Activity: Prioritizing Video Traffic over Web Traffic

Objectives

• Understand the concept of traffic prioritization and its impact on network performance
• Explore the challenges and trade-offs involved in prioritizing traffic

Materials

• Network simulator tool or platform (e.g., Cisco Packet Tracer, GNS3, or OpenNet)
• Laptop

Instructions

1. Divide into groups of 3-4 and assign each group a network simulator tool or platform.

2. Discuss the concept of traffic prioritization and how ISPs might prioritize certain types of traffic over others to manage network congestion.

3. Explain that in this activity, you will play the role of an ISP and prioritize video traffic over web traffic.

4. Open your network simulator tool or platform and create a network topology that includes multiple devices such as PCs, servers, routers, and switches.

5. Set up a web server and a video streaming server on separate devices in your network.

6. Configure your network to prioritize video traffic over web traffic. You can use various techniques such as quality of service (QoS) policies, traffic shaping, or bandwidth allocation.

7. Test your network by having some devices access the web server and others access the video streaming server. Observe how your network performs under different traffic conditions and measure the impact of your traffic prioritization rules on network performance.

Discussion

Discuss the trade-offs involved in prioritizing video traffic over web traffic. For example, how does prioritizing video traffic affect the performance of other applications? How does it impact net neutrality principles?