Prasad Kularatne

Objective
We will define and understand the motivation behind

implementation of Quality of Service in IP Networks

We will discuss the concepts and implementation of IP

Quality of Service
QoS implementation

Understand the concepts of classification, marking, handling of congestion and traffic conditioning i.e. policing and shaping

Understand the DiffServ architecture

Deployment

What is IP QoS?
A set of techniques to manage
How fast do I need to transfer the data? [rate/Bandwidth] How long will it take for the data packets to arrive at the destination?

[latency/Delay]
Whether or not data packets arrive at the destination with differing

delays? [jitter/Delay variation]

How much of data packets will be dropped in transit? [loss]

in an IP Network

How to identify different traffic types?

Bandwidth
Over-subscription Packet drops Packets in error

What is the required bandwidth?

Latency
Speed of light Serialization delay Forwarding process

How latency sensitive the traffic is?

How to define the characteristics of different traffic types

Jitter
Over-subscription Output Buffering

How jitter sensitive the traffic is?

Loss
Congestion

How tolerant the traffic is for packet loss?

Traffic Characteristics

Source: Introduction to QoS tools and Design, Cisco Systems Inc.

Motivation for QoS

Best effort is not good enough, why? Converged Networks: different traffic types ride on the same network

This is good: why?

Different traffic profiles

Source: Introduction to QoS tools and Design, Cisco Systems Inc.

Why do we need QoS?

Networks are converging
No separate networks for telephony, video and data anymore Efforts are under way to converge Local Area Networks (LAN) and

Storage Area Networks (SANs) Converged Enhanced Ethernet

Limited bandwidth and buffer space existing in the

networks
Over-subscribed links More traffic types competing for the same set of resources

Without QoS?
Best Effort - unpredictable

Why implement QoS? [Application view]

Different applications generate different traffic types

(classes) with distinct characteristics

Application <-> Traffic types (traffic class)

Different traffic classes have different demands for

bandwidth, delay, jitter and losses

I want more bandwidth!, I cannot withstand jitter!, I

cannot tolerate losses! etc.

Conclusion: Different applications require different

treatment by the network for better performance

Why implement QoS? [Business view]

Different applications have different business

priorities at different times

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Web browsing can tolerate delays I do not want scavenger traffic in my network During morning I should be able to issue invoices to my customers as fast as possible My ERP should give fast response during production hours I want my nightly network backup to run faster? I am OK to have good video quality in my evening conferences with partners

So, expectations from QoS are

Mechanism to classify different traffic types
Framework to let the external networks know about the

classification
Mechanisms to define and propagate a set of rules on

how to treat these different classes

Implementation of differential treatment mechanisms

When is QoS most effective?

Link Utilization

100%

Time
Link Utilization

Link over-provisioned May not be cost effective No QoS is required. May provide a safety net

100% Time
Link Utilization

Transient congestion
QoS most useful

Link highly over-subscribed

100%
Time

QoS somewhat useful but more bandwidth required

QoS implementation
First classify traffic into distinct classes Based on traffic profile Based on business priorities Tell the external networks about your classification Through signaling (IntServ) Through marking of each packet (DiffServ) Apply the QoS policy Congestion Management and Congestion Avoidance Traffic conditioning

Drop packets belonging to traffic class X (Police traffic) Delay packets belonging to traffic class Y (Shape traffic)

QoS implementation
Classify & Mark Handle congestion Conform to traffic contract

Source: Introduction to QoS tools and Design, Cisco Systems Inc.

Classification
Based on a marker if marked at the source E.g. IP telephones marks DSCP code point at source Based on IP Access Lists Source and Destination IP or IP ranges Destination port number (type of application layer service)
Network Based Application Recognition (NBAR) Does deep packet inspection on the first packet of a flow Cisco proprietary

Marking
Layer-2 User priority bits in the IEEE 802.1q tag field in the Ethernet header Inherent in architecture: ATM MPLS Inferred from 3-bit EXP field in the MPLS header Layer-3 InterServ: Implementation is RSVP (Resource Reservation Protocol).

Make an end-to-end reservation before transfer

DiffServ: Via the Type of Service (TOS) field in IP header

Congestion Management
Controls the network congestion once it occurs While honoring the QoS policy Sort the traffic into multiple queues decide how to

service each of these queues based on QoS policy

Priority Queuing (PQ)

Custom Queuing (CQ)

Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ)

Congestion Avoidance
Monitors and anticipates network congestion and tries

to avoid it by dropping packets

While honoring the QoS policy

Implement algorithms to drop low priority packets and

allow high priority packets to flow

WRED (Weighted Random Early Detection) algorithm

is the widely used algorithm in deciding which packets to drop

Traffic Conditioning
Attempts to condition the traffic behavior of the output

link so that is falls in line with the QoS policy

Detect misbehaviors and drop (policing) or delay (shaping) packets

from those misbehaving traffic flows

Policing attempts to control the traffic bursts by dropping

selected packets to ensure certain traffic types get the demanded QoS parameters as per the QoS policy
Shaping limits transmission rates (delays via buffering) of

low priority traffic types in an attempt to smooth out the outgoing traffic flow

Policing vs. Shaping

Rate limiting

without buffering
Packets will be

dropped

Rate limiting with

buffering
Packets will be

delayed or may drop

Source: Introduction to QoS tools and Design, Cisco Systems Inc.

Differentiated Services (DiffServ)

Classification via a set of bits in the Type of Service (TOS)

Field in the IP header

Each class of traffic with same bit setting in the header (a traffic

aggregate) will be treated same DiffServ term: Behavior Aggregate

Two important components

DSCP: The bit setting in the first six bits in the TOS field which

indicates the desired behavior within the network Apply the desired behavior for each behavior aggregate in the core DSCP is an index to a set of pre-defined Per Hop Behaviors (PHB) PHBs are derived by an ISP based on its SLA with its customers

Differentiated Services Code Point

Bits in the IP header that distinguish behavior

aggregates are called DiffServ Code Point (DSCP)

6-bits used

Source: Introduction to QoS tools and Design, Cisco Systems Inc.

DiffServ architecture
Edge: worries about each flow

Core: worries about an aggregate of flows

DiffServ domain: Your Intranet or an ISPs managed domain Ingress Routers provide the entrance to a DiffServ domain
Looks at traffic flows (e.g. FTP traffic for customer #1) Police and/or shape traffic Write/Re-write the DSCP in the IP header

Core routers
Only look at traffic aggregates (Collection of flows with same DSCP) For each DSCP look up and apply the relevant Per Hop Behavior (PHB)

DiffServ Routers
DiffServ Edge Router
Classifier Marker Meter

Policer/ Shaper

DiffServ Core Router

Select PHB

PHB PHB PHB PHB

Local conditions
Packet treatment

Extract DSCP

Sample Per Hop Behaviors (PHBs)

Source: Introduction to QoS tools and Design, Cisco Systems Inc.

General QoS Design principles

What is my organization objective ? Protect voice/video traffic Interactive response for my ERP is business-critical Carefully select as few applications as possible in

business-critical category How many classes do I need to fully meet my organizational objectives
More the classes more closely can I achieve my

objectives

Executive engagement for the defined QoS objectives

before design

How many classes do I need?

Deploying Cisco QoS for Enterprise Networks, Cisco System Inc.

Deployment methodology
Start with what business objective am I to achieve via

QoS?
Business priorities <-> Treatment of different traffic classes

What service-levels does my business demand from

each traffic class? Design and test QoS policies Role out the tested design Continuous Monitoring to ensure business priorities are adhered to