MSDN Magazine - July 2008 - (Page 105)

WCF p2p How To Design State Sharing In A Peer Network Kevin Hoffman In recent years, people have started to discover the amazing power and functionality that can be provided by an application that communicates over a peer network. So-called peer applications cover the gamut from simple file sharing to instant messaging (IM) to full-on collaborative applications such as shared white boarding, Voice over IP (VoIP) calling and conferencing, social networking, and much more. Think about how your Xbox 360® automatically detects the presence of another computer running Windows Media® Center and can immediately begin sharing audio and video with that computer, allowing you to play music from your computer on your Xbox®. Wouldn’t it be great if business applications sported the same kind This article discusses: • Fixed state servers • Elected state servers • Serverless data blast • Nearest peer synchronization Technologies discussed: WCF of peer awareness and capability? Think about how pleased your customers would be if someone created a new record from their desktop and everybody else within the organization using that application immediately saw that new record and you didn’t have to install and configure a central server to make that happen. This article is all about peer-enabling business applications by allowing them to share state in a serverless peer network. Before getting into the details of a sample app, I want to talk about some of the various ways that people typically try to share state in a peer network, as well as the pros and cons of those approaches. Finally, I’ll show you a sample application called WeSpend, a tool for tracking your bank book ledger. This application automatically synchronizes data with all other instances of itself on your home network. There are as many ways to implement a peer network as there are potential application ideas. Each implementation carries with it certain benefits and drawbacks. Some of those aspects are related to infrastructure, some are related to the ease with which the solution can be maintained over time, and yet others are related to how easily the solution can be developed initially. In this section I take a look at some of the most common ways people develop peer networks. Code download available at: msdn.microsoft.com/magazine/cc135911 Fixed State Server When many development teams get past the initial concept phase of their peer-enabled application and start looking at imJuly 2008 105 http://msdn.microsoft.com/magazine/cc135911

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of MSDN Magazine - July 2008

MSDN Magazine - July 2008 Contents Toolbox CLR Inside Out Flex Your Data Data Points Advanced Basics Office Space Cutting Edge Data Services ADO.NET Data and WPF Transactions WCF P2P Test Run Security Briefs Foundations .NET Matters {End Bracket}

MSDN Magazine - July 2008

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