Network Working Group                                            K. Chan
Request for Comments: 5127                                    J. Babiarz
Category: Informational                                           Nortel
                                                                F. Baker
                                                           Cisco Systems
                                                           February 2008


                Aggregation of Diffserv Service Classes

Status of This Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
   memo is unlimited.

Abstract

   In the core of a high-capacity network, service differentiation may
   still be needed to support applications' utilization of the network.
   Applications with similar traffic characteristics and performance
   requirements are mapped into Diffserv service classes based on end-
   to-end behavior requirements of the applications.  However, some
   network segments may be configured in such a way that a single
   forwarding treatment may satisfy the traffic characteristics and
   performance requirements of two or more service classes.  In these
   cases, it may be desirable to aggregate two or more Diffserv service
   classes into a single forwarding treatment.  This document provides
   guidelines for the aggregation of Diffserv service classes into
   forwarding treatments.





















Chan, et al.                 Informational                      [Page 1]

RFC 5127        Aggregation of Diffserv Service Classes    February 2008


Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     1.1.  Requirements Notation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   2.  Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   3.  Overview of Service Class Aggregation  . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   4.  Service Classes to Treatment Aggregate Mapping . . . . . . . .  6
     4.1.  Mapping Service Classes into Four Treatment Aggregates . .  7
       4.1.1.  Network Control Treatment Aggregate  . . . . . . . . .  9
       4.1.2.  Real-Time Treatment Aggregate  . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
       4.1.3.  Assured Elastic Treatment Aggregate  . . . . . . . . . 10
       4.1.4.  Elastic Treatment Aggregate  . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
   5.  Treatment Aggregates and Inter-Provider Relationships  . . . . 12
   6.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
   7.  Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
   8.  References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
     8.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
     8.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14