Introduction
This document describes how to set the Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) values in Quality of Service (QoS) configurations on a Cisco router.
Prerequisites
Requirements
You must be familiar with the fields in the IP header and Cisco IOS®CLI.
Components Used
This document is not restricted to specific software and hardware versions.
The information in this document was created from the devices in a specific lab environment. All of the devices used in this document started with a cleared (default) configuration. If your network is live, ensure that you understand the potential impact of any command.
Conventions
For more information on document conventions, refer toCisco Technical Tips Conventions.
Background Information
Differentiated Services (DiffServ) is a new model in which traffic is treated by intermediate systems with relative priorities based on the type of services (ToS) field. Defined inRFC 2474andRFC 2475, the DiffServ standard supersedes the original specification to define packet priority described inRFC 791. DiffServ increases the number of definable priority levels when it reallocates bits of an IP packet to mark it as a priority.
The DiffServ architecture defines the DiffServ (DS) field, which supersedes the ToS field in IPv4 to make per-hop behavior (PHB) decisions about packet classification and traffic conditioning functions, such as metering, marking, shaping, and policing.
The RFCs do not dictate the way to implement PHBs; this is the responsibility of the vendor. Cisco implements queuing techniques that can base their PHB on the IP precedence or DSCP value in the IP header of a packet. Based on DSCP or IP precedence, traffic can be put into a particular service class. Packets within a service class are treated the same way.
Differentiated Services Code Point
The six most significant bits of the DiffServ field is called as the DSCP. The last two Currently Unused (CU) bits in the DiffServ field were not defined within the DiffServ field architecture; these are now used as Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) bits. Routers at the edge of the network classify packets and mark them with either the IP Precedence or DSCP value in a Diffserv network. Other network devices in the core that support Diffserv use the DSCP value in the IP header to select a PHB behavior for the packet and provide the appropriate QoS treatment.
The diagrams in this section show a comparison between the ToS byte defined by RFC 791and the DiffServ field.
ToS Byte
P2
|
P1
|
P0
|
T2
|
T1
|
T0
|
CU1
|
CU0
|
-
IP precedence—three bits (P2 to P0)
-
Delay, Throughput and Reliability—three bits (T2 to T0)
-
CU (Currently Unused)—two bits(CU1-CU0)
DiffServ Field
DS5 |
DS4 |
DS3 |
DS2 |
DS1 |
DS0 |
ECN |
ECN |
-
DSCP—six bits (DS5-DS0)
-
ECN—two bits
The standardized DiffServ field of the packet is marked with a value so that the packet receives a particular forwarding treatment or PHB, at each network node.
The default DSCP is 000 000. Class selector DSCPs are values that are backward compatible with IP precedence. When you convert between IP precedence and DSCP, match the three most significant bits. In other words:
IP Prec 5 (101) maps to IP DSCP 101 000
ToS Byte
DiffServ Field
The DiffServ standard utilizes the same precedence bits (the most significant bits—DS5, DS4 and DS3) for priority setting, but further clarifies the definitions, which provides finer granularity through the use of the next three bits in the DSCP. DiffServ reorganizes and renames the precedence levels (still defined by the three most significant bits of the DSCP) into these categories (the levels are explained in greater detail in this document):
Precedence Level |
Description |
7
|
Stays the same (link layer and routing protocol keep alive)
|
6
|
Stays the same (used for IP routing protocols)
|
5
|
Express Forwarding (EF)
|
4
|
Class 4
|
3
|
Class 3
|
2
|
Class 2
|
1
|
Class 1
|
0
|
Best effort
|
With this system, a device prioritizes traffic by class first. Then it differentiates and prioritizes same-class traffic, and takes the drop probability into account.
The DiffServ standard does not specify a precise definition of "low," "medium," and "high" drop probability. Not all devices recognize the DiffServ (DS2 and DS1) settings; and even when these settings are recognized, they do not necessarily trigger the same PHB forwarding action at each network node. Each node implements its own response based on how it is configured.
