300-420 Question 254
Single answerAn enterprise network design includes a branch office connected to the headquarters via a WAN link with limited bandwidth. To ensure critical applications such as VoIP traffic are prioritized while still allowing non-critical applications to use excess bandwidth when available, the design team is considering traffic shaping. Which of the following statements best describes how traffic shaping can achieve this requirement?
- A
Traffic shaping buffers excess packets and releases them at a regulated rate to prevent exceeding the WAN bandwidth.
- B
Traffic shaping strictly drops excess packets exceeding the configured threshold, prioritizing only critical traffic.
- C
Traffic shaping dynamically adjusts the WAN link's physical bandwidth to meet real-time traffic demands.
- D
Traffic shaping ensures that lower-priority traffic is dropped entirely when higher-priority traffic is detected.
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
Traffic shaping regulates the traffic flow by buffering excess packets and releasing them at a defined rate, ensuring that critical traffic (like VoIP) is prioritized. Unlike policing, which drops excess packets, shaping allows non-critical traffic to use available bandwidth, aligning with the enterprise's requirement for efficient bandwidth utilization.
- A. Correct.
Traffic shaping buffers excess packets in a queue and releases them at a controlled rate, ensuring that critical traffic can be prioritized while still allowing non-critical traffic to utilize unused bandwidth.
- B. Incorrect.
This describes policing, not shaping. Policing drops packets exceeding the configured rate, which does not align with the requirement to allow non-critical traffic to use excess bandwidth.
- C. Incorrect.
Traffic shaping does not dynamically adjust physical bandwidth; instead, it regulates outbound traffic to conform to a specified rate, ensuring efficient use of bandwidth.
- D. Incorrect.
Traffic shaping does not drop lower-priority traffic entirely; rather, it regulates traffic flow to ensure bandwidth is used efficiently and avoids congestion.