Editing Traffic shaping (section)

==Functionality==
If a link becomes utilized to the point where there is a significant level of [[Network congestion|congestion]], latency can rise substantially. Traffic shaping can be used to prevent this from occurring and keep latency in check. Traffic shaping provides a means to control the volume of traffic being sent into a network in a specified period ([[bandwidth throttling]]), or the maximum rate at which the traffic is sent ([[rate limiting]]), or more complex criteria such as [[generic cell rate algorithm]]. This control can be accomplished in many ways and for many reasons; however traffic shaping is always achieved by delaying packets.

Traffic shaping is commonly applied at the network edges to control traffic entering the network, but can also be applied by the traffic source (for example, computer or [[network card]]<ref>[[IEEE]] INFOCOM 2001. Arsenic: a user-accessible [[gigabit Ethernet]] interface [[Ian Pratt (computer scientist)|Pratt, I.]],   Fraser, K., [[University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory|Computer Laboratory]], [[Cambridge University]];  Twentieth Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies. Proceedings 2001 Volume 1,  pages: 67-76 vol.1.  Describes a gigabit Ethernet NIC with transmit traffic shaping.</ref>) or by an element in the network.