Shaping and Policing

Traffic shaping and policing are both used to control the rate of traffic.

Shaping buffer traffic in a queue if the traffic rate goes over the configured rate.

Policing drops traffic if the traffic rate goes over the configured rate.

Policing also has the option of re-marking the traffic instead of dropping it.

• 'Burst' traffic over the configured rate is allowed for a short period of time.

• This accommodates data applications which typically are 'bursty' in nature. Instead of a constant stream of data, they send data in bursts.

• The amount of burst traffic allowed is configurable.

In both cases, classification can be used to allow for different rates for different kinds of traffic.