On 5/25/2005 1:39 PM, Sam Stickland wrote:
While it's true that IP is end-to-end, are fields such as TOS and DSCP meant to be end to end? A case could be argued that they are used by the actual forwarding devices on route in order to make QoS or even routing decisions, and that the end devices shouldn't actually rely on the values of these fields?
The markings may be used on customer networks too, even if they are not interpreted or processed by intermediary networks (you). I mean, maybe they are tagging different kinds of database traffic at egress and ingress so that they can do their own congestion management. Unilaterally rewriting all of the packets that cross your network imposes unnecessary penalties on them and is generally rude. It's also near blackmail--pay us or we'll overwrite your packets. -- Eric A. Hall http://www.ehsco.com/ Internet Core Protocols http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/coreprot/