Ants 1.5.8 P 0.9.5 Released

[tsafa1]

This version adjusts some of the internal timeouts to make the program a bit more efficient. I concluded a 53 hr test durring which time 3620 mb where uploaded. That includes both proxy data and own files uploaded.

For those who are not aware, Ants is a high security program that gives users denyability by proxying files transfers through numberous users. For more information on this, read the sticky. The program also allows for SSL transfers that make file transfers look like regular http traffic. It is a good firewall buster.

The program uses both IRC and Gweb catch to connect peers. One unfrotunate side effect of the IRC is spam but it serves its purpose.

The program is in a constant state of development and users should run the programwith that in mind.

You can get the program here:

http://antsp2p.sourceforge.net/

and here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/antsp2p/

[tsafa1]

Gwren say to keep the max downloads to serve value at 100 (if your CPU can handle it). This allows more parts to upload simotaniously.

[infringer]

Interesting I thought ants was no longer around I tried to connect the other day for the heck of it had no luck.

[beckersbester]

i watched traffic of ants with netlimiter to watch amount of traffic. maybe this programm slowed or shaped ants traffic down to zero after 22 hours. No I use another bandwidth watcher, I have 768/768 DSL or 99/99 kps upload. the bandwidth limiter (bandwidth limiter pro) tells me an average download of 4,3 kB/s and upload of 3,1 kB/s. This is very very slow and this means 97 % of my symmetric internet connetction is not used, while I am connected to 25 ants node (30 are in the chat). And I choosed T3 connection with 8000 kbps upload.. even then the upload is not used... This means.. ants needs to transfer more bandwidth... the algorhythms to wait and choose another route are too long (of cause for obfuscation reasons) but we need a more constant transfer rate, maybe not each packet sent over another route, maybe a route must exist at least one minute... so we have a chance to have more upload. As well packets could be bigger, to have more power in the pipe.. ants ferment is to small.. to count in any bandwidth.
3,3 kB/s means through 2 nodes = 1,5 speed and this for 20 Users... this is really nonsense..
Ants would be used by thousands of users without marketing, because a lot of users have loaded it, but it is not working, or: not using the bandwidth given. Gwren needed one year to get from 5 user to 25 users, maybe anther year to get in mind to transfer 5 packets over one tunnel istead of one packet, and to establish the tunnel for 5 minutes, instead of one tunnel... i2phex on i2p is working much more constant in bandwidth transfer rate. Ants packets are too small, too episodioc and too long paused..
Hope we get soon another calculation of these variables: we should drop modem users !! we should only allow users with at least 64 KB/ s (ISDN) upload. furthermore we need a better node management, which is indicating:
- 5 Nodes should be buddies
- Half of the connected nodes should be at least have the same upload than me !!!!
- and the rest of the nodes should be in best case those, which are near my connection
- and 5 nodes should be faster than me !!

These nodes bandwidth quality should be advertised with gold, red and green icons,....
otherwise we have transfer in ants WASTED !!!...

Though, Ants is the one and only 3gen app,. which is working, even if very slow and wasted.. but you get a lot of mp3 transferred over it.

[beckersbester]

after a restart with T3 and 8000 setted upload (though 768 given in real) i have up and down of 15 kB/s with 23 peers. this means, the first correctiopn of gwren was, to increase the number of peers, then from 0,05 we got 5 Kp/s which is normal Kazaa speed for one mp3 file.

But now with 30 peers we have still 90 % of the lane not used,.,. so we can makle ants only faster by dropping modem users and nodes amoung itself prefering nodes with higher bandwidth uploads than me...

so we need to make the choose of a neighbour not even symmetric, but asymetric to the higher grades..

if I am DSL then I should prefer cable nodes
and cable nodes should prefer T nodes..

so... always look with the nose high to other nodes !!! -> / this way, not -> \ that way.

we need a concept of preferred supplier in ants...

Preferred Supplier have a higher Upload capacity than me !!

