Peer-to-peer namespace directory and discovery

A peer system, comprising:

• a network interface to connect to a network;
• a processor coupled with the network interface;
• a memory coupled with the processor and the network interface, the memory including a neighbor peer directory having information about zero or more neighbor peers in the network, wherein when searching for a desired peer, the neighbor peer directory is first searched to locate the desired peer, and when the desired peer is not located in the neighbor peer directory, a query is sent to a server connected to the network to search for the desired peer.

A computer readable medium containing executable instructions which, when executed in a processing system, causes the processing system to perform a method comprising:

• when a server is active in a network, querying the server for information about a desired peer in the network;
• and
• when the server is not active in the network, querying neighbor peers for information about the desired peer.