In this article, we examine the issues that arise in the definition, deploy
ment, and management of policies related to QoS in an IP network. The artic
le provides an overview of requirements For QoS policies, alternative polic
y architectures that can be deployed in a network, different protocols that
can be used to exchange policy information, and exchange of policy informa
tion among different administrative domains. We discuss current issues bein
g examined in IETF and other standards bodies, as well as issues explored i
n ongoing policy-related research at different universities and research la
boratories.