IPv6 Network Administration

Quality of Service

Quality of service, henceforth referred to as QoS, is a complicated area. The core concept is quite simple: we, both as network administrators and as users, want to ensure that a certain application can have guaranteed performance on a certain network. When desired by a user, this often translates to statements such as "I wish I could download that ISO before I've got to catch my bus..." and, when desired by a network administrator, generally translates as "How can I stop those ISO downloaders killing the rest of the network?"

Generally, the kind of application we want to guarantee performance for is a multimedia application, not the standard HTTP or SMTP transactions that take place billions of times a day (although in some cases we may want to guarantee that a certain portion of the network will be set aside for critical services). This is because multimedia applications are amongst the most sensitive to packet loss and jitter, given the necessity to have data arrive at the right time for reassembly and display. There are various theories regarding how this should be done:

1. Smart network, stupid end hosts

2. Stupid network, smart end hosts

3. Overdimensioning

The first two schemes differ over where to place the intelligence involved in making QoS decisions, while the last attempts to avoid the problem entirely. Exactly what scheme will provide the best QoS under all circumstances is unclear. Different schemes require different facilities to be available. Rather than make ...