Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) overview

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) overview

Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) is a field in an IP packet that enables different levels of service to be assigned to network traffic. This is achieved by marking each packet on the network with a DSCP code and appropriating to it the corresponding level of service.

DSCP is the combination of IP Precedence and Type of Service fields. In order to work with legacy routers that only support IP Precedence, DSCP values are used because they are compatible with IP Precedence fields. For more information, see RFC 2474 at the RFC Editor Web site.

How DSCP works

Quality of Service (QoS)-enabled programs request a specific service type for a traffic flow through the generic QoS (GQoS) application programming interface (API). The available service types are:

  • Guaranteed service

    Guaranteed service provides high quality, quantifiable guarantees with bounded (guaranteed minimum) latency.

  • Controlled load service

    Controlled load service provides high quality, quantifiable guarantees without bounded latency.

DSCP is a six-bit field carrying the default values that are displayed in the following table. The equivalent IP Precedence and IEEE 802.1p values are shown in separate columns.

Service Type DSCP IP Precedence IEEE 802.1p

Network control

30

6

7

Guaranteed

28

5

5

Controlled load

18

3

3

All other traffic

0

0

0

Notes