Design issues and challenges for RDF- and schema-based peer-to-peer systems

Abstract

Databases have employed a schema-based approach to store and retrieve structured data for decades. For peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, similar approaches are just beginning to emerge. While quite a few database techniques can be re-used in this new context, a P2P data management infrastructure poses additional challenges which have to be solved before schema-based P2P networks become as common as schema-based databases. We will describe some of these challenges and discuss approaches to solve them. Our discussion will be based on the design decisions we have employed in our Edutella infrastructure, a schema-based P2P network based on RDF and RDF schemas, and will also point out additional work addressing the issues discussed.