Traffic Shaping and Policing

Both shaping and policing mechanisms are used in a network to control the rate at which traffic is admitted into the network. Both mechanisms use classification, so they can differentiate traffic. They also use metering to measure the rate of traffic and compare it to the configured shaping or policing polic y. The difference between shaping and policing can be described in terms of their rate-limiting implementation: n Shaping meters the traffic rate and delays excessive traffic so that it stays within the desired rate limit. With shaping, traffic bursts are smoothed out producing a steadier flow of data. Reducing traffic bursts helps reduce congestion in the core of...