QOS

[Lakeram Harrypersaud]

I have a network of about 160 users and we are growing slowly. Right now we only have a data network but we will be implementing VOIP and possibly Video in a year or two. We only have 1 site.

Regarding QOS i have a couple questions:

Do we have to implement QOS?

If so, should configure it on both layer 2 and layer 3 switches, or just layer 3 switches

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,

Lake

[jonathanaxford · Accepted solution]

Hi Lakeram,

It's pretty hard to answer your question in any great detail, but, as a general rule I would set up QoS from "end-to-end" on your network. This means that you will configure QoS on the ports that connect your phones & PCs (L2) and ensure that the correct QoS policy is adhered to right through the network, so you will also enable QoS on your Core and L3 devices, over WAN links etc etc etc

There is an argument to say that on a campus LAN with LOTS of bandwidth, QoS isn't really necessary, but I do not subscribe to that school of thought. If you are running voice and video, you should be running QoS.

All of the software configuration guides that Cisco produce for their switches have plenty of information on how to setup QoS on a particular platform and most support a function called "Auto QoS" which greatly simplifies the rollout of QoS  and fits well for most general voice/data setups.

Hope this helps

Jonathan

[Lakeram Harrypersaud]

That was excellent. Exactly what i am looking for

Thank you very much

Lake