Traffic classification
Introduction


**Traffic classification** is an automated process which categorises [computer network](/wiki/Computer_network "Computer network") traffic according to various parameters (for example, based on [port number](/wiki/Port_number "Port number") or [protocol](/wiki/Protocol_%28computing%29 "Protocol (computing)")) into a number of *traffic classes*.[IETF RFC 2475](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2475#section-2.3.1) "An Architecture for Differentiated Services" section 2\.3\.1 \- [IETF](/wiki/IETF "IETF") definition of classifier. Each resulting traffic class can be treated differently in order to differentiate the service implied for the data generator or consumer.


What are the consequences of not implementing traffic classification?