QoS (Quality of Service) is a term that refers to the technology used to manage data traffic via the network. Designed to reduce interference such as packet loss, jitter, and latency, QoS oversees network resources control and management. QoS also sets boundaries and priorities for different data categories that travel between IP networks as bandwidth traffic across the network.
Modern-day businesses are expected to provide reliable, dependable services with minimal disruption to the end-user. In recent years applications such as voice, video, file sharing and streamed data have increasingly become part of our everyday lives, meaning QoS has become ever more important.
The volume of application usage, an increasing number of devices connecting to the network, and a significant rise in social media use mean a network can frequently be flooded. This network overload can lead to discrepancies in performance. As a result, IT departments become inundated with reports of interrupted video meetings, poor audio quality, delays and even dropped phone calls, which can significantly damage day-to-day efficiencies in the workplace.
Using QoS, these businesses can prevent disruption in the form of IP packet loss, delays and jitter for VoIP (voice over IP), AoIP (audio over IP) and other real-time communications applications.
More often than not, QoS will be incorporated within the Service Level Agreement (SLA) given by their service provider. This guarantees a specific level of service. However, tools and techniques can be used independently to achieve QoS.
QoS policing is essentially the traffic management of data packets travelling across a network simultaneously. QoS policies have been developed to allow better network administrators to prioritise certain applications according to their core business needs, allocating weightier importance to specific data delivery types over others.
These QoS policies are integral for businesses that rely on live video meetings, online training, and media streaming to function in their day to day tasks. QoS prevents the delivery of these types of data from being jeopardized by high traffic levels on the network.
QoS mitigates these issues by classifying and implementing several functions, including the following:
Latency is the amount of time it takes for a packet to venture from the source to its intended IP address. Ideally, the latency of these packets should be as close to zero as possible. Still, it can result in an echo effect for the recipient or overlapping audio in IP audio and voice packets if latency occurs.
Network latency can be a common and troublesome issue for IT departments if real-time transport protocol (RTP) packets are left unclassified. Classification and prioritisation are essential in these cases to avoid latency issues in video and audio IP exchanges.
Jitter is another ill-effect of network congestion and results in a degradation in voice quality, audio and video data. The irregular signal pulses often result in erratic distribution and speed of data packets between IP addresses – this can cause flickering effects, gaps in audio or imagery and out-of-sequence packet delivery.
Packet loss is, as it sounds – the loss of data packets because of congestion on a network. Packet loss occurs when the router or switch has to disregard inbound data packets due to overload until the issue is resolved. With QoS effectively in place, the steady stream of traffic is supported, meaning packets don’t drop out completely. Prioritisation policies dictate that types of data are pipelined accordingly and eradicate jams within a congested network.
QoS has the ability to block unwanted or suspicious data traffic in its path, acting as a firewall to make it a key component of a more secure network infrastructure. Security policies also dictate that encrypted packets are ranked higher, ensuring that safe data packets take priority.
Administrators use three models to manage their network traffic: integrative services (IntServ), differentiated services (DiffServ) and the least common; Best Effort model.
Integrated Services is a QoS model that works by allocating and preserving the bandwidth of a specific route on a network. Applying for resource allocation and using RSVP (resource reservation protocol), network devices can assess the stream of data packets to ensure sufficient space to accept the necessary packets.
Arguably the most commonly used QoS model, DiffServ, works by assigning value to each traffic type. Administrators set a DSCP (differentiated services code point) value ranging from zero to 63 for each traffic type to classify it according to priority and group traffic according to traffic classes (TCs). These values can be allocated in relevant headers. Data with a weighty DSCP value will take precedence over other data sets and reach their intended destination without delay or disruption.
Best Effort is a less commonly used model and is the most simplistic by far. This model doesn’t use QoS prioritisation and means that all packets are valued equally, receiving the same priority over the network. Best Effort is mostly used as a default model whereby networks have not yet configured any QoS policies.
QoS uses a set of mechanisms to optimise traffic flow better and fulfil QoS policy requirements in terms of service class. DiffServ and IntServ models use these QoS mechanisms, many of which function in sync to support prioritisation and reduce congestion on the network.
Network performance tools form a key role for administrators looking to monitor and prioritise network traffic more efficiently for their organisation. There are several QoS tools on the market, the most popular of which we’ve listed below to help IT teams gain a more comprehensive view over network traffic in real-time:
This trendy QoS tool supports CBQoS, which means ‘class-based quality of service’ monitoring, allowing instant analysis of your bandwidth performance.
It’s easy to use the dashboard, and accessible custom reports make it a popular choice for reviewing network performance metrics clearly and efficiently.
ManageEngine NetFlow Analyser supports S-Flow, J-Flow and IPFIX and boasts detailed traffic reporting using flow-based analysis. The comprehensive tool is used for network forensics, application monitoring, capacity planning and examining bandwidth capacities.
The Paessler PRTG Network Monitor is another QoS tool widely used among IT teams to scale and meet the network analysis demands of any business size. It has the ability to track VoIP traffic, and users can use bandwidth monitoring to assess issues of packet loss, latency and jitter.
Ntopng works well for small enterprises looking for a simple, free open source QoS tool. The platform can run on Mac OS X and Windows. While its simple and easy to use dashboard is appealing, it can also allow administrators to manage traffic by IP address, port and throughout to provide comprehensive analytics and make network planning easier.
Simply implementing QoS policies isn’t enough to benefit it. Administrators need to configure policies specific to their organisation and their customer needs and be dedicated to regularly monitoring and stringently checking the models you implement effectively in prioritising traffic.
Opting for a model that suits your network architecture is also key, as is considering a solution that will support your organisational goals as you scale. For example, IT teams will want to bear in mind that IntServ has limited scalability. Therefore many opt might opt for DiffServ as a more forward-thinking alternative.
At RingCentral, quality of service is at the heart of every technology decision and all of our architecture. Our intuitive communications platforms have been specifically designed to provide your business with the highest-quality communications possible. What’s more, our robust reporting dashboard enables you to monitor and oversee your system’s call quality in real-time.
RingCentral’s dedicated specialists guide you through the process and fine-tune your solution specifically to match your unique network environment.
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