ZyXEL Communications P-660HW-DX User Manual

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Chapter 13 Bandwidth Management
P-660HW-Dx User’s Guide
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13.10  DiffServ
DiffServ is a class of service (CoS) model that marks packets so that they receive specific per-
hop treatment at DiffServ-compliant network devices along the route based on the application 
types and traffic flow. Packets are marked with DiffServ Code Points (DSCPs) indicating the 
level of service desired. This allows the intermediary DiffServ-compliant network devices to 
handle the packets differently depending on the code points without the need to negotiate paths 
or remember state information for every flow. In addition, applications do not have to request 
a particular service or give advanced notice of where the traffic is going.
13.10.1  DSCP and Per-Hop Behavior
DiffServ defines a new DS (Differentiated Services) field to replace the Type of Service (TOS) 
field in the IP header. The DS field contains a 2-bit unused field and a 6-bit DSCP field which 
can define up to 64 service levels. The following figure illustrates the DS field. 
DSCP is backward compatible with the three precedence bits in the ToS octet so that non-
DiffServ compliant, ToS-enabled network device will not conflict with the DSCP mapping.  
Figure 107   DiffServ: Differentiated Service Field
The DSCP value determines the forwarding behavior, the PHB (Per-Hop Behavior), that each 
packet gets across the DiffServ network.  Based on the marking rule, different kinds of traffic 
can be marked for different priorities of forwarding. Resources can then be allocated 
according to the DSCP values and the configured policies.
PHB consists of two types of services: EF (Expedited Forwarding) and AF (Assured 
Forwarding). EF has higher priority. EF guarantees services with minimal loss and delay. AF 
has four sub-classes, each with three levels of importance (drop precedence). A high drop 
precedence means low importance.
13.10.2  Rule Configuration
Click the Edit icon or select User Defined from the Service drop-down list in the Rule Setup 
screen to configure a bandwidth management rule. Use bandwidth rules to allocate specific 
amounts of bandwidth capacity (bandwidth budgets) to specific applications and/or subnets. 
DSCP
(6-bit)
Unused
(2-bit)
Table 77   Sub-Classes of AF Services
DIFFSERV PRIORITY
LOW DROP 
PRECEDENCE
MEDIUM DROP 
PRECEDENCE
HIGH DROP 
PRECEDENCE
SUB-CLASS4
AF41
AF42
AF43
SUB-CLASS3
AF31
AF32
AF33
SUB-CLASS2
AF21
AF22
AF23
SUB-CLASS1
AF11
AF12
AF13