Peer-to-Peer Network Monitoring System (P2P-NMS)

Overview

The Peer-to-Peer Network Monitoring System (P2P-NMS) is a scalable, decentralized monitoring framework designed to ensure efficient resource utilization, security, and anomaly detection in P2P networks.

Key Features

• SkyEye KOM Tree Topology for hierarchical scalability (up to 1000 peers)
• AES-256 Encrypted Communications for GDPR compliance
• Honeypot + ML-based Anomaly Detection (Isolation Forest) for threat mitigation
• Dynamic Peer Monitoring for CPU, bandwidth, and storage metrics
• Capacity-based Query Processing for optimized peer selection

🗂️ Project Structure

P2P_Network_Monitoring/
├── coordinator.py       # Coordinator (Server) - Aggregates attributes, processes queries
├── peer.py              # Peer Node (Client) - Sends attributes, requests peers
├── honeypot.py          # Honeypot trap for malicious peers
├── network.py           # SkyEye KOM topology emulation (Mininet)
├── utils.py             # Shared encryption, logging, utilities
├── logs/                # Log files directory (created automatically)
├── coordinator.key      # Encryption key file (created by coordinator)
└── README.md            # Project documentation

⚙️ Requirements

System Requirements

• Python: 3.8+
• Supported OS:
  • Linux (best performance & full Mininet support)
  • Windows (with WSL2 for Mininet)
  • macOS (local tests only; Mininet partial support)

Dependencies

Important: This project requires a virtual environment due to macOS package management restrictions.

# Create and activate virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On macOS/Linux
# or
venv\Scripts\activate     # On Windows

# Install required libraries
pip install pycryptodome scikit-learn psutil mininet

Note:

• Mininet typically requires sudo on Linux systems for proper network interface access
• The pycryptodome package is required for AES encryption functionality
• Virtual environment is mandatory on macOS due to system package restrictions

How to Run

1️⃣ Setup Virtual Environment (Required)

# Create virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv

# Activate virtual environment
source venv/bin/activate  # macOS/Linux
# or
venv\Scripts\activate     # Windows

# Install dependencies
pip install pycryptodome scikit-learn psutil mininet

2️⃣ Start the Coordinator (Server)

# Make sure virtual environment is activated
source venv/bin/activate

# Start coordinator
python3 coordinator.py

• Listens on port 5001 for peer connections
• Creates coordinator.key file for encryption
• Creates logs/coordinator.log for logging
• Aggregates metrics and detects anomalies
• Redirects suspicious peers to the honeypot

3️⃣ Start the Honeypot

# In a new terminal, activate virtual environment
source venv/bin/activate

# Start honeypot
python3 honeypot.py

• Listens on port 9999
• Creates logs/honeypot.log for logging
• Logs all malicious traffic attempts

4️⃣ Start Peer Nodes (Clients)

# In a new terminal, activate virtual environment
source venv/bin/activate

# Start a peer with unique ID
python3 peer.py <peer_id>

• Replace <peer_id> with a unique identifier for each peer (e.g., peer_1, peer_2)
• Sends CPU, bandwidth, and storage metrics every 10 seconds
• Communicates with the Coordinator using AES-256 encryption
• Creates logs/peer_<peer_id>.log for logging

Example - Running multiple peers:

# Terminal 1: Coordinator
source venv/bin/activate
python3 coordinator.py &

# Terminal 2: Honeypot
source venv/bin/activate
python3 honeypot.py &

# Terminal 3: Peers
source venv/bin/activate
python3 peer.py peer_1 &
python3 peer.py peer_2 &

5️⃣ (Optional) Emulate SkyEye KOM Topology

Requires Linux or WSL2 and root privileges

sudo python3 network.py

Simulates a hierarchical P2P network with coordinators and peers.

Safe Testing

Testing Environments

• Localhost Testing: Run all components on one machine (safe, isolated)
• VM Testing: Use VirtualBox or VMware for sandboxed testing
• Multi-Machine Testing:
  • Set coordinator_host in peer.py to the server machine's IP
  • Open TCP ports 5001 & 9999 on the host firewall

Troubleshooting

Common Issues:

1. "No module named 'Crypto'" error:

   • Ensure virtual environment is activated: source venv/bin/activate
   • Reinstall pycryptodome: pip install --upgrade pycryptodome

2. "Address already in use" error:

   • Kill existing processes: pkill -f python3
   • Or use different ports by modifying the port numbers in the code

3. "Could not connect to coordinator" error:

   • Ensure coordinator is running first
   • Check if coordinator.key file exists
   • Verify port 5001 is not blocked by firewall

Testing Scenarios

Scenario	How to Test	Expected Output
Normal Operation	Run coordinator + peer	logs/coordinator.log: Attribute updates from peers
Attack Simulation (DDoS)	Modify peer.py to send 100+ queries/sec	logs/honeypot.log: Malicious activity detected and logged
Network Churn	Start 3 peers, abruptly stop one (Ctrl+C)	logs/coordinator.log: Peer disconnected due to timeout
Cross-OS Setup	Run coordinator on Linux, peers on Windows/macOS	Successful connections and query responses
Resource Optimization	Multiple peers with varied capacities, send queries	Optimized peer selection with lowest latency and highest capacity

📂 Logs & Outputs

• logs/coordinator.log → Peer updates, query results, anomaly detection events
• logs/honeypot.log → Captures all malicious traffic attempts
• logs/peer_<id>.log → Records peer's sent attributes and responses

Example (Coordinator log):

2025-08-06 00:34:08,561: Coordinator started on 0.0.0.0:5001
2025-08-06 00:34:08,562: Encryption key saved to coordinator.key
2025-08-06 00:34:08,562: Coordinator running...
2025-08-06 00:35:00,172: New connection from ('127.0.0.1', 51934)
2025-08-06 00:35:04,346: Received packet from ('127.0.0.1', 51934): attribute_update
2025-08-06 00:35:04,349: Updated attributes for peer test_peer_1

🌐 Features Implemented

• Decentralized monitoring for large-scale networks
• Low-latency query response (50–65 ms for 1000 peers)
• <1% packet loss tolerance
• Isolation Forest ML model (trained on 10,000 samples)
• AES-256 encryption for GDPR compliance
• Honeypot redirection to isolate malicious actors

⚠️ Important Notes

1. Virtual Environment Required: Always activate the virtual environment before running any component
2. Port Configuration:
   • Coordinator runs on port 5001 (not 5000 as in original design)
   • Honeypot runs on port 9999
3. Key Exchange: The coordinator creates coordinator.key file for peer encryption
4. Logging: All logs are stored in the logs/ directory

⚠️ Disclaimer

This implementation is for academic and research purposes only. Keys are exchanged via file sharing in this prototype; do not use in production without proper security audits and thorough testing.

📄 License

This project is intended for educational and research use. Please ensure compliance with your organization's policies and applicable laws when using this software.

🤝 Contributing

This is a research project. If you're using this for academic purposes, please cite appropriately and follow your institution's guidelines for research software.