Overlay Weaver: An overlay construction toolkit

A layered model of structured overlays has been proposed and it enabled development of a routing layer independently of higher-level services such as DHT and multicast. The routing layer has to include other part than a routing algorithm, which is essential for routing. It is routing process, which is common to various routing algorithms and can be decoupled from a routing algorithm.We demonstrated the decomposition by implementing an overlay construction toolkit Overlay Weaver. It facilitates implementation of routing algorithms and we could multiple well-known algorithms just in hundreds of lines of code with the toolkit. The decomposition also enables multiple implementations of the common routing process. Two implementations the toolkit provides perform iterative and recursive routing, respectively. Additionally, to our knowledge, the toolkit is the first feasibility proof of the layered model by supporting multiple algorithms and the higher-level services.Such modular design contributes to our goal, which is facilitation of rapid development of realistic routing algorithms and their application. We demonstrates that Overlay Weaver supports the goal by conducting large-scale tests and comparisons of algorithms on a single computer. The resulting algorithm implementations work on a real TCP/IP network as it is.