--- title: Stop the Network-Based Application Recognition Nonsense... description: A network engineer argues against AI-powered Network-Based Application Recognition (NBAR) as a solution for ISP traffic management. The post critiques Cisco's... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/stop-the-network-based-application-recognition-nonsense-ipspace-net-blog-uko8kfegm twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Stop the Network-Based Application Recognition Nonsense « ipSpace.net blog | daily.dev og:description: A network engineer argues against AI-powered Network-Based Application Recognition (NBAR) as a solution for ISP traffic management. The post critiques Cisco's... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/stop-the-network-based-application-recognition-nonsense-ipspace-net-blog-uko8kfegm og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/UKo8KFEgM.png og:image:alt: Stop the Network-Based Application Recognition Nonsense « ipSpace.net blog og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Stop the Network-Based Application Recognition Nonsense « ipSpace.net blog **[ipSpace.net Blog](https://daily.dev/sources/ipspace)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A network engineer argues against AI-powered Network-Based Application Recognition (NBAR) as a solution for ISP traffic management. The post critiques Cisco's Ultra Traffic Optimization AI as marketing-driven complexity, while advocating for simpler, per-user fairness-based congestion management mechanisms like CoDel and RFC 6057. The author draws parallels to past network panics (BitTorrent, video streaming) and suggests that QUIC-based applications will either behave politely or trigger protocol-agnostic countermeasures — without needing deep packet inspection or application-layer intelligence. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What is RFC 6057 and how does it help with network congestion without application recognition? RFC 6057 is a protocol-agnostic congestion management standard — its title explicitly includes 'protocol agnostic' — meaning it can manage network fairness without requiring deep packet inspection or application identification. It works by treating traffic flows equitably regardless of the application generating them, making it a simpler alternative to AI-based traffic classification systems like Cisco's NBAR. _Network engineers evaluating congestion control approaches track protocol-agnostic alternatives like this on daily.dev._ ### What is CoDel and how does it improve ISP congestion management? CoDel (Controlled Delay) is a queue management algorithm designed to reduce bufferbloat by monitoring packet sojourn time rather than queue length. It can be implemented per-user to ensure fair resource sharing without application-layer inspection. Deployments using FQ_CoDel on ISP equipment (including MikroTik routers) have shown significant reductions in bufferbloat and latency at peak load. _ISP engineers choosing between congestion control mechanisms find comparative discussions like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [The impact of AI on wide area network traffic: we need to talk](https://daily.dev/posts/the-impact-of-ai-on-wide-area-network-traffic-we-need-to-talk-gpmnqy1oy) · Cisco · 3 upvotes · 0 comments - [When Open Networks Meet AI Coding: A Tsunami of Smart Enterprise Apps](https://daily.dev/posts/when-open-networks-meet-ai-coding-a-tsunami-of-smart-enterprise-apps-x6nmzrzqi) · DevOps.com · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Why networks face new limits in the age of AI](https://daily.dev/posts/why-networks-face-new-limits-in-the-age-of-ai-jlgrnpsg4) · Cisco · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The Network Is Now the Critical Dependency for AI](https://daily.dev/posts/the-network-is-now-the-critical-dependency-for-ai-r6vzeeetf) · Security Boulevard · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Human Cognition Can’t Keep Up With Modern Networks. What’s Next?](https://daily.dev/posts/human-cognition-can-t-keep-up-with-modern-networks-what-s-next--aroxesgq0) · The New Stack · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#cisco](https://daily.dev/tags/cisco) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/stop-the-network-based-application-recognition-nonsense-ipspace-net-blog-uko8kfegm) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Stop the Network-Based Application Recognition Nonsense « ipSpace.net blog","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/stop-the-network-based-application-recognition-nonsense-ipspace-net-blog-uko8kfegm","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/stop-the-network-based-application-recognition-nonsense-ipspace-net-blog-uko8kfegm"},"datePublished":"2026-08-11T08:55:38.302Z","dateModified":"2026-08-11T09:35:30.054Z","description":"A network engineer argues against AI-powered Network-Based Application Recognition (NBAR) as a solution for ISP traffic management. 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