Configuring Advanced QoS Classes

The new ANTlabs Advanced QoS allows administrators to configure intricate bandwidth allocation policies for users in your network. With the way people are consuming data these days, it is important to achieve fair sharing of bandwidth among users so user experience will not suffer.

One of the unique features of the ANTlabs Advanced QoS 3-stage engine is its capability to allow multiple devices to share a single bandwidth rate limit per user. For example, you wish to allocate 1MB per guest. Each guest will only use up this amount of bandwidth among his/her devices and it will be shared equally.

With Advanced QoS 3-stage engine, bandwidth utilization can be maximized by creating differentiated classes of services for different groups of users.

How to Manage Network Bandwidth Using ANTlabs Advanced QoS Classes

Login to your gateway admin and go to Bandwidth > QoS Class. You will find the three Advanced QoS classes when you click and expand Advanced Settings:

Guaranteed Bandwidth Tier (GBT)

This tier has the highest priority and is typically reserved for users who need higher quality bandwidth no matter how many users there are in the system. Users in guaranteed bandwidth tier shall always get the requested bandwidth in total. Bandwidth will be divided equally among all users in the same tier in a dynamic manner based on the total number of users who requested for it. For example, 10MBps is allocated for this class and there are 10 users. If there are only two active users requesting for bandwidth, then each user will get 5 Mbps. When other users start to request for bandwidth, the bandwidth will be dynamically adjusted accordingly.

This is class is suitable for (but not limited to) large venues, conferences and company guests staying in hotels. ANTlabs Advanced QoS enables you to have up to 30 guaranteed bandwidth tiers.

Premium Tier (CT)

Higher bandwidth is shared among premium users or VIPs in this tier and excess bandwidth from other tiers may be used if available. This is usually what is offered for paid internet usage in lounges, waiting rooms, and other visitor-based networks. This tier typically guarantees best quality of service.

Complimentary Tier (CT)

The connectivity in this tier has the lowest priority. All users share the allocated bandwidth and is suitable for non-paying guests or those who just need basic Internet access.

Customizing Further with Settings & Shaping

The Settings and Shaping tabs show you additional options that allow you to fine-tune bandwidth allocation even more.

In Settings, you can choose to assign network devices and MAC addresses to your different pre-defined QoS classes.

Shaping tab takes it even further by allowing you to prioritize apps that need connectivity. When enabled, you can assign what percentage apps take from your pre-assigned Download and Upload limits. For example, you want to increase bandwidth for Streaming or throttle down P2P users, you may do so in this area.

Advanced QoS Plus Settings

You can create and customize different traffic shaping rules for specific application traffic types.  These can then be later tied to different user groups.

Apply even finer control by customizing the bandwidth to individual plans that will be applied to a specific user group(s).  Choose from specific category of traffic type and tie it to the QoS Class rule created earlier.   Access these settings anywhere on the ASP from the Cloud.

Conclusion

ANTlabs Advanced QoS allows you to manage bandwidth easily in such a way that the different needs of your users are met and to ensure the fair sharing of bandwidth, especially when it is limited.

In our previous post, we introduced Plans and how establishments can set it up to meet different needs of users. This time, we will discuss use case scenarios to better illustrate the use of IG 4 Plans in different environments. We shall delve more on the most common use case scenario: Fixed Duration

Use Case 1: Unlimited

Unlimited Plan is typically used in corporate environment where there is no need to enforce quota. Staff users can get internet access whenever they are logged in the office network. This may also be applicable to campuses, serviced apartments and similar network setups where users often get unlimited Internet access.

Use Case 2: Fixed Duration

Fixed duration is often used in hotels and other visitor-based networks. Time count down usually starts from the guest’s first login and ends usually on the day the guest checks out.

Here is a sample list of plans for a hotel:Guests typically get free WiFi and there are usually way more users on this plan type. Bandwidth, however, is not limitless. In order to ensure fair use and a generally good experience for all guests, free Internet access is limited at a reasonable speed. In our example, 3Mbps access is shared for guests with free access.

Hotels may want to provide faster Internet connection to VIPs and this can be done easily by simply selecting the VIP plan (e.g. 3 days (10 devices) – Free (VIP)). Here is an example of how you can customize the VIP plan further:In this example, download and upload bandwidth are set to 10Mbps, which is higher than that of the regular guests with free access. VIPs can also use the same account for up to 10 devices (as set in this example) while the regular free access only allows account sharing for up to 3 devices. Seamless relogin is also enabled so that whenever the guest is within the coverage area, he/she need not go through the login page again to get WiFi connectivity.

There are times when you may need to assign a public IP (e.g. webcasting) and you may opt to create a separate plan for it if your establishment or venue has a lot of guests who would request this.

Here is a sample diagram of a typical hospitality network with various zones:

In our diagram, zones have different account provisioning and authentication methods. Guests can then choose the plans they want at the login page.

Use Case 3: Stored Duration

This scenario is comparable to mobile voice prepaid plans wherein balance is only deducted when used. This is often used with the auto-logout feature to prevent overcharging. Some establishments may offer prepaid Internet (e.g prepaid scratch cards) and go for this plan type so that their customers may get access only when needed and as long as he or she still has available balance. This may be used in transit lounges or any establishment where prepaid Internet access is more suitable.

In our example here, this Stored Duration plan grants 72 hours (3 days) to the user and there is no expiry date as to when this should be consumed:

Use Case 4: Stored Volume

Stored Volume is comparable to mobile data prepaid usage where a user is given a specific volume for consumption. It Is common in Australia and the Middle East. For example, establishments would like to allocate 650Mb per user and then throttle the users down when it is exceeded or automatically log them out of the network. It is generally preferred to just throttle them down at minimum speed when users have hit their assigned data cap.

Conclusion

As shown in these use case scenarios, user experience can be improved through IG4’s intelligent bandwidth management. IG 4 enables establishments to meet the Internet connectivity needs of practically every kind of user and this is easily done by setting up Plans.