updates peer to peer. It has been a reason
for outrage among those inclined to be outraged over Windows 10 and/or
Microsoft.

