[This is preliminary documentation and subject to change.]
To achieve manageable and predictable QOS from one end of the network to the other, the collection of components that must communicate and interact results in a fairly complex process. For just a few examples, GQOS has the intrinsic ability to facilitate priority along every step along a packet's journey: in the sender's network stack, at the switch, and even at each QOS-enabled router hop. GQOS also has the ability to facilitate how much data should and can be sent in a given length of time, maximum burst rates, and overall bandwidth utilization rights… which can be configured based on administratively configurable user rights. These functional capabilities only scratch the tip of the GQOS iceberg. GQOS is comprised of a number of components.
The following figure shows where many of the GQOS components reside in relation to the network stack, where communication occurs between and among them, and where certain interfaces such as APIs facilitate developing GQOS services.
Note that this is an individual node's network stack view, not a functional schematic of how GQOS operates over a given network. Some of these components have further defined subcomponents, each of which is explained under GQOS Components.