Quality of service management in IP networks

The DiffServ architecture provides a scalable mechanism for QoS introduction in an IP network. The idea of DiffServ is based on the aggregation of traffic flows at an ingress (or egress) point of a network and IP packet marking for different priority flows, according to several classification criteria. In this paper the problem of the improvement and fairness of absolute QoS provisioning to paths established along a DiffServ network on a per router basis is considered. The service rate reconfiguration problem of a router's output link is formally defined, mathematically formulated and solved by means of efficient heuristic algorithms, providing good solutions in reasonable time. Finally, an indicative set of results is provided and concluding remarks are made.