Page 538 - Handbook of Modern Telecommunications

Network Organization and Governance 4-69

• Art of information interpretation
• Archiving information
• Combinations with modeling tools
• Embedding measurement data into reporting
• Requirements for customization
• Types of customization
• Resource requirements of first installation
• Resource requirements of operations
In case of separate measurements, network domains (actually the geographical coverage of service
providers) usually are separated from each other. Management stations are expected to exchange infor-
mation with each other. Reports are generated and distributed on a provider basis. When Web-based
solutions are in use, reports by different providers may be prepared separately and presented together.
The authorized client can access information and reports on the Web server.
In case of collaborative measurements, management stations are eligible to mutually access measure-
ment data. This access should be negotiated between the service providers whether on a permanent basis
or only in the case of an outage. Management stations exchange information with each other and offer
backup to each other. Reports are generated together and usually distributed via the Web. Maintenance
of datamarts or data warehouses is also supported as a joint venture.
Measurements are grouped as follows:

• Active measurements against a measurement point
• Active measurements against the server
• Passive measurements over a TCP measurement point
• Passive measurement over a mirror port
• Passive measurements over an application measurement point
Additional subalternatives may be defined depending on the measurement tools in use.
The certification includes both QoS techniques and SLA control procedures. Both consist of policies
and tools. The nature and goals of both are slightly different.

4.4.5.4 QoS Procedures
These procedures are policy determination and parameter setups that are valid for an existing infra-
structure and for an existing service portfolio in order to reach a specific service quality.
The following alternatives are recommended for certification:

• Admission control: Determines whether a requested “connection” is allowed to be carried by the
network. The main considerations behind this decision are existing traffic load, existing QoS,
requested traffic profile, requested QoS, pricing, and other policy considerations. Admission con-
trol could be performed in the setup of RSVP flows or MPLS paths.
• Traffic shaping: It is necessary to specify the traffic profile for a connection to decide how to allo-
cate various network resources. Traffic shaping ensures that traffic entering at an edge of a core
node adheres to the profile specified. Typically, this mechanism is used to reduce the burstiness
of a traffic stream. This involves a key trade-off between the benefits of shaping, such as loss in
downstream network, and the shaping delay.
• Packet classification: Packets must be classified to allow for different QoS treatment using various
fields in IP headers (source/destination addresses, protocol type) and higher-layer protocol head-
ers (source/destination port numbers for TCP or User Datagram Protocol [UDP]). Efficient and
consistent packet classification is a significant problem under active research.
• Priority and scheduling mechanisms: To satisfy the QoS needs of different connections, nodes
need to be prioritized and scheduled. Priority provides different delay treatment, with higher-