9

Laboratory

Queuing Disciplines
Order of Packet Transmission and Dropping
Objective

The objective of this lab is to examine the effect of different queuing disciplines on packet
delivery and delay for different services.

Overview

As part of the resource allocation mechanisms, each router must implement some
queuing discipline that governs how packets are buffered while waiting to be transmitted.
Various queuing disciplines can be used to control which packets get transmitted
(bandwidth allocation) and which packets get dropped (buffer space). The queuing
discipline also affects the latency experienced by a packet, by determining how long a
packet waits to be transmitted. Examples of the common queuing disciplines are first-in-
first-out (FIFO) queuing, priority queuing (PQ), and weighted-fair queuing (WFQ).

The idea of FIFO queuing is that the first packet that arrives at a router is the first packet to
be transmitted. Given that the amount of buffer space at each router is finite, if a packet
arrives and the queue (buffer space) is full, then the router discards (drops) that packet.
This is done without regard to which flow the packet belongs to or how important the packet
is.

PQ is a simple variation of the basic FIFO queuing. The idea is to mark each packet with a
priority; the mark could be carried, for example, in the IP Type of Service (ToS) field. The
routers then implement multiple FIFO queues, one for each priority class. Within each
priority, packets are still managed in a FIFO manner. This queuing discipline allows high-
priority packets to cut to the front of the line.

The idea of the fair queuing (FQ) discipline is to maintain a separate queue for each flow
currently being handled by the router. The router then services these queues in a round-
robin manner. WFQ allows a weight to be assigned to each flow (queue). This weight
effectively controls the percentage of the link’s bandwidth each flow will get. We could use
ToS bits in the IP header to identify that weight.

In this lab you will set up a network that carries three applications: FTP, Video, and VoIP.
You will study how the choice of the queuing discipline in the routers can affect the
performance of the applications and the utilization of the network resources.
 Procedure

Create a New Project

1. Start Riverbed Modeler Academic Edition ⇒ Choose New from the File menu.

2. Select Project and click OK ⇒ Name the project <your initials>_Queues, and
the scenario FIFO ⇒ Click OK.
3. In the Startup Wizard: Initial Topology dialog box, make sure that Create Empty
Scenario is selected ⇒ Click Next ⇒ Select Campus from the Network Scale
list ⇒ Click Next twice ⇒ Click Finish.

Create and Configure the Network

Initialize the Network:

1. The Object Palette dialog box should be now on the top of your project space. If it

is not there, open it by clicking . Make sure that the internet_toolbox item is
selected from the pull-down menu on the object palette.

The QoS Attribute

2. Add to the project workspace the following objects from the palette: Application
Config node defines Config, Profile Config, QoS Attribute Config, five ethernet_wkstn, one
attribute configuration ethernet_server, and two ethernet4_slip8_gtwy routers.
details for protocols
supported at the IP layer. 3. Connect both routers together with a bidirectional PPP_DS1 link.
These specifications can
be referenced by the
individual nodes using
4. Connect the workstations and the server to the routers using bidirectional
symbolic names. It 10Base_T links as shown.
defines different queuing
profiles such as FIFO, 5. Rename the objects you added as shown and then save your project.
WFQ, priority queuing,
custom queuing,
MWRR, MDRR, and
DWRR.

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 Configure the Applications:
1. Right-click on the Applications node ⇒ Edit Attributes ⇒ Expand the
Type of Service (ToS) is Application Definitions hierarchy ⇒ Set rows to 3 ⇒ Name the rows: FTP
assigned to the IP Application, Video Application, and VoIP Application.
packets. It represents a
session attribute that
allows packets to be
i. Go to the FTP Application row ⇒ Expand the Description hierarchy ⇒
provided the appropriate Assign High Load to Ftp ⇒ Click on the High Load value and choose Edit
service in the IP queues. from the drop-down menu ⇒ Assign Constant(10) to Inter-Request Time ⇒
Best-effort delivery Assign Constant(1000000) to File Size. Keep the Type of Service (ToS) as
means that delivery of a Best Effort (0).
packet is attempted but
is not guaranteed. ii. Go to the Video Application row ⇒ Expand the Description hierarchy ⇒
Assign Low Resolution Video to Video Conferencing ⇒ Click on the Low
Resolution Video value and choose Edit ⇒ Edit the value of the Type of
Service field (the Configure TOS/DSCP window appears) ⇒ From the drop-
down menu, assign Streaming Multimedia (4) to ToS ⇒ Click OK twice.

PCM (Pulse Code

iii. Go to the VoIP Application row ⇒ Expand the Description hierarchy ⇒
Modulation) is a Assign PCM Quality Speech to Voice. If you edit it, you can see that the
procedure used to ToS assigned to it is Interactive Voice (6).
digitize speech before
transmitting it over the
network. 2. Click OK and then save your project.

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Configure the Profiles:
1. Right-click on the Profiles node ⇒ Edit Attributes ⇒ Expand the Profile
Configuration hierarchy ⇒ Set rows to 3.
i. Name and set the attributes of row 0 as shown:

ii. Name and set the attributes of row 1 as shown:

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 iii. Name and set the attributes of row 2 as shown:

2. Click OK and then save your project.

Configure the Queues:

We will keep the default queuing profiles that are defined in our Queues object. It is
recommended that you check out the configuration of the FIFO, PQ, and WFQ profiles.

Configure the Workstations and Servers:

1. Right-click on the FTP Client ⇒ Edit Attributes ⇒ Expand the Application:

Supported Profiles hierarchy inside Applications ⇒ Set rows to 1 ⇒ Set
Profile Name to FTP Profile ⇒ Click OK.

