Overview of Junos OS CoS
When a network experiences congestion and delay, some packets must be dropped. Junos OS class of service (CoS) enables you to divide traffic into classes and set various levels of throughput and packet loss when congestion occurs. You have greater control over packet loss because you can configure rules tailored to your needs.
You can configure CoS features to provide multiple classes of service for different applications. CoS also allows you to rewrite the Differentiated Services code point (DSCP) or IEEE 802.1p code-point bits of packets leaving an interface, thus allowing you to tailor packets for the network requirements of the remote peers.
CoS provides multiple classes of service for different applications. You can configure multiple forwarding classes for transmitting packets, define which packets are placed into each output queue, schedule the transmission service level for each queue, and manage congestion using a weighted random early detection (WRED) algorithm.
In designing CoS applications, you must carefully consider your service needs, and you must thoroughly plan and design your CoS configuration to ensure consistency and interoperability across all platforms in a CoS domain.
Because CoS is implemented in hardware rather than in software, you can experiment with and deploy CoS features without affecting packet forwarding and switching performance.
CoS policies can be enabled or disabled on each switch interface. Also, each physical and logical interface on the switch can have associated custom CoS rules.
When you change or when you deactivate and then reactivate the class-of-service configuration, the system experiences packet drops because the system momentarily blocks traffic to change the mapping of incoming traffic to input queues.
This topic describes:
CoS Standards
The following RFCs define the standards for CoS capabilities:
RFC 2474, Definition of the Differentiated Services Field in the IPv4 and IPv6 Headers
RFC 2597, Assured Forwarding PHB Group
RFC 2598, An Expedited Forwarding PHB
RFC 2698, A Two Rate Three Color Marker
RFC 3168, The Addition of Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) to IP
The following data center bridging (DCB) standards are also supported to provide the CoS (and other characteristics) that Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) requires for transmitting storage traffic over an Ethernet network:
IEEE 802.1Qbb, priority-based flow control (PFC)
IEEE 802.1Qaz, enhanced transmission selection (ETS)
IEEE 802.1AB (LLDP) extension called Data Center Bridging Capability Exchange Protocol (DCBX)
OCX Series switches and NFX250 Network Services platforms do not support PFC and DCBX.
Juniper Networks QFX10000 switches support both enhanced transmission selection (ETS) hierarchical port scheduling and direct port scheduling.
How Junos OS CoS Works
Junos OS CoS works by examining traffic entering the edge of your network. The switch classifies traffic into defined service groups to provide the special treatment of traffic across the network. For example, you can send voice traffic across certain links and data traffic across other links. In addition, the data traffic streams can be serviced differently along the network path to ensure that higher-paying customers receive better service. As the traffic leaves the network at the far edge, you can reclassify the traffic to meet the policies of the targeted peer by rewriting the DSCP or IEEE 802.1 code-point bits.
To support CoS, you must configure each switch in the network. Generally, each switch examines the packets that enter it to determine their CoS settings. These settings dictate which packets are transmitted first to the next downstream switch. Switches at the edges of the network might be required to alter the CoS settings of the packets that enter the network to classify the packets into the appropriate service groups.
In Figure 1, Switch A is receiving traffic. As each packet enters, Switch A examines the packet’s current CoS settings and classifies the traffic into one of the groupings defined on the switch. This definition allows Switch A to prioritize its resources for servicing the traffic streams it receives. Switch A might alter the CoS settings (forwarding class and loss priority) of the packets to better match the defined traffic groups.
When Switch B receives the packets, it examines the CoS settings, determines the appropriate traffic groups, and processes the packet according to those settings. It then transmits the packets to Switch C, which performs the same actions. Switch D also examines the packets and determines the appropriate groups. Because Switch D sits at the far end of the network, it can reclassify (rewrite) the CoS code-point bits of the packets before transmitting them.
Default CoS Behavior
If you do not configure CoS settings, the software performs some CoS functions to ensure that the system forwards traffic and protocol packets with minimum delay when the network is experiencing congestion. Some CoS settings, such as classifiers, are automatically applied to each logical interface that you configure. Other settings, such as rewrite rules, are applied only if you explicitly associate them with an interface.