RFC 3387 (rfc3387) - Page 1 of 19

Considerations from the Service Management Research Group (SMRG) on Quality of Service (QoS) in the IP Network

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Network Working Group                                            M. Eder
Request for Comments: 3387                                    H. Chaskar
Category: Informational                                            Nokia
                                                                  S. Nag
                                                          September 2002


    Considerations from the Service Management Research Group (SMRG)
             on Quality of Service (QoS) in the IP Network

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
   memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   The guiding principles in the design of IP network management were
   simplicity and no centralized control.  The best effort service
   paradigm was a result of the original management principles and the
   other way around.  New methods to distinguish the service given to
   one set of packets or flows relative to another are well underway.
   However, as IP networks evolve the management approach of the past
   may not apply to the Quality of Service (QoS)-capable network
   envisioned by some for the future.  This document examines some of
   the areas of impact that QoS is likely to have on management and look
   at some questions that remain to be addressed.

1. Introduction

   Simplicity above all else was one of the guiding principles in the
   design of IP networks.  However, as IP networks evolve, the concept
   of service in IP is also evolving, and the strategies of the past may
   not apply to the full-service QoS-capable network envisioned by some
   for the future.  Within the IP community, their exists a good deal of
   impetus for the argument that if the promise of IP is to be
   fulfilled, networks will need to offer an increasing variety of
   services.  The definition of these new services in IP has resulted in
   a need for reassessment of the current control mechanism utilized by
   IP networks.  Efforts to provide mechanisms to distinguish the
   service given to one set of packets or flows relative to another are
   well underway, yet many of the support functions necessary to exploit
   these mechanisms are limited in scope and a complete framework is



Eder, et. al.                Informational
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