2. Right-click on the Video Client ⇒ Edit Attributes ⇒ Expand the Application:

Supported Profiles hierarchy inside Applications ⇒ Set rows to 1 ⇒ Set
Profile Name to Video Profile ⇒ Click OK.

3. Right-click on the VoIP West ⇒ Edit Attributes.

i. Expand the Application: Supported Profiles hierarchy inside Applications
⇒ Set rows to 1 ⇒ Set Profile Name to VoIP Profile.
ii. Edit the Application: Supported Services value inside Applications ⇒
Set rows to 1 ⇒ Set Service Name to VoIP Application ⇒ Click OK twice.

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 4. Right-click on the VoIP East ⇒ Edit Attributes.
i. Expand the Application: Supported Profiles hierarchy inside Applications
⇒ Set rows to 1 ⇒ Set Profile Name to VoIP Profile.
ii. Edit the Application: Supported Services value inside Applications ⇒
Set rows to 1 ⇒ Set Service Name to VoIP Application ⇒ Click OK twice.

5. Right-click on the FTP Server ⇒ Edit Attributes ⇒ Edit the Application:

Supported Services value inside Applications ⇒ Set rows to 1 ⇒ Set
Service Name to FTP Application ⇒ Click OK twice.

6. Right-click on the Video Server ⇒ Edit Attributes ⇒ Edit the Application:

Supported Services value inside Applications ⇒ Set rows to 1 ⇒ Set
Service Name to Video Application ⇒ Click OK twice.

7. Save your project.

Configure the Routers:

1. Click on the link connecting the East and West routers to select it ⇒ From the
Protocols, menu choose IP → QoS → Configure QoS.

2. Make sure the selected items are as shown in the following QoS Configuration
dialog box ⇒ Click OK.

Note: Since the Visualize QoS Configuration radio button is checked, the link is
colored based on the QoS scheme used.

3. Save your project.

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 Choose the Statistics

To test the performance of the applications defined in the network, we will collect one of
the many available statistics as follows:

1. Right-click anywhere in the project workspace and select Choose Individual

Statistics from the pop-up menu.

2. In the Choose Results dialog box, select the following global statistic:

Traffic Dropped: The

number of IP datagrams
dropped by all nodes in
the network across all IP
interfaces. The reasons
for dropping an IP
datagram can be any one
of the following:
- Insufficient space in the
queue.
- Maximum number of
hops exceeded by an IP
datagram.
- On nonrouting nodes,
a local router interface
was not found to be
used as the next hop.
- On routing nodes, the
route table lookup failed
to yield a route to the
destination..

3. Click OK and then save your project.

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Configure the Simulation

Here we need to configure the duration of the simulation:

1. Click on and the Configure Simulation window should appear.

2. Set the duration to be 150 seconds.

3. Click RUN and then save your project.

Duplicate the Scenario

In the network we just created, we used the FIFO queuing discipline in the routers. To
analyze the effect of different queuing disciplines, we will create two more scenarios to test
the PQ and WFQ disciplines.

A. Select Duplicate Scenario from the Scenarios menu and give it the name PQ ⇒ Click
OK.

1. Click on the link connecting the East and West routers to select it ⇒ From the
Protocols menu choose IP → QoS → Configure QoS.

2. Make sure the selected items are as shown in the following QoS Configuration
dialog box ⇒ Click OK.

Note: Since the Visualize QoS Configuration radio button is checked, the link is
colored based on the QoS scheme used.

3. Click RUN and then save your project.

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B. Select Duplicate Scenario from the Scenarios menu and give it the name WFQ ⇒
Click OK.

1. Click on the link connecting the East and West routers to select it ⇒ From the
Protocols menu choose IP → QoS → Configure QoS.

2. Make sure the selected items are as shown in the following QoS Configuration
dialog box ⇒ Click OK.

Note: Since the Visualize QoS Configuration radio button is checked, the link is
colored based on the QoS scheme used.

3. Click RUN and then save your project.

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View the Results

To view and analyze the results:

1. Select Compare Results from the Results menu.

2. Select the IP Traffic Dropped statistic and click Show. The resulting graph should
resemble the one below. Note: The shown graph is the result of zooming into the
region of interest on the original graph.

3. Create the graph for Video Conferencing Traffic Received:

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4. Create the graph for Voice Traffic Received:

5. Create graphs for Voice Packet End-to-End Delay and Voice Packet Delay
Variation: (Note: the trace for WFQ is not shown on the following graphs because
it is overlapped by the trace of PQ.)

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Further Readings

- The Differentiated Services Field: IETF RFC number 2474

(www.ietf.org/rfc.html).

Questions

1) Analyze the graphs we obtained and verify the overlap of the Voice Packet End-
to-End Delay and Voice Packet Delay Variation graphs. Compare the three
queuing disciplines and explain their effect on the performance of the three
applications.

2) In the implemented project, edit the Queues object and check the profiles assigned
to the FIFO, PQ, and WFQ disciplines. For each profile answer the following
questions:

a. How many queues are associated with each discipline?

b. In this lab, we used ToS to identify the priority and weight for the PQ and
WFQ disciplines respectively. What are the other parameters that can be
used to identify the priority and weight?

c. In PQ, how are queues configured to serve different ToS values?

d. In WFQ, how are queues configured to serve different ToS values?

3) For all scenarios, choose the “queuing delay <--“statistic for the link that connects
East Router and West Router. Rerun the simulation and generate the graph that
compares that queuing delay for all queuing disciplines (scenarios). Analyze this
graph.
Hint:
- The “queuing delay <--“statistic is under the point-to-point hierarchy..

Lab Report

Prepare a report that follows the guidelines explained in Lab 0. The report should include
the answers to the above questions as well as the graphs you generated from the
simulation scenarios. Discuss the results you obtained and compare these results with your
expectations. Mention any anomalies or unexplained behaviors.

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