Gridella is the implementation of the P-Grid peer-to-peer approach. P-Grid is a next generation peer-to-peer platform for distributed information management beyond mere file-sharing.

Roman Schmidt, Manfred Hauswirth, Karl Aberer

Please read the fast and furious, ultra-short quick-start first!

P-Grid/Gridella background

P-Grid's most important properties are: P-Grid is a truly decentralized structured P2P system which does not require central coordination or knowledge. It is based purely on randomized algorithms and local interactions and targeted at environments with low online probabilities of peers.

This tutorial provides information on how to configure and operate Gridella. For detailed descriptions of the concepts behind P-Grid, please check the publications page on the P-Grid website.

P-Grid and Gridella were developed by the Distributed Information Systems Laboratory (LSIR) of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL).

P-Grid is a distributed indexing system for indexing and searching non-copyrighted content. The distribution of copyrighted data is not the intended application area of P-Grid. The distribution of P-Grid does not authorize you in any way to infringe the copyright or other rights of third parties. As a condition of the use of P-Grid, you agree that you must not use this program to infringe the intellectual property or other rights of others; the unauthorized reproduction, distribution, modification, public display, communication to the public or public performance of copyrighted works is an infringement of copyright. It is your responsibility to ensure that you obtain all consents, authorizations and clearances in any data owned or controlled by third parties that you transmit, access or communicate to others using the P-Grid program.

The fast and furious, ultra-short quick-start

  1. Start Gridella.
  2. If you have other P-Grid peers around you would like to use to share information with, enter one peer address in the field at the top of the P-Grid preferences screen (click the File | Preferences menu to go there).

    Startup peer screenshot

    The bootstrap host www.p-grid.org:1805 is currently not available!
    Please see network setup to build-up your own P-Grid network.

  3. If you want to share files with other peers, enter one or more directories separated by ";" in the field at the top of the Library preferences screen (click the File | Preferences menu to go there). Directories can also be added by clicking the "..." button and selecting a directory of the appearing directory view. The download directory is shared by default.

    Shared directories screenshot

For advanced configuration, read the other parts of this tutorial.