Share via


1.3 Overview

The Distributed Routing Table (DRT) Protocol uses messages to maintain a cloud of peer nodes, to maintain a distributed cache of network endpoint information, and to transfer requests for key resolutions between nodes. Together these messages allow applications to use registered keys to obtain corresponding endpoint information such as IP addresses and ports.

The DRT Protocol does not provide any mechanism for browsing keys and is distributed by other means.

There are two primary roles in a DRT:

Resolver: A node seeking to obtain endpoint information for a given key by sending (and, when appropriate, resending) resolution requests to other nodes within a cloud.

Publisher: A node that provides endpoint information to a Resolver.

The DRT Protocol registration and resolution mechanism does not rely on the existence of servers, except possibly during initialization.