RFC 2474 (rfc2474) - Page 1 of 20

Definition of the Differentiated Services Field (DS Field) in the IPv4 and IPv6 Headers

Alternative Format: Original Text Document
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Network Working Group                                         K. Nichols
Request for Comments: 2474                                 Cisco Systems
Obsoletes: 1455, 1349                                           S. Blake
Category: Standards Track                Torrent Networking Technologies
                                                                F. Baker
                                                           Cisco Systems
                                                                D. Black
                                                         EMC Corporation
                                                           December 1998


    Definition of the Differentiated Services Field (DS Field)
                      in the IPv4 and IPv6 Headers

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1998).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   Differentiated services enhancements to the Internet protocol are
   intended to enable scalable service discrimination in the Internet
   without the need for per-flow state and signaling at every hop.  A
   variety of services may be built from a small, well-defined set of
   building blocks which are deployed in network nodes.  The services
   may be either end-to-end or intra-domain; they include both those
   that can satisfy quantitative performance requirements (e.g., peak
   bandwidth) and those based on relative performance (e.g., "class"
   differentiation).  Services can be constructed by a combination of:

   - setting bits in an IP header field at network boundaries
     (autonomous system boundaries, internal administrative boundaries,
     or hosts),
   - using those bits to determine how packets are forwarded by the
     nodes inside the network, and
   - conditioning the marked packets at network boundaries in accordance
     with the requirements or rules of each service.






Nichols, et. al.            Standards Track
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