[beckersbester]

ok with highest settings T1 with 80.000 kbps upload and 40 peers set, and a real infrastrukture of 768 kbps up and down, i get transfer rates from 220 kbps. so 1/4 of the pipe is used in best case. The Shared library tab is not able to be displayed, cpu 1800, If I share more then 1000 files, then the cpu fir java is 92 % and gives up itself. Furthermore as well with the new bandwidth meter as well after 22 hours the traffic is zero, either the ISP is able to shape Ants, then we have to think about the architecture, or Ants traffic slows itself down. www.keyweb.de is a good server for flat traffic with windows remote to set up a fast ants node for 18 euro. try it. in general: Ants tranfer machanism is pressing small packetsa through a route, if you look at the traffic, you see all small granulated traffic, here we need more constant speed transfer, either in real, or: the otion in the gui to display average transfer speed for 10 seconds. Please change this to have not each second another speed variing very different, please display the avarage of the last 10 seconds. In general traffic please provide kb instaed of Mb to see the traffic running and counting,,, otherwise we have always the impression nothing is done in ants... thanks.
But well., in the last night 5 mp3 files arived. The gap ants has, is, that all fast traffic is mostly done direct from ip to ip. the concepot cannot be to have some routed traffic with 10 % , but 90 % traffic pressed throught he port direct. In small pices and suddenly and unseeable.. because 10 % is routed and obfuscated traffic. This is like 90 % atom power and 10 % sun or oeko-power. We need an option in ANTs, that 100 % is third party routed traffic, then we can test ants,.... we need a "clean non-direct" ants.
Till now ants is hybrid with direct and indirect and the decelopers says.. no one can knwo, which route is choosed, but if oyu know the algorythm, then you can say, that ca 80 % is routed direct. As the network is small, the random, that a direct route is taken is even higer !!! and if there are a lot of more users, then the probability is less, to be connected to a neightbor wichis the source as well !!! this means, the more the network grows, the more the network will be slower, as the change is less to have a source as a direct neighbour !!! Otherwise the change grows, that more users share the same file.. but in the end the network will be even slower, as sources are no neigbours anymore..

This means: we need more traffic for given upload,
Why is ants only bringing 230 kbps in real, if my pipe has 768 kbps, AND if i set ants to T1 with 80.000 kpps ?????????

Then the settings are totally wrong calculated... we need to adjust this again!

Example: If I have 80.000 kbps upload set, then i can connect to 20 nodes or 45 nodes. Most Pc cannot handle 45 nodes if the library has more than 100ß0 shared files.. soo

we need , if the max nodes are 20, a MORE forced setting to connect only to T1 nodes,
if there are 40 max nodes set, then some DSL or Cablenodes can be added, but if there are less nodes as neighboutrs, only the best or similar shoudl be connected !!!!

So again, theses reasons show, that we need JUDGED nodes in general and accoding to my settings a PREFERRED node as a suplier.. which should have in best case of 50 % of all my neighbours a BETTER bandwidth than me !!!!

[beckersbester]

furthermore: the irc chatroom does not open, if the sygate firewall is running, but as well the firewall is not asking for it. If the irc is the main reason to bootstrap, then a lot of users have difficulties to connect, so.. we need a 443 bootstrap mechanism or 443 does not helps a lot to start. suggestion: make the buddybootstrp stronger: see cspace.in here a DHT is used to find the buddy again and get his Ip adress, in ants you can only add dyndns,org names to get dynamic Ip buddies again, why not a dht liek in cspace ? then I can constant connect to my 5 buddies, and bootstrap easy.. and add then other peers.. we just need a RSA key in that second DHT for finding the buddies... so.. switch jeti to cspace buddies..


guide tutorial ants

http://antsp2p.an.funpic.de/index.html


:-)

[beckersbester]

ok to summarize it:

1. java brings cpu still to 92 % if there is a lot of hashing or uploading, then the app slows down and traffic is shaped to zero, don´t believe it is the isp, it is java CPU overload. So we need a cpu slider in settings corelated with the dsl slider!! or Automatic!