Assured Forwarding
RFC 2597 defines the assured forwarding (AF) PHB and describes it as a means for a provider DS domain to offer different levels of forwarding assurances for IP packets received from a client DS domain. The Assured Forwarding PHB guarantees a certain amount of bandwidth to an AF class and allows access to extra bandwidth, if available. There are four AF classes, AF1x through AF4x. Within each class, there are three drop probabilities. Contingent on a given network policy, packets can be selected for a PHB based on required throughput, delay, jitter, loss, or by priority of access to network services.
Classes 1 to 4 are referred to as AF classes. This table illustrates the DSCP code that specifies the AF class with the probability. Bits DS5, DS4 and DS3 define the class; bits DS2 and DS1 specify the drop probability; bit DS0 is always zero.
Drop |
Class 1 |
Class 2 |
Class 3 |
Class 4 |
Low
|
001010 AF11 DSCP 10
|
010010 AF21 DSCP 18
|
011010 AF31 DSCP 26
|
100010 AF41 DSCP 34
|
Medium
|
001100 AF12 DSCP 12
|
010100 AF 22 DSCP 20
|
011100 AF32 DSCP 28
|
100100 AF42 DSCP 36
|
High
|
001110 AF13 DSCP 14
|
010110 AF23 DSCP 22
|
011110 AF33 DSCP 30
|
100110 AF43 DSCP 38
|
Expedited Forwarding
RFC 2598 defines the Expedited Forwarding (EF) PHB: "The EF PHB can be used to build a low loss, low latency, low jitter, assured bandwidth, end-to-end service through DS (Diffserv) domains. Such a service appears to the endpoints like a point-to-point connection or a "virtual leased line." This service has also been described as Premium service. Codepoint 101110 is recommended for the EF PHB, which corresponds to a DSCP value of 46.
Again, vendor-specific mechanisms need to be configured to implement these PHBs. Refer to RFC 2598 for more information about EF PHB.
Use the DSCP Field
There are three ways you can use the DSCP field:
-
Classifier—Select a packet based on the contents of some portions of the packet header and apply PHB based on service characteristic defined by the DSCP value.
-
Marker—Set the DSCP field based on the traffic profile.
-
Metering
—Check compliance to traffic profile with either a shaper or dropper function.
Cisco IOS software considers the precedence bits of the ToS field if there is traffic that is queued in Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ), Weighted Random Early Detection (WRED) or Weighted Round Robin (WRR). The precedence bits are not considered when Policy Routing, Priority Queuing (PQ), Custom Queuing (CQ), or Class Based Weighted Fair Queuing (CBWFQ) are configured. For more information, see Class Based Weighted Fair Queuing (CBWFQ).
Packet Classification
Packet classification involves the use of a traffic descriptor to categorize a packet within a specific group and to make the packet accessible for the QoS that manages in the network. When you use packet classification, you can partition network traffic into multiple priority levels or a class of service (CoS).
You can use either access lists (ACLs) or the match command in the modular QoS CLI to match on DSCP values. The Cisco IOS Software Release 12.1(5)T introduced the ability to select a DSCP value in the match command.
Router1(config)#access-list 101 permit ip any any ?
dscp Match packets with given dscp value
fragments Check non-initial fragments
log Log matches against this entry
log-input Log matches against this entry, including input interface
precedence Match packets with given precedence value
time-range Specify a time-range
tos Match packets with given TOS value
When you specify the ip dscp value in the class map command, you have these:
Router(config)#class-map match-all VOIP
1751-uut1(config-cmap)#match ip dscp ?
