Planning for QoS

The most important step to accomplishing quality of service (QoS) is planning. To receive expected results, review your network equipment and monitor network traffic.

This topic also includes a planning advisor. The QoS planning advisor leads you through the basic questions you need to ask yourself during the planning phase. In addition to the advisor, consider these subtopics before configuring QoS.

Considering network performance

QoS is all about network performance. The main reason you are considering QoS is probably because you are already experiencing network congestion and packet loss. Before you carry out any policies, you might want to use the QoS monitor to verify your IP traffic's current performance levels. These results can help you determine where congestion is occurring.

• Quality of Service (QoS) planning advisor
  

• Authority requirements
  Quality of service (QoS) policies might contain sensitive information about your network. Therefore, QoS administrative authority must only be granted when necessary.

• System requirements
  Quality of service (QoS) is an integrated part of the operating system.

• Service level agreement
  This topic points out some of the important aspects of a service level agreement (SLA) that might affect your quality of service (QoS) implementation. QoS is a network solution. To receive network priority outside your private network, you might need to have an SLA with your Internet service provider (ISP).

• Network hardware and software
  The capabilities of your internal equipment and other equipment outside your network have enormous effects on quality of service (QoS) results.

Parent topic:

Related concepts
Monitoring system transactions Configuring QoS