A system and method for providing rendezvous nodes in a peer-to-peer
networking environment is described. Rendezvous nodes preferably cache
information about network resources that may be useful to peer nodes on a
peer-to-peer network. In one embodiment, a network of rendezvous nodes
may help peer nodes to discover network resources over long-range on the
peer-to-peer network. Network resource may include, but may not be
limited to peer nodes, peer groups, services, content, and communication
channels. In one embodiment, rendezvous nodes may respond to discovery
query messages from peer nodes. The discovery query messages may specify
desired network resource information. In one embodiment, rendezvous nodes
may provide route discovery for network resources. In one embodiment, a
peer node may be pre-configured with a pre-defined set of rendezvous
nodes to access on startup. These bootstrapping rendezvous may help the
peer node discover network resources that it needs to start up.