Design and implementation of a QoS capable switch-router

An important challenge for the future growth of the Internet is to design r outers that can forward the exponentially increasing volume of traffic, and at the same time provide the service differentiation needed by new applica tions. In this paper, we describe the architecture, implementation, and ini tial experiences with a system designed to meet this challenge. This system , which we call a QoS capable Switch-Router (QSR), combines the salient fea tures of switching and routing technologies to provide high throughput and support the different classes of service being defined by the IETF. It cons ists of a core (ATM) switch fabric connecting intelligent adapters, each ca pable of both routing and switching packets. A control engine is responsibl e for routing, RSVP signaling, and resource management. We have built a pro totype network of 3 systems connected to several UNIX hosts, and have condu cted preliminary performance measurements on this network. (C) 1999 Elsevie r Science B.V. All rights reserved.