ALTQ(4)

NAME
ALTQ - alternate queuing of network packets

SYNOPSIS
options ALTQ

options ALTQ_CBQ
options ALTQ_RED
options ALTQ_RIO
options ALTQ_HFSC
options ALTQ_CDNR
options ALTQ_PRIQ

DESCRIPTION
The ALTQ framework provides several disciplines for queuing outgoing network packets. This is done by modifications to the interface packet queues. See altq(9) for details.

The user interface for ALTQ is implemented by the pfctl(8) utility, so please refer to the pfctl(8) and the pf.conf(5) manpages for a complete description of the ALTQ capabilities and how to use it.

  Kernel Options
The following options in the kernel configuration file are related to ALTQ operation:

ALTQ
    Enable ALTQ.
ALTQ_CBQ
    Build the “Class Based Queuing” discipline.
ALTQ_RED
    Build the “Random Early Detection” extension.
ALTQ_RIO
    Build “Random Early Drop” for input and output.
ALTQ_HFSC
    Build the “Hierarchical Packet Scheduler” discipline.
ALTQ_CDNR
    Build the traffic conditioner. This option is meaningless at the moment as the conditioner is not used by any of the available disciplines or consumers.
ALTQ_PRIQ
    Build the “Priority Queuing” discipline.
ALTQ_NOPCC
    Required if the TSC is unusable.
ALTQ_DEBUG
    Enable additional debugging facilities.

Note that ALTQ-disciplines cannot be loaded as kernel modules. In order to use a certain discipline you have to build it into a custom kernel. The pf(4) interface, that is required for the configuration process of ALTQ can be loaded as a module.

SUPPORTED DEVICES
The driver modifications described in altq(9) are required to use a certain network card with ALTQ. They have been applied to the following hardware drivers: ae(4), age(4), alc(4), ale(4), an(4), ath(4), aue(4), axe(4), bce(4), bfe(4), bge(4), cas(4), cxgbe(4), dc(4), de(4), ed(4), em(4), ep(4), epair(4), et(4), fxp(4), gem(4), hme(4), igb(4), ipw(4), iwi(4), ixgbe(4), jme(4), le(4), msk(4), mxge(4), my(4), nfe(4), nge(4), npe(4), nve(4), qlxgb(4), ral(4), re(4), rl(4), rum(4), sf(4), sge(4), sis(4), sk(4), ste(4), stge(4), ti(4), txp(4), udav(4), ural(4), vge(4), vr(4), vte(4), wi(4), and xl(4).

The ndis(4) framework also has support for ALTQ and thus all encapsulated drivers.

The tun(4) and ng_iface(4) pseudo drivers also do support ALTQ.

SEE ALSO
pf(4), pf.conf(5), ipfw(8), pfctl(8), altq(9)