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Packet handling on a QoS-enabled network consists of three stages:

1. Classification 2. Marking

3. Queueing, also known as Forwarding

To implement QoS on an IP network, all packets entering the IP network must be classified and marked. The packets are then placed into transmission queues of a certain priority.

Packets in high priority queues are transmitted before packets in best-effort lower priority queues. This means that VoIP packets no longer have to compete with best-effort data packets for IP network resources. Typical QoS implementations protect call quality by minimizing loss, delay, and jitter.

Bandwidth cannot be assured without the use of some type of reservation protocol, such as Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP).

Classification

Software on the following hardware elements can classify and mark VoIP packets:

• Signaling Server - classifies its packets as signaling packets

• Voice Gateway Media Card - classifies its packets as voice or signaling packets

• IP Phones - classify their packets as voice or signaling packets Note: To classify Signaling Server and Voice Gateway Media Card packets at Layer 2 (802.1p) and/or Layer 3 (DiffServ), implement QoS mechanisms on the Signaling Server and Voice Gateway Media Card and the Layer 2 switch ports to which they are attached. IP Phones with

firmware 1.31 (or later) can classify voice and signaling packets at Layer 2 (802.1p) and/or Layer 3 (DiffServ).

Classification can be implemented on Layer 2 or Layer 3 switches. Refer to the switch’s documentation for information on configuring classification.

Policy management also provides other methods of classifying and marking packets, based on identifiers such as the originating IP address of the packet. For more information on Policy Management, see"Policy management" (page 69).

Packets can also be pre-marked with default 802.1p and DiffServ CodePoint (DSCP) values. Configure the Layer 2/Layer 3/Policy switches to trust that these packets are marked correctly.

Marking

When powered-up, Nortel IP Phones contact the Terminal Proxy Server (TPS) that controls them. The TPS then instructs the IP Phones to mark all packets with a default, yet configurable (through CS 1000 Manager) DSCP and/or 802.1Q/802.1p tag. The tag is also configurable using CS 1000 Element Manager.

• The control packets are marked for each of the following:

• Signaling Server

• Voice Gateway Media Cards

• Media Gateway 1000T (MG 1000T)

• Network Routing Service Queuing

Queueing delay is a major contributor to delay, especially on highly-utilized and low-bandwidth WAN links (see"Queuing delay" (page 111)). Routers that are QoS-aware and that support priority queuing can help reduce the queueing delay of voice packets when these packets are treated with preference over other packets.

Weighted Random Early Detection (WRED)

The global synchronization situation described in"TCP traffic behavior"

(page 44)can be countered using a buffer management scheme that discards packets randomly as the queue starts to exceed a threshold.

Weighted Random Early Detection (WRED), an implementation of this strategy, also inspects the DiffServ bits in the IP header when considering which packets to drop during buffer build up. In an intranet environment where TCP traffic dominates real-time traffic, WRED can be used to

with the router vendor for performance ramifications when enabling WRED.

If global synchronization is to be countered effectively, implement WRED at core and edge routers.

Packet prioritization and schedulers for VoIP

All VoIP packets must be given a priority higher than the priority of non-voice packets to minimize delay, jitter (delay variation), and packet loss which adversely affect voice quality.

Note: All voice packets must be placed in the highest priority queue using a strict-priority scheduler, or a scheduler that can be configured to behave as a strict-priority scheduler. Some switches only permit network-controlled traffic in the highest priority queue, leaving the second highest priority queue for the remaining user traffic.

Recommendation

Nortel strongly recommends that voice traffic be placed in a queue separate from other traffic types. However, if there are few queues available in the Layer 2 or Layer 3 switch, then voice traffic can be combined with other high-priority network-controlled traffic. Because the queuing delay is small for Ethernet network interfaces, this should have very little impact on voice quality.

Most Layer 2 switches use a strict-priority scheduler. A strict-priority scheduler schedules all packets in a higher-priority queue before servicing any packets in a lower priority queue.

All VoIP packets must be queued in a router or switch using a strict priority scheduler. This ensures that VoIP packets receive priority treatment over all other packets. Because a strict priority scheduler can "starve" the servicing of all other traffic queues, a threshold must be set to limit the maximum amount of bandwidth that the VoIP traffic can consume. This threshold is also called "rate limiting".

Recommendation

Nortel strongly recommends that a strict priority scheduler be used for VoIP.

The Business Policy Switch (BPS) places the voice packets in the highest priority queue using a strict-priority scheduler in its 4-queue system, when QoS is enabled on an interface.

Note: Other vendors often refer to "priority queueing" when describing their techniques for strict-priority scheduling.

Some Layer 3 switches and routers support priority and weighted schedulers. Voice packets must be placed in a queue that uses a strict-priority scheduler, or in a queue that uses a weighted scheduler configured to behave like a strict-priority scheduler.

The Passport 8600 uses a weighted scheduler, with its highest priority user queue configured by default to behave like a strict-priority scheduler. The queue is configured with all Packet Transmit Opportunities (PTOs) enabled.

This is equivalent to a weight of 100% (highest priority). Voice packets with DSCPs marked with ’EF’ (Expedited forwarding) and ’CS5’ (Class Selector 5) are placed in this queue by default when QoS is enabled on an interface.

Nortel does not recommend other weighted schedulers, such as Weighted Round Robin (WRR) or Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ). If the router or switch does not support a priority scheduler and only supports a weighted scheduler, then the queue weight for VoIP traffic should be configured to 100%. If a 100% weight cannot be configured due to some product limitation, then consider replacing the product, because it can cause unpredictable voice quality.