2. Set ants settings for dsl always two steps higher, if you have modem, chosse dsl, if you have dsl chosse Cabel, if you have Cable, choose T1. Though, even then you only get only 1/5 or 1/4 of your bandwidth in the pipe used.

3. the NAT problem is not sloved, users still have to insert the real ip Adress into the setting before they can start, as well a lot of NAT/LAN Adresses are routed into my client ! why ? Why can´t ants find the right IP ?

->tsafa, why ist it not possible to run 2 ants node behind a router, one on desktop and one on laptop ? Not working even with Portchange. Does ants always use 443 to bootstrap? The second node is not running, even if port 444 is used...

[evilmegaman]

Beckersbester: Try not to post five times in a row... It disservices yourself and the community as a whole...


well maybe not the latter..


by the way, it's great news to hear ants progress!

[boogiedan]

mmm Ants..
i might just try this
i have'nt heard of this in a long time..
might just be the time for Ants in my pants!!

[beckersbester]

well, searches are still not working, gwren says, they work, he is relaying on the DHT, but it is definately not working, this is due he has not twi IP adresses and two ANts machines to test this, in a network with 40 users, with 2 ants nodes belonging to you and you share a file called "java" in one node, and BOTH of your nodes are connected even as a neighbour and each node has 6 supernodes, you did NOT find any search result called java. As supernodes were introduced, ants uploaded 3 x the library to a random node through a neighbour. This was, when we had 5 neighbours, now we have 30 neigbours, so ants needs to upload the database to 18 Neighbours, and here the full database is meant, which is often several MB, so a library of 5 MB has to be uploaded to 18 Nodes even through a neighbour, this means, that you need DAYS !!! for a complete transfer of your library to the network.
You can modify this, by introducing buddies instead of peers, if buddies are trusted, then you can direct upload the library to your buddies, we need an upload of the library of 100 % in a direct way to all IP adresses, which are trusted buddies/ neighbours, so then we have a spread of the library to the DHT.
Otherwise we will not have any search results!

[usualsuspect]

Nobody can serve up simple solutions to complex problems like our friend ABC_thelookoflove. If only more people would listen to him, or at least be able to read whatever it is he is trying to write!

[beckersbester]

to keep it simple.
every dsl user has max 200 kbps upload.
this determine sthe whole network.
As well T1 nodes are stopped for this speed, until gwren is introducing slotted neighbours:
E.g.: If I am T1 then
70 % T1 neighbours
20 % Cable neighbours
10 % dsl neighbours,.

If I am DSL then
.....
We need to indicate and adjust the number or percentage slider of type-neighbours.
Shareaza has this for ed2k queues and bandwidth as well, users should choose themselves, if they want only T1 nodes, if they are as well a T1 or if they only want DSL nodes, to support them.
Modem users needs to be blocked,

Because everyone has only 200kbps upload, all higher nodes are stropped..
Because everyone has only 200 kbps, you have to proxy your download 2-3 x then you have downloads for your own of X kbps, which is as well divided by the common traffic routing, and your own traffic has to be uploaded and downloaded in each proxy..

you only get speed, if T1 users can determine, that they want only T1 users as a neighbour.
Built Sub-networks amoung users with the same Upload. Users with less Upload than me are a problem, so I want to sort them out or only 10 %. Some crosscharging is needed to have gateways amoung the speed-type-networks.. but please do not stick a T1 to a modem !! Otherwise the network in total is only as fast as the smallest user... we need to prefer neighbours.

And for search results we need trusted neighbours with direct connections to spread/upload the library in the DHT to the trusted neighbour.

[tsafa1]

The program is still in development. Think of it as a backup in case the Govt every really cracks down on p2p. I use Utorrent for files I need and run Ants in the background. I advise everyone to take this mentality, even if your choice alternative is not ants. Pick some anonymnous/security p2p program (mute, nodzila, whatever...) and support it.

[bloodymary69]

ants is cool, but needs more improvement. more improvment than just a spening some bandwidth.
searches are not 100 % so we need a direct library upload to buddies and trusted peers.
and we need faster traffic, which means high bandwidth nodes need to find each other and exclude modem users.
users need to get a better gui.