Gnutella Protocol Development
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2.5 Communicating Network Topology Information 2.5.1 Use of Ping and Pong messages In early versions of Gnutella, Ping messages were broadcasted over the network. Pong messages were then routed back to the originator of the Ping message the same way as Query Hits messages are routed (see section 2.7). That system consumed a lot of network bandwidth, so modern Gnutella servents cache Pong messages, or use other means of minimizing the bandwidth used by Ping and Pong messages (see 3.4 Pong Caching). Thus, Pong messages are not considered accurate anymore to reflect the topology of the network. Moreover, servents with no free GNet connection slots should not answer to ping messages. The Pong message may be replaced in the future by a more effective way of communicating free connections slots through the GNet. At this time of writing, there's no replacement solution to help discovering the topology of the Gnutella network.