Swarmget is a utility which allows people to download content from groups of servers, or swarms, simultaneously through the use of multiple download threads. This allows the downloaders to achieve faster transfer rates and reduces the transmission costs that each individual publisher must incur.
Unlike peer2peer applications such as BitTorrent which allow individuals to link their personal computers into a collective transmission mechanism, swarmget is targeted at aiding collaboration among the administrators of a group of high bandwidth servers. These groups of severs are known as Non-Transient Swarms (NTS) because the members of a publishing group are expected to change only very infrequently if at all.
Swarms are defined in a custom file format which provided information about the content being served and lists the group of servers from which it can be downloaded.
Since peers, or clients, are not depended upon as a mechanism of transmission there is no reason to throttle down feeds to clients who lack symmetric links or who are under arbitrary bandwidth limitations by ISPs as BitTorrent does.
Example 1: Non-Symmetric Clients
Example 2: Network Localized Swarms
An example use of swarmget would be to aid a higher educational mirror network organized to make available the iso files of a Linux Distribution release. NTS files could be generated which only include InterNet2 attached servers.
Graphical Examples: Topology Differences
| [Traditional] | [BitTorrent] | [Swarmget] |
Swarmget may be downloaded from the project Development Page.