Flow-Based QoS Management Architectures for the Next Generation Network

At the extremes of the complexity-performance plane, there are two exemplary QoS management architectures: Integrated Services (IntServ) and Differentiated Services (DiffServ). IntServ performs ideally but is not scalable. DiffServ is simple enough to be adopted in today' core networks, but without any performance guarantee. Many compromise solutions have been proposed. These schemes, called quasi-stateful IntServ or stateful DiffServ, however, have not attracted much attention due to their inherently compromising natures. Two disruptive flow-based architectures have been recently introduced: the flow-aware network (FAN) and the flow-state-aware network (FSA). FAN's control is implicit without any signaling. FSA's control is even more sophisticated than that of IntServ. In this paper, we survey established QoS architectures, review disruptive architectures, discuss their rationales, and points out their disadvantages. A new QoS management architecture, flow-aggregate-based services (FAbS), is then proposed. The FAbS architecture has two novel building blocks: inter-domain flow aggregation and endpoint implicit admission control.