Ono (Azureus plugin) FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
* Does this really improve download performance?
In a word, yes. Using results collected from our participating users (well over 100,000 of them!), we have found that our system locates peers along paths that have two orders of magnitude lower latency and 30% lower loss rates than those picked at random by BitTorrent, and that these high-quality paths can lead to significant improvements in transfer rates. In challenged settings where peers are overloaded in terms of available bandwidth, Ono provides a 31% average download-rate improvement; in environments with large available bandwidth, Ono increases download rates by 207% on average (and improves median rates by 883%).
* Why use the Azureus BitTorrent client?
For one, it's probably the most popular client in terms of use, so targeting Azureus gives us the greatest potential impact. Additionally, Azureus is Java-based, meaning anyone can run their software (and ours). Finally, Azureus offers a convenient plugin feature, requiring no changes to your existing Azureus client. And once you're running Ono, it will automatically search for new versions and update itself for you!
* Has Ono been ported to any other languages/systems?
Yes, we have implemented a tracker that uses Ono to return nearby peers. Otherwise, we have a boiled-down version of the Ono service in Java. Both are provided here.
* I thought Azureus was already doing network positioning. Why use Ono?
Well, as Ledlie, et al have shown, Azureus network coordinates are, too put it mildly, terribly inaccurate. In our own independent measurements, we found that only 10% of the network coordinates had less than 10% error. More than 60% had errors of 100% or more! Besides, unlike traditional network positioning systems, Ono doesn't require active network path measurement to determine relative locations in the network. Only infrequent DNS lookups are needed.
* Why not just use class C subnets, AS numbers or measurement-based techiques for figuring out peer locality?
While heuristic-based approaches such as class C subnets and AS numbers also scale well, the position information gained through them is not terribly useful and does not take into account dynamic network conditions. For example, there may not be anyone downloading the same file on your class-C subnet and your AS number may correspond to a network that spans an entire country.
Ono, on the other hand, finds peers that are near one another by relying on preexisting infrastucture (CDNs) that perform extensive Internet measurements. We have found that our system locates peers along paths that have two orders of magnitude lower latency and 30% lower loss rates than those picked at random by BitTorrent, and that these high-quality paths can lead to significant improvements in transfer rates.
* Does this work with Azureus Vuze?
Yes, Ono performs just fine on Vuze as of version 1.0, which was released in the second week of May.
* Does this work with my operating system?
In short, yes. Ono primarily relies on DNS to perform its functionality and contains a 100% Java DNS implementation, so it should work anywhere that Azureus works. It has been extensively tested to work in Windows and Linux environments, and lightly tested in Mac environments. If you encounter a problem, please let us know!
Problems and Solutions
* Azureus is taking longer to close down since I installed Ono.
This is entirely normal and occurs because Ono is reporting its performance statistics for our team to analyze. If this behavior bothers you, you can set the maximum amount of time you're willing to wait or you can disable statistics collection altogether. The options are located in the Tools > Options… > Plugins > Ono menu option.
* My screen flickers and CPU usage goes up since I started using Ono.
Apparently this is a rare Vista issue. You can fix this by reducing the number of pings that Ono performs at once. The option can by accessed from the Azureus menu by pointing to Tools > Options… > Plugins > Ono. A setting of "1" should eliminate the problem.
