Another Simple Groups Example
Consider another situation where the total bandwidth limit for a pipe is 400 Kbps. If the aim is to
allocate this bandwidth amongst many destination IP addresses so that no single IP address can
take more than 100 Kbps of bandwidth, the following steps are needed.
•
Set the pipe limit, as usual, to be 400 Kbps.
•
Set the Grouping option for the pipe to have the value Destination IP.
•
Set the total for the pipe's Group Limits to be 100 Kbps.
Bandwidth is now allocated on a "first come, first forwarded" basis but no single destination IP
address can ever take more than 100 Kbps. No matter how many connections are involved the
combined total bandwidth can still not exceed the pipe limit of 400 Kbps.
Combining Pipe and Group Limit Precedence Values
Let us suppose that grouping is enabled by one of the options such as source IP and some values
for precedences have been specified under Group Limits. How does these combine with values
specified for the corresponding precedences in Pipe Limits?
In this case, the Group Limits precedence value is a guarantee and the Pipe Limits value for the
same precedence is a limit. For example, if traffic is being grouped by source IP and the Group
Limits precedence 5 value is 5 Kbps and the Pipe Limits precedence 5 value is 20 Kbps, then
after the fourth unique source IP (4 x 5 = 20 Kbps) the precedence limit is reached and the
guarantees may no longer be met.
Dynamic Balancing
Instead of specifying a total for Group Limits, the alternative is to enable the Dynamic Balancing
option. This ensures that the available bandwidth is divided equally between all addresses
Figure 10.6. Traffic Grouped By IP Address
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Chapter 10: Traffic Management