Building a NOC
Morgan Sarges
blip at morgan.iw.net
Tue Mar 24 16:55:51 UTC 1998
On 24-Mar-98 Howard C. Berkowitz wrote:
> At 09:22 +0000 3/24/98, Bill Unsworth wrote:
>>At 08:52 AM 3/23/98 -0500, you wrote:
[snip]
The notes below will be a keeper for our organization for some time.
We are in the process of building a NOC. Anyone interested in hearing
the progress (or lack of) thus far, let me know and I can email some
of the information direct.
Thanks to those who contributed to the list below, I will be using it
much from now on.
Morgan
>
> The anecdotes in this discussion thread, I think, are definitely worth
> keeping somewhere, although I'm not sure of the venue. Some of us had been
> vaguely chatting in Albuquerque about a documentation part of the NANOG web
> page.
>
> But some non-obvious threads are surfacing in this discussion, at least
> non-obvious if you haven't been there. Restating a few of the less obvious
> ones,
>
> -- Define the NOC's function
>
> -- Define the NOC's audience, including people that will have no useful
> function but do have political influence that MUST be satisfied
>
> -- When considering a physical site, do a careful and paranoid threat
> of the planned space, the building, and its immediate environs. You
> will want to identify possible hazards including fire, flood, etc.
>
> -- Consider how you will get large equipment in and out of the site,
> especially those that might need emergency replacement. What if the
> building is on limited power and the elevator is down? Some buildings
> have to have large equipment lifted in with a crane or helicopter.
> Air conditioning equipment or major power supplies are examples of
> very hard to handle components.
>
> -- As part of the site survey, understand how electrical power and
> communications feeders come into the space and building. Are there
> alternatives for redundancy?
>
> -- Will there be a backup NOC, even consisting of a node into which staff
> can dial?
>
> -- Do a thorough electrical requirmements plan, and be sure the grounding
> system is up to current practices. When devices have multiple power
> supplies (e.g., Cisco 7000/7500), be sure they are plugged into circuits
> on different breakers.
>
> -- Think through who will be planning, installing, and inspecting signal
> cabling. If it's a union shop, or especially if non-union personnel
> will be doing any work in a union area, see if you can get the shop
> steward on your side.
>
> -- Be sure cellular/cordless phones will work in all your wire closets,
> or be sure there are voice jacks where a telephone set can be plugged
> in to coordinate testing.
>
> -- When planning cable runs, be sure you can access critical components
> that otherwise might be buried under a heavy mass of cables. Plan the
> runs so they will not interfere with cards sliding in and out of
> chassis.
>
> -- Beware of snakes, floor drains, shock hazards, etc., under raised
> floors.
>
> -- Consider backup facilities for critical people. If there was a major
> disaster that isolated the site, but still let some of its function
> work,
> where will staff sleep? Are there emergency food supplies (not a bad
> idea even beyond major disasters -- if people are working around the
> clock, it's good to have alternatives besides pizza, if that is
> available)?
>
>
> Especially if you are in earthquake or amorous rat country, think about
> catastrophes that can knock out the NOC but leave parts of your network
> working.
>
>
-----------------------------------------
Morgan Sarges Voice Phone: 605-338-8334
blip at morgan.iw.net Fax: 605-335-3942
System Administrator
Dakota Telecommunications Group, Internet Division
Network Operations Center
No man is an island, but some of us are long peninsulas.
PGP Public Key block available upon request.
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