Network ports are typically used to connect to the core network using IP/MPLS tunnels and forward customer traffic toward the core network. A network QoS policy defines both ingress and egress behavior on a network port. On network port ingress, traffic that enters through the port is classified to map it to an FC and the user has an option to assign a profile.
FC is associated with ingress queues on network port ingress and the profile determines the en-queuing priority for the packet, with in-profile packets have a higher chance of getting the buffer, than out-of-profile packets. The mapping of traffic to FC ingress queues is based on QoS marking (for example, MPLS EXP bits, IEEE 802.1p bits, IP DSCP bits).
The characteristics of the FC ingress queues are defined within the policy as to the number of FC queues for unicast traffic type and BUM traffic type, along with the queue rate and buffer parameters (like CIR, PIR, CBS, MBS, and so on). Each of the FCs can be associated with different ingress and ingress queue parameters for unicast traffic type and for multipoint (that is BUM) traffic type. A network QoS policy defines up to eight ingress queues per policy, with up to two ingress queues per FC. Unicast and multipoint traffic can be defined to use the same ingress queue or different ingress queues per FC.
For VPLS, the following types of forwarding are supported:
unicast
multicast
broadcast
unknown
Multicast, broadcast, and unknown types are sent to multiple destinations within the service while the unicast forwarding type is handled in a point-to-point manner within the service. All these traffic types use the same queue (a separate queue for multicast, broadcast, and unknown unicast traffic types cannot be defined).
On network port egress or hybrid port egress, the policy maps FC and profile state to any combination of MPLS EXP, dot1p, and IP DSCP values for traffic to be transmitted out of the network IP interface that is configured on the network port or hybrid port. All network IP interfaces configured on the same network port or hybrid port use the same policy and the same set of FC queues; traffic received and transmitted through all network IP interfaces configured on a specified network port or hybrid port receive similar QoS treatment.