# Asterisk Project : IP Quality of Service

Added by mdavenport , edited by mjordan on Aug 21, 2013

### Introduction

Asterisk supports different QoS settings at the application level for various protocols on both signaling and media. The Type of Service (TOS) byte can be set on outgoing IP packets for various protocols. The TOS byte is used by the network to provide some level of Quality of Service (QoS) even if the network is congested with other traffic.

Asterisk running on Linux can also set 802.1p CoS marks in VLAN packets for the VoIP protocols it uses. This is useful when working in a switched environment. In fact Asterisk only set priority for Linux socket. For mapping this priority and VLAN CoS mark you need to use this command:

    vconfig set_egress_map [vlan-device] [skb-priority] [vlan-qos]

The table below shows all VoIP channel drivers and other Asterisk modules that support QoS settings for network traffic. It also shows the type(s) of traffic for which each module can support setting QoS settings.

Table 2.1: Channel Driver QoS Settings

| Signaling | Audio | Video | Text
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
chan_sip | + | + | + | +
chan_skinny | + | + | + |
chan_mgcp | + | + |  |
chan_unistm | + | + |  |
chan_h323 |  | + |  |
chan_iax2 | + |  |  |
chan_pjsip | + | + | + |

Table 2.2: Other ToS Settings

| Signaling | Audio | Video | Text
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
dundi.conf | + (tos setting) |  |  |
iaxprov.conf | + (tos setting) |  |  |

##### IP TOS values

The allowable values for any of the tos parameters are: CS0, CS1, CS2, CS3, CS4, CS5, CS6, CS7, AF11, AF12, AF13, AF21, AF22, AF23, AF31, AF32, AF33, AF41, AF42, AF43 and ef (expedited forwarding),*

The tos parameters also take numeric values.*

Note that on a Linux system, Asterisk must be compiled with libcap in order to use the ef tos setting if Asterisk is not run as root.

The lowdelay, throughput, reliability, mincost, and none values have been removed in current releases.

##### 802.1p CoS values

Because 802.1p uses 3 bits of the VLAN header, this parameter can take integer values from 0 to 7.

##### Recommended values

The recommended values shown below are also included in sample configuration files:

Table 2.3: Recommended QoS Settings

| tos | cos
--- | --- | ---
Signaling | cs3 | 3
Audio | ef | 5
Video | af41 | 4
Text | af41 | 3
Other | ef |

##### IAX2

In iax.conf, there is a "tos" parameter that sets the global default TOS for IAX packets generated by chan_iax2. Since IAX connections combine signalling, audio, and video into one UDP stream, it is not possible to set the TOS separately for the different types of traffic.

In iaxprov.conf, there is a "tos" parameter that tells the IAXy what TOS to set on packets it generates. As with the parameter in iax.conf, IAX packets generated by an IAXy cannot have different TOS settings based upon the type of packet. However different IAXy devices can have different TOS settings.

##### SIP

In sip.conf, there are four parameters that control the TOS settings: "tos_sip", "tos_audio", "tos_video" and "tos_text". tos_sip controls what TOS SIP call signaling packets are set to. tos_audio, tos_video and tos_text control what TOS values are used for RTP audio, video, and text packets, respectively.
There are four parameters to control 802.1p CoS: "cos_sip", "cos_audio", "cos_video" and "cos_text". The behavior of these parameters is the same as for the SIP TOS settings described above.

##### Other RTP channels

chan_mgcp, chan_h323, chan_skinny and chan_unistim also support TOS and CoS via setting tos and cos parameters in their corresponding configuration files. Naming style and behavior are the same as for chan_sip.

##### Reference

IEEE 802.1Q Standard: http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/download/802.1Q-1998.pdfRelated protocols: IEEE 802.3, 802.2, 802.1D, 802.1Q

RFC 2474 - "Definition of the Differentiated Services Field (DS field) in the IPv4 and IPv6 Headers", Nichols, K., et al, December 1998.

IANA Assignments, DSCP registry Differentiated Services Field Codepoints http://www.iana.org/assignments/dscp-registry
To get the most out of setting the TOS on packets generated by Asterisk, you will need to ensure that your network handles packets with a TOS properly. For Cisco devices, see the previously mentioned "Enterprise QoS Solution Reference Network Design Guide". For Linux systems see the "Linux Advanced Routing & Traffic Control HOWTO" at http://www.lartc.org/.
For more information on Quality of Service for VoIP networks see the "Enterprise QoS Solution Reference Network Design Guide" version 3.3 from Cisco at: http://www.cisco.com/application/pdf/en/us/guest/netsol/ns432/c649/ccmigration_09186a008049b062.pdf