Assign Categories to Classes

Note: This feature is not available in PacketSeeker or PacketShaper ISP. In addition, if you have not enabled the Easy Configure feature, you cannot assign categories to classes.

By assigning a category (Mission Critical, Average, Low Priority, or Prohibited) to a class, you can let Easy Configure determine and create an appropriate policy. For example, if you assign Mission Critical to a particular class that is known to be throughput sensitive, Easy Configure will create a policy with high priority for excess bandwidth. Or, if you assign Prohibited to a class, a never-admit policy will be created.

When the Easy Configure feature is enabled, PacketWise places newly discovered traffic classes in the Inbound/AutoDiscovered or Outbound/AutoDiscovered folders. Any classes that existed before you enabled Easy Configure are also moved into the AutoDiscovered folders and will be assigned a burstable rate policy with a zero minimum at priority 3. However, if the class previously had a non-zero rate policy assigned to it, this policy will remain in effect after Easy Configure is enabled.

On a regular basis, you should look at the classes in the AutoDiscovered folders and move them to the appropriate category. Classes in the AutoDiscovered folder are treated like traffic in the Average category, which may not always be appropriate. Categorizing mission-critical applications is especially important — make sure you assign these classes to the MissionCritical category right away.

To assign a category to a class:

1. Click the top ten tab on the navigation bar. The Top Ten window appears.  show screen

Note: The Categories column indicates the current category assigned to each class. If the class has not yet been categorized, the field displays Select a category. Some classes, such as Default and Localhost, cannot be categorized.

2. If the class is listed in the Inbound or Outbound section of the Top Ten report, select the desired category from the Categorize drop-down list.

Note: For examples of services that are typical for each category, see Category Examples.

• Mission Critical is for the most important applications on the network; high priority is given to these applications to keep them running smoothly and efficiently. Essentially, if the application is important to the operation of the business and is a "real-time" application (as opposed to a "batch" application that can wait a few moments for its turn), it belongs in Mission Critical. This category is appropriate for traffic that is time-sensitive — for example, when people are waiting at their workstations for the network to respond.
• Average is for applications that can be downgraded when resources are in contention, in order to give precedence to mission-critical applications. These applications are important to the operation of business, but don't need immediate responsiveness.
• Low Priority is for applications that can be used, but should not disrupt normal business operations; some delay is acceptable. Applications that are not essential to the operation of your business (such as web surfing and Internet radio) belong in the Low Priority category.
• Prohibited is for services you don't want to allow on your network. Applications that are prohibited by company policy or harm the network belong in the Prohibited category.

3. Repeat the above step for any other classes.

4. When you're finished, click apply.

To categorize a class that is not listed in the Top Ten report:

1. Click the top ten tab on the navigation bar. The Top Ten window appears.

2. From the View drop-down list, select one of the following:

• All Classes — lists all classes (categorized and uncategorized)
• Category - Auto Discovered — lists all classes in the AutoDiscovered folder (classes that have not yet been categorized)

3. Locate the class you want to categorize and select the desired category from the Categorize drop-down list.

Note: If the class doesn't exist yet, you can create it by clicking add classes at the top of the window. See Add and Categorize Classes.

4. When you're done categorizing classes, click apply.

5. Click OK to confirm.

When you assign classes to categories, a couple things happen:

• Appropriate rate or priority polices are created for the class. Mission Critical classes are given a higher priority than Average classes which are in turn are given higher priority than Low Priority classes. Easy Configure assigns rate policies to applications that are primarily TCP-based and priority policies to applications that are primarily UDP-based.
• The classes assigned to a category are placed into the appropriate hierarchical partition. For example, if you assign /Inbound/HTTP and /Inbound/MPEG-Audio to the Mission Critical category, these two classes are placed into the /Inbound/MissionCritical partition. These partitions appear as folders on the traffic tree.

Citrix and Easy Configure

If a Citrix class is autodiscovered after Easy Configure is enabled, it is automatically assigned a 20k minimum rate policy, burstable at priority 6 to no limit.

If a Citrix class existed before you enabled Easy Configure and it did not have a policy, it will be assigned the default policy for the AutoDiscovered folder (burstable rate policy with a zero minimum at priority 3). After you have ultimately moved the Citrix class to its proper Easy Configure folder, be sure to change its policy from the default policy to one that works for your environment (the PacketWise suggested policy is a 20k minimum burstable rate policy).