Configuring the Quality of Service priority for a virtual Ethernet adapter

You can dynamically configure the Quality of Service (QoS) priority of a virtual Ethernet adapter of a running logical partition by using the Hardware Management Console (HMC). You can prioritize the logical partition network traffic by specifying the value of IEEE 802.1Q priority level for each virtual Ethernet adapter.

1. In the navigation pane, open Systems Management > Servers, and click the system on which the logical partition is located.
2. In the work pane, select the logical partition on which you want to configure the virtual Ethernet adapter, click the Tasks button, and click Dynamic partitioning > Virtual Adapters.
3. In the work pane, select the virtual Ethernet adapter to be edited, click Actions > Edit > Ethernet Adapter.
4. Click the Advanced tab.
5. To disable the Quality of Service (QoS) function for the virtual Ethernet adapter, select Disabled. To enable the Quality of Service (QoS) function for the virtual Ethernet adapter, you must select a priority level number from the Quality of Service (QoS) list.

   The virtual Ethernet QoS priority level values are in the range of 1 - 7. The following table lists the different priority levels.

   VLAN user priority level	Quality of Service priority
   1	Background
   2	Spare
   0 (default)	Best effort
   3	Excellent effort
   4	Controlled load
   5	Video < 100 ms latency and jitter
   6	Voice < 10 ms latency and jitter
   7	Network control

   Using this scheme, packets with VLAN priority of 7 are given the highest Quality of Service.
6. Click OK.