Patent ID: 8149695

Claim:
A method comprising the steps of: entering a PPP (Point to Point Protocol) Multilink-Extension negotiation with a peer network device; comparing a preset number of maximum egress priority queues with a preset number of peer network device egress priority queues; negotiating a number of egress priority queues that is less than or equal to the number of peer network device egress priority queues; instantiating the number of negotiated egress priority queues; establishing, on each peer network device, a matching number of PPP Multilink-Extension classes equal to the number of negotiated egress priority queues; proceeding to negotiate the matching number of Multilink-extension classes with the peer network device, including instantiating the matching number of egress priority queues such that allocation of memory resources supporting the instantiated queues occurs following the negotiation, wherein scheduling resources recognize the instantiated number of egress priority queues rather than a maximum number supportable by either peer; and mapping DSCP (Differentiated Service Code Point) classes to the established PPP Multilink-Extension classes, the DSCP classes indicative of differentiated service level treatment.