Patent ID: 7505411

Claim:
A method of testing the ability of a network topology to handle assumed traffic flows with multiple QoS levels and for configuring assumed network traffic flows with multiple QoS levels in the network, comprising: determining a topology of the network including node locations and links that interconnect the nodes; determining a number of logical queues for each of the nodes; assigning, for each of the queues, routing weights for each class of traffic in a plurality of scheduling mechanism classes corresponding to respective priority for the classes of traffic; assigning assumed flows of network traffic to the queues on a link-by-link basis; determining whether the multiple QoS levels are satisfied for the assumed network traffic flows on the assigned queues; re-assigning, if the multiple QoS levels are not satisfied, a portion of the assumed network traffic on a selected traffic link that does not meet a first one of the multiple QoS levels from a first one of the scheduling mechanism classes to a second one of the scheduling mechanism classes which is higher priority than the first one of the scheduling mechanism classes; and determining whether the traffic re-assignment on the selected traffic link results in the multiple QoS levels being satisfied for the assumed traffic flows.