The 7210 SAS devices support color-aware policing at network ingress, whereas at service ingress a policing option is provided to use either color-aware policing or color-blind policing. In color-aware policing, users can define the color of the packet using the classification and send the colored packets to the meter. A color-aware meter treats the packets according to the color defined:
If the packet is pre-colored as in-profile (or green packets), depending on the burst size of the packet, the meter can either mark it as in-profile or out-profile.
If the packet is pre-colored as out-profile (or yellow packets), even if the packet burst is less than the current available CBS, the packet is not marked as in-profile, but remains as out-profile.
If the packet burst is higher than the MBS, the packet is marked as red and is dropped by the meter at ingress.
The profile marked by the meter is used to determine the eligibility of the packet to be enqueued into a buffer at egress (that is, when a slope policy is configured at the egress).
In color-blind mode, the profile (color) assigned to the packet on ingress is ignored. The CIR and PIR rates configured for the meter determine the final profile (color) for the packet. If the packet is within the CIR, the final profile (color) assigned to the packet is in-profile (green). If the packet exceeds the CIR and is within the PIR, the final profile (color) assigned to the packet is out-of-profile (yellow). Packets that exceed the PIR rate (red) are dropped.
In color-aware mode, the meter uses the profile assigned to the packet on ingress. The profile can be assigned on ingress either by enabling DEI classification as done on access ports or by assigning profile based on either dot1p or DEI as done on network ports and access-uplink ports. On the 7210 SAS-Mxp, 7210 SAS-R6 and 7210 SAS-R12, the profile can also be assigned on service (or SAP) ingress by using a DSCP classification policy to set FC and profile. See Table-based classification using dot1p and IP DSCP for assigning FC and profile on SAP ingress for the 7210 SAS-Mxp, 7210 SAS-R6, and 7210 SAS-R12 for more information about table-based classification.