4.3 Background

4.3 Background

Now that we have the user, application, device, and network requirements developed, listed, and mapped in the requirements specification, we will further analyze these requirements based on their end-to-end characteristics. We will use the concept of a flow, which, for an end-to-end connection, has constant addressing and service requirements, to combine performance requirements in a useful way. These characteristics will be analyzed and combined, per flow, into a flow specification, or flowspec. This will be used for capacity and service planning.

This chapter introduces flows and flow concepts, data sources and sinks, and flow models, which will help us identify, size, and describe flows. We will also develop cumulative performance requirements for each flow.