Incorporating QoS into IP Enterprise Network Design

Abstract

Recent trends in enterprise networks are radically changing the composition of these systems. Instead of having diverse data networks, each of which is dedicated to a single class of applications, corporations are moving to a unified IP (Internet Protocol) Intranet. Traffic demands on these Intranets include delay-sensitive traffic that requires better than the standard "best effort" service provided by IP networks. As a result, various new technologies and strategies to provide "end-to-end" Quality of Service (QoS) within IP enterprise networks are being developed and implemented. However, current IP network design methodologies are limited in that they can only design networks providing "best effort" service or else, a single delay constraint for all traffic. In this paper, we discuss a new design methodology for IP enterprise networks that takes into account the new technologies and techniques that can provide QoS. In particular, we identify and discuss the most crucial design issues that must be addressed when specialized queuing-based QoS strategies are used in the network. We describe the new constraints introduced by the underlying technologies and discuss how these factors affect the formulation of the IP Enterprise Network Design Problem. We then describe some specific features and methodologies that have been incorporated into a network design-planning tool for IP enterprise networks with QoS.