Patent ID: 8126849

Claim:
A method of redundant data storage in a peer-to-peer overlay network having a distributed hash table (DHT) ring topology structure, the peer-to-peer overlay network comprising a plurality of nodes, the method comprising: identifying, at the first node, a physical hardware on which the first node runs; determining, at another node of the plurality of nodes, at least one second node of said plurality of nodes which runs on a different physical hardware than the first node; storing, on the at least one second node, a replica of data for which the first node is responsible, the at least one second node not being a next logical node of the first node, said next logical node is a node of the plurality of nodes neighbouring the first node with regard to a topology structure of the peer-to-peer overlay network; and if a node running on the same physical hardware as the first node joins the peer-to-peer network, selecting a node ID for the joining node so that a pre-defined number of other nodes are located with regard to the topology structure of the peer-to-peer overlay network between the joining node and the first node in a way that the joining node does not become a neighbour with nodes that are on the same hardware as the joining node, wherein the node ID is assigned to the joining node by an enrollment server.