Resource ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP) is a protocol that provides
a mechanism to reserve resources in support of Integrated Services.
The z/OS® UNIX RSVP agent provides the following services
on behalf of applications that want to use Integrated Services:
- An RSVP API (RAPI) that allows applications to explicitly request
RSVP services. Using RAPI, applications indicate their intent to send
or receive data, describe the characteristics of the data traffic
and request that RSVP reserve resources along the data path to provide
a given QoS to one or more traffic flows. For more information about
RAPI, see z/OS Communications Server: IP Programmer's Guide
and Reference.
- Mapping of IP ToS settings to RSVP traffic, using policies defined
for RSVP.
- Establishment of resource reservations on ATM interfaces by use
of reserved SVC connections.
Note: Resource reservations cannot be
made on interfaces other than ATM for outbound traffic on z/OS. However, RSVP-capable routers
in the network can still reserve resources, and the ToS byte can be
set for RSVP traffic to provide further means of prioritizing traffic.
- Support for VIPA addresses as well as real IP addresses.
- Communication with other RSVP agents on hosts and routers in the
network to communicate application resource reservation requests.
Network administrators can use the z/OS UNIX Policy Agent to define RSVP-specific
policies. These policies can be used to limit the parameters of application-requested
resource reservations, provide ToS mappings for RSVP traffic, and
limit the number of traffic flows that can use RSVP services simultaneously.
RSVP is designed to be implemented on both end systems (hosts)
and routers. Different functions are provided by RSVP in these two
environments. The z/OS RSVP
agent is supported as a host RSVP implementation only. It can communicate
with router RSVP implementations, but is not itself supported as such.
For more information about RSVP, see RFC 2205.