1. A method for building a data overlay, comprising: providing a distributed hash table (DHT) that governs the insertion and retrieval of objects into and from a peer-to-peer system, wherein the distributed hash table includes a logical space including a plurality of DHT nodes having an associated plurality of DHT zones; and building the data overlay as a data structure on top of the logical space of the distributed hash table by associating objects in the data structure with the DHT nodes, and by establishing links between the objects in the data structure.