Testing IP differentiated services implementations

Abstract

Diffserv architecture is pointed out as a promising solution for the provision of QoS in the Internet in a scalable manner. The main objective of this work is to test, evaluate and discuss, from a practical point of view, two platforms for implementing Diffserv services: one developed at ICA/EPFL for the Linux OS and the other based on Cisco Systems routers. After comparing the configuration strategy in each platform, QoS related functionalities (e.g. classification, marking, policing, shaping) are tested and assessed. In particular, the implementation of EF and AF PHBs is analysed. The capacity of providing bandwidth guarantees and performing adequate traffic conditioning is evaluated as well as the impact background traffic has on delaying high priority traffic. Moreover, the computational effort Diffserv puts on routers is also measured in terms of CPU utilisation.