Extreme Networks 200 Series Applications and Types of QoS

158 Summit 200 Series Switch Installation and User Guide

Quality of Service (QoS)

NOTE

As with all Extreme switch products, QoS has no impact on switch performance. Using even the most

complex traffic groupings has no cost in terms of switch performance.

Applications and Types of QoS

Different applications have different QoS requirements. The following applications are ones that you

will most commonly encounter and need to prioritize:

•Voice applications

•Video applications

•Critical database applications

•Web browsing applications

•File server applications

General guidelines for each traffic type are given below and summarized in Table 38. Consider them as

general guidelines and not strict recommendations. Once QoS parameters are set, you can monitor the

performance of the application to determine if the actual behavior of the applications matches your

expectations. It is very important to understand the needs and behavior of the particular applications

you wish to protect or limit. Behavioral aspects to consider include bandwidth needs, sensitivity to

latency and jitter, and sensitivity and impact of packet loss.

Video applications are similar in needs to voice applications, with the exception that bandwidth

requirements are somewhat larger, depending on the encoding. It is important to understand the

behavior of the video application being used. For example, in the playback of stored video streams,

some applications can transmit large amounts of data for multiple streams in one “spike,” with the

expectation that the end-stations will buffer significant amounts of video-stream data. This can present a

problem to the network infrastructure, because it must be capable of buffering the transmitted spikes

where there are speed differences (for example, going from Gigabit Ethernet to Fast Ethernet). Key QoS

parameters for video applications include minimum bandwidth, priority, and possibly buffering

(depending upon the behavior of the application).

Database applications, such as those associated with ERP, typically do not demand significant

bandwidth and are tolera nt of delay. You can establish a minimum bandwidth using a priority less than

that of delay-sensitive applications.

QoS needs for Web browsing applications cannot be generalized into a single category. For example,

ERP applications that use a browser front-end may be more important than retrieving daily news

information. Traffic groupings can typically be distinguished from each other by their server source and

destinations. Most browser-based applications are distinguished by the dataflow being asymmetric

(small dataflows from the browser client, large dataflows from the server to the browser client).