ABSTRACT
Cloud storage services have aroused great interest in modern information technology,
providing a simple way of storing and sharing files. However, they are mostly built on
centralized architectures and hence subject to drawbacks. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) systems are
a good alternative to deal with the limitations of centralized systems in the scope of file
sharing, due to shared usage of distributed resources and higher fault tolerance. Therefore,
this thesis designs, implements, and evaluates a P2P-based file sharing system to be
integrated into PiCsMu, a novel platform-independent cloud storage application. The
proposed system features a modular design which relies on well-defined interfaces, high
security, as well as a P2P storage concept with good performance. Additional features that
try to distinguish this approach from other P2P file sharing systems include an integrated
file search and the possibility to privately share files. The results of a qualitative and
quantitative evaluation show that the proposed system performs well and as designed.
Considering that a download of 750 Megabytes files takes in average 154.65 seconds, the
complexity added by the proposed system (4.21 seconds) is minimal. Yet the system still
leaves aspects to be optimized.