Liked Netflix’s throttling, where customers who order lots of movies get screwed by an algorithm that pushes them down the queue? Well, Windows Vista is getting throttling, too, but it isn’t half as bad.
Microsoft is testing a “Quality of Service” feature for Vista and Longhorn server that would prioritize network traffic to optimize bandwidth usage. Basically, if you’re using a priority continuous bandwidth application, like VOIP or streaming video, and you also click on a web page, the web page will utilize the minimum amount of bandwidth, so as to keep the other applications flowing nicely.
Microsoft said the new QoS features coming in the Vista and Longhorn Server work in concert with existing router and switch-based queuing and traffic prioritization. This lets administrators, using Group Policy, prioritize or throttle outbound network traffic without changes to existing applications.
The network equipment interprets the RFC compliant DSCP markings to manage bandwidth usage. When you do this at the host, administrators can take advantage of such security controls as IPsec, without having to sacrifice the cost savings and resource optimization made possible by QoS, Microsoft said.
QoS technology has been emerging over at least a decade. Its mechanisms are largely attempts to prevent one workload from starving another by using more of the system’s resources. By putting QoS in Longhorn or Vista, Microsoft said an IT department can define flexible policies though Active Directory Group Policy Objects to prioritize or throttle outbound applications without making changes to their applications.
So long as Microsoft adopts this well, it could just be another thing Vista does better. I’m just hoping they implement it for home users (or at least Home Premium users), prioritizing wireless network traffic, so that when my wireless network is talking to Media Extenders and internet applications, everything is balanced as well as possible to best manage all of that.
(via Longhorn Buzz)
Nathan Weinberg writes the popular InsideGoogle blog, offering the latest news and insights about Google and search engines.
Visit the InsideGoogle blog.
