Editing Query flooding (section)

== Alternatives ==
Version 0.6 of the Gnutella protocol mandates ''query routing''.
The query routing specification explains how the ideas of the original research are implemented. Other file-sharing networks, such as the [[Kad network]], use [[distributed hash table]]s to index files and for keyword searches. [[BitTorrent (protocol)|BitTorrent]] creates individual [[overlay network]]s for sharing individual files (or archives). Searches are ''performed'' by other mechanisms, such as locating torrent files indexed on a website. A similar mechanism can be used on the Gnutella network with [[Magnet URI scheme|magnet]] links. For instance [[Bitzi]] provides a web interface to search for magnet links.

Earlier P2P networks, such as [[Napster]], used a centralized database to locate files. This does not have a scaling problem, but the central server is a single point of failure.