Integrated Service (IntServ)

versus
Differentiated Service (Diffserv)

Information taken from Kurose and Ross

textbook “ Computer Networking – A Top-
Down Approach Featuring the Internet”

ACN: IntServ and DiffServ 1

 Integrated Service (IntServ)
• IntServ framework was developed within IETF
to provide individualized QoS guarantees to
individual sessions.
• provides services on a per flow basis where a
flow is a packet stream with common source
address, destination address and port number.
• IntServ routers must maintain per flow state
information.
ACN: IntServ and DiffServ 2
 IntServ
• two key IntServ features:
– Reserved Resources
• the router must know the amount of its resources
currently reserved for on-going sessions.
• standard resources: link capacity, router buffers
– Call Setup
• A flow requiring QoS guarantees must be able to
reserve sufficient resources at each router on path to
ensure QoS requirements are met.

ACN: IntServ and DiffServ 3

 Call Setup details
• Call Setup {also referred to call admission}
requires participation of each router on the path.
• steps in call setup process
– Traffic characterization and specification of QoS
• Rspec (R for reserved): defines the specific QoS
being requested by a connection.
• Tspec (T for traffic):characterizes the traffic the sender will
be sending into the network or the traffic that the receiver
will be receiving from the network.

ACN: IntServ and DiffServ 4

 Call Setup details
– Signaling for call setup
• A session’s Tspec and Rspec must be carried to the
routers where resources will be reserved.
• RSVP is the signaling protocol of choice.
– Per-element call admission
• Once a router receives Rspec and Tspec for a
session, it decides whether or not to admit the call.

ACN: IntServ and DiffServ 5

 IntServ traffic classes
1. Best Effort service
2. Controlled Load service
– A flow receives a quality of service closely
approximating QoS that flow would receive
from an unloaded network element.
– This is fine when the network is lightly
loaded, but the service degrades quickly as
network load increases.

ACN: IntServ and DiffServ 6

 Intserv traffic classes
3. Guaranteed Service [RFC2212]
– Provides firm bounds on queueing delays that a packet
will experience at a router.
– A source’s traffic characterization is given by a leaky
bucket with parameters (r,b) and requested service is
characterized by transmission rate, R. This
characterization is requiring a forwarding rate R at each
router and a bound on maximum queuing via the leaky
bucket parameters.

ACN: IntServ and DiffServ 7

 Differential Service (DiffServ)
• In DiffServ, flows are aggregated into
classes that receive “treatment” by class.
• More complex operations are pushed out to
edge routers and simpler operations done by
core routers.
• motivated by:
– scalability, flexibility, and better-than-best-
effort service without RSVP signaling.

ACN: IntServ and DiffServ 8

 DiffServ functional elements
• edge functions:
– packet classification
– packet marking
– traffic conditioning
• core functions:
– forwarding based on per-hop behavior (PHB)
associated with packet’s class

ACN: IntServ and DiffServ 9

 DiffServ edge functions
• packet classification
– classifier selects packets based on values in
packet header fields and steers packet to
appropriate marking function
– how classifier obtains the rules for classification
not yet addressed [RFC 2475 uses term behavior
aggregate rather than class of traffic.]
• administrator could load table of source addresses
• done under control of TBA signaling protocol

ACN: IntServ and DiffServ 10

 Meter

Shaper/ Forward
Classifier Marker Dropper
Packets
Drop

Logical view of packet classification and traffic conditioning at

the edge router

ACN: IntServ and DiffServ 11

 DiffServ edge functions
• packet marking
– DS field value set accordingly at the marker.
• may wish to limit injection rate of specifically
marked packets into network, i.e., user promises to
keep sending rate within a traffic profile.
• metering function compares the incoming packet
flow with negotiated traffic profile.
– This implies a traffic shaper/dropper function.

ACN: IntServ and DiffServ 12

 DiffServ core routers
• Routers define packet classes and separate
incoming packets into classes.
• Treatment is done per class.
• Per-hop behavior (PHB) defines differences in
performance among classes.
– externally observable performance criteria that do
not specify internal implementation mechanisms
at router.
ACN: IntServ and DiffServ 13
 per-hop behavior (PHB)
• examples:
– A given class receives at least 10% of outgoing
link bandwidth over time interval.
– Class A packets have strict priority over class B
packets.
• current proposals for PHB:
– Expedited Forwarding (EF) PHB
– Assured Forwarding (AF) PHB
ACN: IntServ and DiffServ 14
 Expedited Forwarding (EF) PHB
• EF specifies that the departure rate of class of
traffic from router must equal or exceed a
configured rate independently of the traffic
intensity of any other classes.
• This implies some form of isolation among
traffic classes.
{EF abstraction: a link with a minimum
guaranteed link capacity}
ACN: IntServ and DiffServ 15
 Assured Forwarding (AF) PHB
• Assured Forwarding divides traffic into four
classes where each AF class is guaranteed
some minimum resources (capacity,
buffering).
• Within each class, packets are further
partitioned into one of three “drop preference”
categories. Congested routers then drop/mark
based on their preference values.
ACN: IntServ and DiffServ 16
 Assured Forwarding (AF) PHB
• Determining resource allocation per class of
service must be done with knowledge about
traffic demands for the various traffic
classes.

ACN: IntServ and DiffServ 17