<0-63> Differentiated services codepoint value
af11 Match packets with AF11 dscp (001010)
af12 Match packets with AF12 dscp (001100)
af13 Match packets with AF13 dscp (001110)
af21 Match packets with AF21 dscp (010010)
af22 Match packets with AF22 dscp (010100)
af23 Match packets with AF23 dscp (010110)
af31 Match packets with AF31 dscp (011010)
af32 Match packets with AF32 dscp (011100)
af33 Match packets with AF33 dscp (011110)
af41 Match packets with AF41 dscp (100010)
af42 Match packets with AF42 dscp (100100)
af43 Match packets with AF43 dscp (100110)
cs1 Match packets with CS1(precedence 1) dscp (001000)
cs2 Match packets with CS2(precedence 2) dscp (010000)
cs3 Match packets with CS3(precedence 3) dscp (011000)
cs4 Match packets with CS4(precedence 4) dscp (100000)
cs5 Match packets with CS5(precedence 5) dscp (101000)
cs6 Match packets with CS6(precedence 6) dscp (110000)
cs7 Match packets with CS7(precedence 7) dscp (111000)
default Match packets with default dscp (000000)
ef Match packets with EF dscp (101110)
Router1(config-cmap)#match ip dscp af31
Marking
The DSCP can be set to a desired value at the edge of the network in order to make it easy for core devices to classify the packet as shown in the Packet Classificationsection and provide a suitable level of service.Class-Based Packet Marking can be used to set the DSCP value as shown here:
policy-map pack-multimedia-5M
!--- Creates a policy map named pack-multimedia-5M.
class management
!--- Specifies the policy to be created for the !--- traffic classified by class management.
bandwidth 50
set ip dscp 8
!--- Sets the DSCP value of the packets matching !--- class management to 8.
class C1
priority 1248
set ip dscp 40
class voice-signalling
bandwidth 120
set ip dscp 24
Use Committed Access Rate or Class-Based Policing
Committed Access Rate and Class-Based Policing are traffic regulation mechanisms, used to regulate traffic flow to conform with the agreed upon service parameters. These mechanisms along with DSCP can be used to provide different levels of service that do not and do conform to traffic when it appropriately modifies the DSCP value, as shown in this section.
Refer to Configuring
Traffic Policing
and Comparing Class-Based Policing and Committed Access Rate for more information.
interface Serial1/0.1 point-to-point
bandwidth 5000
ip address 192.168.126.134 255.255.255.252
rate-limit output access-group 150 8000 1500 2000 conform-action
set-dscp-transmit 10 exceed-action set-dscp-transmit 20
!--- For traffic matching access list 150, sets the DSCP value of conforming traffic !--– to 10 and that of non-conforming traffic to 20.
rate-limit output access-group 152 8000 1500 2000 conform-action
set-dscp-transmit 15 exceed-action set-dscp-transmit 25
rate-limit output access-group 154 8000 1500 2000 conform-action
set-dscp-transmit 18 exceed-action set-dscp-transmit 28
frame-relay interface-dlci 17
class shaper-multimedia-5M
DSCP-Compliant WRED
Weighted Random Early Detection (WRED), selectively discards lower-priority traffic when the interface begins to get congested. WRED can provide differentiated performance characteristics for different CoS. This differentiated service can be on basis of the DSCP, as shown here:
class C2
bandwidth 1750
random-detect dscp-based
!--- Enable dscp-based WRED as drop policy.
random-detect exponential-weighting-constant 7
!--- Specifies the exponential weight factor for the !--- average queue size calculation for the queue.
random-detect dscp 16 48 145 10
!--- Specifies the minimum and maximum queue thresholds !--- for each DSCP value.
random-detect dscp 32 145 435 10
Refer to the DiffServ Compliant WRED section of Congestion Avoidance Overview for more information.
Known Issues in Cisco IOS Software 12.2 Release Trains
Access to Bug tools and information is only available for registered Cisco clients.
You can search for these bugs with the Bug Search Tool.
-
Cisco bug ID CSCdt63295 — If you fail to set the ToS byte with the new DSCP marking commands on the dial peers (set to 0) in Cisco IOS Software Release 12.2.2T, then packets cannot be marked and they can remain with a ToS set to 0.
-
Cisco bug ID CSCdt74738 — Support for the set ip dscp command on the Cisco 7200 router and lower-end platforms for the for multicast packets must be available as of Cisco IOS Software Release 12.2(3.6) and later.
Related Information