What Is Traffic Contract?
Traffic contracts are the stuff of dreams. You need one if you're a service that wants to transmit data traffic over an ATM network. If you're a network willing to communicate data traffic over an ATM network, you must deal with them. Traffic contracts are how services request a connection to the network and describe what they'll be transmitting over it, and they're also how networks accept and deliver those requests. After receiving the request, the network forwards this request to the service responsible for transmitting data traffic over the ATM network. After receiving this request, the service allocates necessary resources for sending data traffic over the ATM network, encodes data traffic, and then encapsulates data traffic within the ATM cell. After this, the service sends the ATM cell to the ATM network. ATM network receives ATM cell and then decapsulates ATM cell. After the decapsulation of the ATM cell, the ATM network forwards the ATM cell to the service responsible for transmitting data traffic over the ATM network. After the receipt of the ATM cell, the service encodes the ATM cell and then encapsulates the ATM cell within data traffic. The application's software must generate the correct protocol settings for the connection type. For example, suppose an application is designed to communicate with a remote host via an IP address. In that case, it must generate the correct IP settings, such as IP address, IP subnet mask, etc. Similarly, suppose an application is designed to communicate with a remote host via a leased line. In that case, it must generate the correct settings for the leased line, such as framing protocol - T1/E1, data rate - DS3/E3, etc. The ATM world is all about negotiation. ATM networks are set up to negotiate with the service/application running on your platform. As you can imagine, it's many back-and-forths before all the specifications for a particular connection are agreed upon. It is why ensuring that you're using an ATM network tested and proven in the field over time is essential.
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