Could a Distributed Hash Table (DHT) be used for a dynamic web application? Another P2P design?

Could a Distributed Hash Table be used for a two-way web app with a pub/sub type application?

I'm investigating building a forum type application but with a DHT architecture and P2P (although a central lookup server would be OK to improve performance). Think of a Gnutella/Kazaa type application on the client side but, rather than hitting a central server, messages would be posted to topics which are distributed across other clients on the internet. Yes, I know this seems a little bizarre, but I have my reasons... :) Eventual consistency (like within 5 minutes) is OK.

I've been combing the web looking at DHT stuff bit most seems theoretical and I'm not sure if DHT's are really practical. It would also need to update a topic or at least mark a 'dirty bit'.

Any thoughts from t开发者_开发知识库he gurus on the site? Also, any recommendations on the most mature DHT framework to try?

Cheers, Alex

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DHT will tell you where your information is (i.e., which peer), but won't tell you how to access it over the net (which can be a tricky issue).

You may want to investigate the JXTA P2P framework. If necessary, you can implement your own DHT on top of it.