Foundations of Blockchain

P2P networking architecture

P2P networking is an architecture where each peer acts as a server and a client simultaneously. Since a blockchain network is often implemented on a public network, it is difficult to create a physical topology that is suitable for P2P networking. To create this kind of architecture, a virtual or logical network overlay has to be constructed over the actual physical network topology. A logical network is created to achieve a convenient index of resources and peer discovery in a public network. Although an overlay is formed, data will be exchanged over the TCP/IP network.

Although the underlying physical network could follow any networking topology, the logical network in a P2P architecture will form a mesh-like ...