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As illustrated in the diagram above, applications such as Voiceover IP (VoIP) require
low network latencies to function properly. If bandwidth is being used by other
applications such as an FTP server, users using VoIP will experience network lag
and/or service interruptions during use. To avoid this scenario, this network has
assigned VoIP with a guaranteed bandwidth and higher priority to ensure smooth
communications. The FTP server, on the other hand, has been given a maximum
bandwidth cap to make sure that regular service to both VoIP and normal Internet
applications is uninterrupted.
2.2.3 Guaranteed / Maximum Bandwidth
Setting a Guaranteed Bandwidth ensures that a particular service receives a
minimum percentage of bandwidth. For example, you can configure BiGuard 2/10 to
reserve 10% of the available bandwidth for a particular computer on the network to
transfer files.
Alternatively you can set a Maximum Bandwidth to restrict a particular application
to a fixed percentage of the total throughput. Setting a Maximum Bandwidth of 20%
for a file sharing program will ensure that no more than 20% of the available
bandwidth will be used for file sharing.