// Create a peer instance
Peer p = Peer.getInstance(PeerId.newId());
// Create a P2P transport (Suzaku algorithm)
// with string keys on 10.0.0.2:12367
Suzaku<StringKey, StringKey> t = new Suzaku<>(
  p.newBaseChannelTransport(new TcpLocator(
    new InetSocketAddress("10.0.0.2", 12367))));
// Join to P2P via introducer 10.0.0.1:12367
t.join(new TcpLocator(
  new InetSocketAddress("10.0.0.1", 12367)));
// Send "world" to peers that have key "hello"
t.send(new StringKey("hello"), "world");
// Leave the P2P
t.leave();
p.fin();

News

2016/10/17 PIAX is now available on Maven Repository
2016/10/07 PIAX 3.1.0 is released
2016/09/01 PIAX GitHub is now available
2015/06/08 PIAX 3.0.0 is released
2009/10/21 PIAX 2.1.0 release
2008/11/1 PIAX 2.0.0 release
2007/3/26 PIAX 1.0.0 release

What is PIAX?

PIAX (P2P Interactive Agent eXtensions) is a framework for distributed computing. PIAX has two major features: One is a transport framework based on P2P structured overlay. The other is a distributed computing framework with mobile agents.

As a transport framework, PIAX provides Java class library called ‘Generic Transport(GTrans)’. GTrans provides simple interfaces to develop portable and sophisticated network applications that integrate multiple different network features. By incorporating composite pattern, GTrans enables programmers to use various kind of network features by a unified interface. GTrans allows applications to specify communication destinations in flexible ways. One can use IDs, keys, locations, and conditions of attributes to specify remote nodes, in addition to conventional locators (such as IP addresses and Bluetooth MAC addresses).

As P2P overlay networks, there are implementations of Skip Graph, bi-directional Chord#, LLNet, DOLR and Flooding to support various kinds of discoveries. The structured overlays of PIAX are implemented as a scalable and fault-tolerant system using DDLL, which is a distributed algorithm for constructing distributed doubly-linked lists. DDLL maintains consistency with regard to lookups even in a churn situation where multiple nodes are simultaneously inserted or deleted. DDLL also provides a link repair mechanism.

As a low-level network transport interface, UDP, TCP and emulation are supported in GTrans. Network features such as channels, handover, fragmentation and RPC are provided in an abstracted manner. These features enable programmers to implement their applications or network feature in minimal efforts.

As a distributed computing framework, PIAX provides mobile agent mechanism with simple APIs. The agents of PIAX support remote procedure calls with discoveries, which we call ‘discovery calls’. By discovery calls, the agents can issue procedure calls to other agents without knowing their existence. It enables applications to cooperate each other in the asynchronous and on-demand way in the loosely-coupled environment. The agents integrates versatile P2P overlay networks (e.g., LL-Net, DOLR) as a multi-overlay mechanism to support discovery calls. The multi-overlay mechanism supports plug-in independent P2P overlay networks.

PIAX is originally developed for ubiquitous computing, but the characteristics of PIAX can be applied to various situations such as cloud computing, smart cities, IoT applications, etc. Since PIAX enables many computers to cooperate efficiently, a huge amount of servers or devices can cooperate with each other and a scalable and fault-tolerant system can be realized.