Quality of service (QoS)

View and configure quality of service (QoS) settings on Sophos Switch.

QoS lets you implement priority queuing within a network. QoS provides consistent and predictable data delivery to the switch by distinguishing between packets with stricter timing requirements and those more tolerant of delays. QoS enables traffic to be prioritized while avoiding excessive broadcast and multicast traffic. Traffic such as voice and video streaming which requires minimal delays can be assigned to a high-priority queue. Other traffic can be assigned to a lower-priority queue, resulting in uninterrupted actions. Without QoS, all traffic data is as likely to be dropped when the network is congested. This can reduce network performance and hinder the network in time-critical situations.

In a switch, multiple queues per port are often provided to give preference to certain packets based on user-defined criteria. When a packet is queued for transmission within a port, the processing rate depends on how the queue is configured and the amount of traffic present within other queues on the port. If a delay is necessary, packets are held in the queue until they're authorized for transmission.

To configure QoS, see the following pages:

• General settings.
• Ports.
• Policies.