Abstract: Distributed network architecture and dynamic change of nodes makes the operation of structured peer-to-peer networks unpredictable. This article aims to present a research on the running rule of structured peer-to-peer networks through a mathematical model. The proposed model provides a low-complexity means to estimate the performance of a structured peer-to-peer network from two aspects: the average existent time of a node and probability of returning to a temporarily steady state of network. On the basis of the results, it can be concluded that the proposed structured peer-to-peer network is suitable for those conditions where the frequency of node change is under limited value, and this value mainly depends on the initializing time of the node. Otherwise, structured peer-to-peer network can be abstracted as a network queuing system, which is composed of many node queuing systems in a meshy way and the relation between the throughput of the node system and network system is analyzed.

Key words: peer-to-peer network;distributed hash table;birth and death Markov model;average existent time;temporarily steady state