Hierarchical scheduling for DiffServ classes

Due to its simplicity and scalability, the differentiated services (DiffServ) model is expected to be widely deployed across the Internet. For each DiffServ compliant router, the scheduling algorithm is critical in implementing per hop behaviors (PHBs), according to which packets are forwarded. We propose a hierarchical DiffServ scheduling (HDS) algorithm to support DiffServ classes on input-queued switches. The proposed HDS algorithm features in a hierarchical scheduling scheme that consists of two levels of schedulers. One level is the central scheduler which is designed to maximize the switch throughput by computing a maximal size matching between input ports and output ports. The other level is formed by input port schedulers which provide differentiated services by serving cells belonging to different classes dynamically. Using such a hierarchical scheme, the implementation complexity and the amount of information needed to be transmitted between input ports and the central scheduler are dramatically reduced compared with existing maximal weight matching based DiffServ scheduling algorithms. The tradeoff of its slightly worse delay performance is acceptable.