Planet Networking & Communication MH-1000 User Manual page 104

C.4.1 Home Users
Low latency is everything for gamers. Most home users feel frustrated when trying to play an online game
over a shared ADSL connection. Unfortunately, most routers have no way of determining the importance of
the packet at any given time. All the traffic is treated equally, so a packet containing an "urgent" command
may be delayed. QoS gives you the ability to control the bandwidth. Using IP Throttling, bandwidth limits
can be enforced on a particular application or any system within the LAN. Prioritization specifies which
packets have priority and should not be delayed, and which packets have lower priority and should be
moved to the end of the upload queue.
Suppose there are four students sharing a three-floor house with one single broadband connection. Robert,
a college freshman, is playing the online game with his group members, while Mary, a sophomore student,
is talking to her net pal via Skype. Meanwhile, Jerome is downloading a movie file by using the P2P
application program. Sophia, however, is just trying to log on to the website to send her photos to her family.
As a result, the net speed slows to a crawl and affects everyone sharing the Internet connection. QoS is
designed for managing traffic flow and bandwidth to solve this problem. You can first classify different
applications (online games, FTP, Skype, email) as shown in the table below. Then, you can manage and
prioritize the flow of bandwidth at different levels (e.g. 30% for games, 20% for downloads, 10% for email,
20% for FTP, and 35% for others). QoS can be used to identify different applications and assign priority to
enable a smooth and responsive broadband connection.
Application
On-line games
Skype
Email
FTP
Other
C.4.2 Office Users
QoS is also ideal for small businesses using an office server as a web server. With QoS control, web pages
served to your customers can be given top priority and delivered first so that it will not be impeded by email
and office web browsing.
Here is a good example of how QoS can work in an office environment. A CEO is holding a
videoconference with international clients in the meeting room. However, the streaming video and voice
frequently lag. Sales people are talking to international agencies via VoIP phone, while sending orders via
email to vendors for production. However, some staff are downloading MP3 music files, large-size photos
and watching video streaming online. Consequently, the Internet connection slows down. This is why
business users need QoS to manage data traffic. With QoS, the network administrator can define and
classify important packets; specify a minimum guaranteed rate for each application, and ensure that
Data Ratio (%)
30%
5%
10%
20%
35%
Multi-Homing Security Gateway User's Manual
High
High
High
Upload (High), Download (Normal)
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Priority