3com Corporation

Daniel M Budinger

John G Fijolek

Irene Gilbert

Narij Jain

Phillip T Robinson

Methods and system for service level agreement enforcement on a data-over-cable system. One or more service level agreements are created including one or more class-of-service or quality-of-service parameters. A pool of Internet Protocol addresses is allocated for the one or more service level agreements. Configuration files including service level agreement parameters are used to initialize cable modems or customer premise equipment. When a cable modem or customer premise equipment requests use of a service level agreement, an Internet Protocol address from the pool of Internet Addresses associated with a desired service level agreement is assigned. The service level agreements are enforced using the Internet Protocol address from a cable modem termination system including an integral switch cable access router and a bandwidth manager. The cable modem termination system with integral components are duplicated to provide a &ldquo;hot back&rdquo; up in case of failure and increase reliability for using service level agreements. The cable access router enforces maximum rate limits for service level agreements. The switch switches data streams from external networks from the data-over-cable system. The bandwidth manager provides class-of-service or quality-of-service services with policy management and detects network trends, measures network response time and generates reports. The bandwidth manager also monitors, regulates and shapes traffic based on service level agreement requests at a data-link layer level. The methods and system allow service level agreements to be used on a data-over-cable system without adversely affecting performance or throughput on the data-over-cable system. The methods and system may also help provide service level agreements in a data-over-cable system in a more reliable manner.

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Arlington Heights, IL, United States of America

Daniel M Budinger