How Bandwidth Affects Network Traffic

You can use IPQoS to regulate network bandwidth, the maximum amount of data that a fully used network link or device can transfer. Your QoS policy should prioritize the use of bandwidth to provide quality of service to customers or users. The IPQoS metering modules enable you to measure and control bandwidth allocation among the various traffic classes on an IPQoS-enabled host.

Before you can effectively manage traffic on your network, you must answer these questions about bandwidth usage:

• What are the traffic problem areas for your local network?

• What must you do to achieve optimum use of available bandwidth?

• What are your site's critical applications, which must be given highest priority?

• Which applications are sensitive to congestion?

• What are your less critical applications, which can be given a lower priority?