teams-quality-of-service-recommended-configurations

Teams Quality of Service Recommended Configurations

Quality of Service (QoS) is a huge concern for customers using Microsoft Teams. However, deploying QoS for Teams is not a simple task, but why? Teams’ traffic is mostly encrypted and there is not a way for a network device to identify the traffic type (if it’s either audio, video, or app sharing).  

Before digging deeper into this topic, if you want to know more about the benefits of using Quality of Service in Microsoft teams, read our previous article. 

Picking up where we left, the only way for a network to identify the traffic type is through Network Port Assignment. The policy sets a port range for each service as the following (using Microsoft default values): 

  1. Audio traffic port range: 50,000–50,019 (TCP/UDP) 
  2. Video traffic port range: 50,020–50,039 (TCP/UDP) 
  3. Application Sharing port range: 50,040–50,059 (TCP/UDP) 

How to assign different priority values for each traffic type? 

  1. In Group Policy Management, locate the container where the new policy should be created. I.e., If all your client computers are in an OU named ‘’Clients’’, the new policy should be created in the Clients OU. 
  2. Right-click the appropriate container > Click Create a GPO in this domain > Link it here. 
  3. In the New GPO dialog box, type a name for the new Group Policy object in the Name box > Click OK. 
  4. Right-click the new policy > Click Edit. 
  5. Go to the Group Policy Management Edit > Expand Computer Configuration > Expand Windows Settings > Right-click Policy-based QoS > Click Create new policy. 
  6. Go to the Policy-based QoS dialog box > Type a name for the new policy in the Name box > Select Specify DSCP Value > Set value to 46 > Leave Specify Outbound Throttle Rate unselected > Click Next. 
  7. On the next page, select Only applications with this executable name > Enter the name Teams.exe > Click Next. This setting instructs the policy to only prioritize matching traffic from the Teams Client. 
  8. On the third page, select both Any source IP address and Any destination IP address > Click Next. These two settings ensure that packets will be managed regardless of which computer IP address sent the packets and which will receive them. 
  9. On page four, select TCP and UDP from the Select the protocol this QoS policy applies to drop-down menu. TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol) are the two networking protocols most used. 
  10. Under the heading Specify the source port number, select From this source port or range > In the text box, type the port range reserved for audio transmissions. I.e., if you reserved ports 50000 through 50019 for audio traffic, use 50000:50019 > Click Finish. 

Policies for video and application/desktop sharing

Repeat steps 5-10; replacing the appropriate DSCP values and ports. The new group policy should apply on all domain joined windows machines, but it will not work on different OS or out of domain machines. 

How to make them work on computers with multiple network interfaces? 

  1. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Tcpip\Qos.

*Note: If you don’t have any QoS in the tree, you can create one with Right-click > New > Key > Enter QoS name. 

  1. Create a string value: Right-click > New > String value > Use Do not use NLA for the name and 1 for the value.

After applying the Group policy and changing the registry keys, you will need to restart the computer for the policies to take effect. 

*Note: The network team can then use the provided DSCP tagging on different traffic to differentiate the priority of the traffic depending on the service. 

We know this process might seem complex or tedious. If you still have doubts about it, you can consult the complete QoS in Microsoft Teams guide by Microsoft. However, if you need further assistance, you can always reach out to our Microsoft experts. We are here to help.