Distributed hash tables (DHTs) are a class of decentralized, distributed systems and algorithms being developed to provide a scalable, self-configuring infrastructure with a clean programming interface. This infrastructure can then be used to support more complex services. DHTs can be used to store data, as well as route and disseminate information. DHTs are named after hash tables because they assign responsibility for a piece of data based on a hash function (often SHA-1); each node acts like a bucket in a hash table. A DHT provides an efficient lookup algorithm (or network routing method) that allows one participating node to quickly determine which other machine is responsible for a given piece of data.