62
Using the Business Policy Switch 2000 Version 1.2
BootP menu item for a stack of only BPS 2000 switches
In a stack consisting only of BPS 2000 switches, you can perform BootP using the
MAC address of the base unit.
Refer to BootP automatic IP configuration/MAC address on page79 for more
information on BootP and MAC addresses. You must use the console interface
(CI) menus to choose this option. Refer to Chapter 3 for information on using the
base unit MAC address for BootP.
Policy-enabled networking
The BPS 2000 enables system administrators to implement classes of service and
assign priority levels to different types of traffic. You can configure policies that
monitor the characteristics of traffic (for example, its source, destination, and
protocol) and perform a controlling action on the traffic when certain user -defin ed
characteristics are matched.
Differentiated Services (DiffServ) is a network architecture that lets service
providers and enterprise network environments offer varied levels of service for
different types of data traffic. Instead of using the best-effort service model to
ensure data delivery, DiffServs Quality of Service (QoS) lets you designate a
specific level of performance on a packet-by-packet basis. If you have
applications that require high performance and reliable service, such as voice and
video over IP, you can use DiffServ to give pref erent ial trea tment t o this dat a over
other traffic. With BPS 2000 software version 1.1, you can use traffi c pol icing, or
metering, with QoS.
The Business Policy Switch 2000 uses DiffServ to manage network traffic and
resources. The information that is required to support DiffServ and multi-field
classification is transferred using the Common Open Policy Services (COPS)
protocol. COPS is a query and response protocol that exchanges policy
information messages using the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). All
configuration can be performed using SNMP, the CLI, and the Web-based
interface. The BPS2000 switch can interope ra te with the Nortel Networks
Optivity* Policy Server using Common Open Policy Services (COPS).