From P2P to Web Services and Grids: Peers in a Client/Server World

Rating:
Summary: Gives a good overview of the technologies, very recommended
Review: I feel that this book was a good read and really makes a lot of complex issues simple and easy to understand. The writing style of the author was very approachable. The book is pretty small (and paperback) which makes it easy to carry around, which actually inspired me to read the whole thing, unlike a bunch of longer books I have on my shelf.

The book focuses on decentralized networks, web services and p2p. It does a good job of showing how these are all interrelated and ties them in nicely to the new technologies of the Grid (I work in Grid computing, so this was very interesting for me to see).

I definately recommend this book to anyone working in this field, or just people who are curious about p2p, web services, or the Grid.

Rating:
Summary: Book Review, 11/22/2004 (P2PJ)
Review: I recently read Ian Taylor's book, "From P2P to Web Services and Grids, Peers in a Client/Server World". I became acquainted with Ian when I read his online classes note on P2P and distributed systems several months back. Later, Ian asked me to review his book. This new book is based on those class notes. The book includes new material and has expanded discussion on several technologies. For example, the book has added chapters on Globus / OGSA, Freenet, and web services, and gives extended looks on scalability and security.

The book has four parts, I - Distributed Environments, II - Middleware, Applications and Supporting Technologies, III - Middleware Deployment, and IV- From Web Services to Future Grids. The Part I functions as an orientation. It talks about what are P2P, web services, and grid computing technologies. It covers the concept, the history, the social impact, and the applications. The Part II explores several well-known P2P and distributed computing technologies, e.g. Jini, Gnutella, Freenet, and JXTA. It also gives in-depth look at several important concerns, e.g. scalability and security. The chapter on security is well written and clearly explains what are cryptography, hashing, and digital signature. Additionally, the chapter on Freenet clearly explains how Freenet works and organizes content. The author has effectively used analogy to describe key concepts, "virtual organization", storing and addressing contents, network topology, etc. The Part III includes chapters on several demo applications. Due to my busy schedule, I did not have time to download and build those software applications. The Part IV is a section dedicated to Grid technologies, particularly on Globus. This section expands the discussion from chapter 4.

As the editor-in-chief of P2P Journal, I have found reading this book was well worth my time. It is concise and clear. The book uses unambiguous language to cover some abstract and difficult to grasp concepts. It can be a useful book for people who want to understand those technologies, whether as a general purpose or as a handbook.