Introduction

Overview

Overview

Given current technology trends, it is increasingly important to have a means available to deal with network traffic issues. HP-UX IPQoS helps businesses meet an increasing demand for the ability to control networking throughput, and to ensure network resources are optimally managed.

To support specific business requirements, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) acknowledged the need for a method of providing differentiated classes of service for Internet traffic. The Differentiated Services Working Group of the IETF defined the Differentiated Services (DiffServ or DS) model. HP-UX IPQoS software provides IETF DiffServ-compliant network quality of service controls for IP-based network communications.

For outbound traffic on HP-UX hosts, HP-UX IPQoS provides traffic conditioning (transmission prioritization for specified traffic classes), Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) marking, and VLAN-priority marking. HP-UX IPQoS uses a configuration that has been loaded into the kernel, and that contains user-supplied definitions of traffic classes (filters) and traffic-handling instructions (policies) assigned to configured adapters.

HP-UX IPQoS provides an important host-based component of a larger network traffic management solution. HP-UX IPQoS hosts work with DS-aware routers to provide differentiated services on the network.

IMPORTANT The span of control for HP-UX IPQoS is for an individual HP-UX host, and for outbound traffic only.

Although the IETF DiffServ model takes a holistic network-wide view, HP-UX IPQoS is configured on a single host, not globally on a network-wide basis. This is consistent with the single-system administration model used with HP-UX systems.

Benefits of HP-UX IPQoS

The DiffServ model allows for IP Quality of Service (IPQoS) distinctions to be applied to various groupings of network traffic. IP QoS provides controls that enable you to give defined traffic classes differentiated service.

The following factors contributed to the problems that IPQoS solves:

Chapter 1

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