TCP/IP in Windows 2000 Professional

Quality of Service (QoS) facilitates the deployment of media-rich applications, such as video conferencing and Internet Protocol (IP) telephony. QoS also improves the performance of traditional mission-critical (qualitative) software such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications. Through the full implementation of QoS in a Windows 2000 domain, QoS-aware applications running on Windows 2000 – based clients can be provided a guaranteed or prioritized level of delivery service, while allowing centralized management of network resources.

Understand the purpose and function of Quality of Service and how it is implemented in your network.    Although largely implemented through a collection of servers, switches, and routers, an understanding of QoS in Windows 2000 is critical to the successful implementation of QoS at a Windows 2000 Professional– based client. This section explains the architecture of QoS, the protocols used, and provides a scenario to demonstrate these concepts. See Overview of Quality of Service and Windows 2000 QoS Components in this chapter.

Verify that the client meets requirements to implement QoS, and install the QoS Packet Scheduler.    In order to successfully implement QoS on a Windows 2000 Professional– based client, the client must meet hardware and software requirements. In addition, the QoS Packet Scheduler must be installed for each Windows 2000 Professional– based client that requests QoS. See QoS Configuration Requirements in this chapter.