How do shaping and policing differ?

• A. Shaping buffers traffic; policing drops traffic exceeding a rate.
• B. Shaping drops traffic; policing buffers traffic.
• C. Both are the same; buffers vs drops
• D. Shaping and policing both increase throughput.

Answer: (A)

Shaping and policing manage bandwidth in two different ways. Shaping buffers traffic and times its transmission to fit the configured rate, effectively smoothing bursts by delaying some packets so the overall send rate stays within limits. Policing, by contrast, doesn’t rely on a big buffer to smooth out bursts; it monitors the traffic and, if packets exceed the allowed rate, discards (drops) those excess packets or may remark them to a lower priority. So shaping keeps everything flowing, just a bit delayed to stay under the limit, while policing enforces the limit by dropping over-limit traffic.