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971003:1520: Fiber-cut in Michigan
by Chris Layne 06 Oct '97

06 Oct '97

Just wanted to let everyone know: MCI/Sprint/WorldCom are experiencing a fiber-cut between Detroit MI, and Wayne MI. == Chris Layne ===================================== Network Administrator == == clayne(a)noc.netcom.net ======================= NETCOM Network Operations ==

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The List
by CobraNet's Head Administrator 05 Oct '97

05 Oct '97

Does anyone on this list know who actually monitors this list. If so can you please email me the email address of the owner? Thank You, �� Thomas C. Edwards aka NiteHawk Head Administrator Cobra IRC Network Providence.RI.US.Cobra.Net WebSite: http://www.cobra.net ��

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Re: Results of North American NOC contact information verification
by Sean Donelan 03 Oct '97

03 Oct '97

Well, we're slowly creeping upwards. Through e-mail I've resolved some more obsolete information, and now verified 36 telephone contacts through today before I heard about the fiber cut north of Chicago and stopped. I have about five more NOC's which sent me updated information overnight which I still need to verify. Several, many, people asked how their ISP did, and a two suggested a "hall of shame." I'm not ready to make a hall of shame, because its likely I can't contact some ISPs is because of my own faulty information. However, I have made a "Hall of Success." <http://dranet.dra.com/verify-contact.html> You should not draw any inferences because a NOC is not listed. Being listed means someone answered one of the telephone numbers and verified the information or returned a voicemail message before the end of the day and verified the information. -- Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO Affiliation given for identification not representation

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Re: [NOOP] 24x7 NOC.. (fwd)
by Matthew R. Meyer 03 Oct '97

03 Oct '97

On Fri, 3 Oct 1997, Selina F. Priestley wrote: > > Something that worked pretty well in our NOC back in the day was a > 10 hour work day, three week schedule that went something like this: > > 6 days of work > 2 days off > 2 days of work > 1 day off > 4 days of work > 6 days off > Selina, I came in shortly after you went to eng. At that point the schedule must have changed and was: (CAPS on, lowercase off) WTFSsMTwTFsSMTWtfssmt o first 4 dats were a breeze (you just got back from 6days off) o then take off a weekend day for a rest o next Monday & Tuesday (the busiest phone days of the wk) o then take a Wednesday off o and coast through a less busy Thursday & Friday o followed by a weekend day off o the uphill 4 starts with a lazy Sunday (you've started loosing momentum, luckily it's Sun) Followed by Mon, Tue, Wed - each which are only bearable because you are looking forward to your... o 6 days off. Seriously, the psychological advantages were unmistakable. And yes, people did not want to leave the NOC. After we changed the schedule to it's current rotation, work seemed to never end and the days you seemed to get off were always lame t-w or w-th blocks. It is not just how many days, but which days you get off when you are in the thick. I never minded the 10 hours - I would have ended up putting it in 5 days a week anyway :-). There were a few sticking points: 1. Students - we got around their schedules with employee managed shift swaps. People were always taking mini vacations and happy to trade. We also had a floater and if all else failed, shift managers or OT. 2. Weekend coverage was half staffed - if you need more weekend staff you'll need a less desirable rotation or OT. I'd give this rotation a thumbs up as well. That's about it. Matthew R. Meyer ANS Network Engineering

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[NOOP] 24x7 NOC..
by Jamie Rishaw 03 Oct '97

03 Oct '97

We're in the process of developing a 24x7 NOC, and can agree upon about everything except scheduling. We have a few ideas, all of which have really bad downsides: - 4day, 10hour rotation. 2-hour overlap. - Downside is overlap, and the fact that nobody will have a regular schedule.. they'll be M-Th, then T-Fr, W-Sa, Th-Su, Fr-Mo.. bleh. - M-F 9-hour shifts, Sa-Su 2x12-hour shifts - Downside is the Sa-Su people are just "extras". - Su-We, We-Sa 10-hour shifts. Alleviates "skewing" schedules one day every week, but creates a 14.5% labor increase on Wednesday when you have a complete overlap. Anyhow,, we're looking for information on how other NOCs around the world do it. We're trying to give good coverage without killing/burning out the NOC team members. TIA. Jamie Rishaw

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Re: [NOOP] 24x7 NOC..
by Selina F. Priestley 03 Oct '97

03 Oct '97

> > Having tried the 12hr model in a stressful environment like a NOC, it did > not work well as people were burned out by the end of the day and those > that did the 12hr shifts were not content with their positions and looked > to leave the group sooner than those that had more normal shift hours. The > 4-day work week was found to be the best model by giving people 3 days off. > > At 08:02 PM 10/2/97 -0400, Perry E. Metzger wrote: > > > >Steve Miller writes: > >> We work 4/10hr days, Sun/Mon/Tue/Wed or Wed/Thur/Fri/Sat. People get thre >e > >> days off in a row, including one weekend day. > > > >One of the more successful 24x7 operations I've seen did 12 hour > >days, four days on, four days off, two shifts. People had to get used > >to it, but for many of the staffers who were used to putting in 12 > >hour days anyway the prospect of a four day "weekend" every week was > >pretty good, though it appealed the most to the single operations > >staffers and to the ones who had non-working spouses. It had a lot of > >advantages in terms of operational continuity and it actually kept > >morale pretty high because people got enough days away not to fry from > >the stress of dealing with users constantly every day. > > > >Perry > > > > Something that worked pretty well in our NOC back in the day was a 10 hour work day, three week schedule that went something like this: 6 days of work 2 days off 2 days of work 1 day off 4 days of work 6 days off There were 3 shifts during the day, which were staggered like so: morning afternoon night 6am - 4pm 1pm - 11pm 10pm - 8am 8am - 6pm 3pm - 1am 12am - 10am This gave us plenty of overlap. I don't think this is the schedule the NOC follows today, but it worked pretty well at the time. I think it suffers a bit when you really need to stack on the staff, which is probably why we changed it. Many times I thought I was an idiot for moving to engineering. Those 6 days off would have probably kept me indefinitely if I was getting paid then what our NOC guys are getting paid now. :-) Every 3 weeks I took a 6 day vacation. Traveled places, read, etc. When I took my scheduled vacation I'd stack it after a 6 day off run if I could... Make sure you've got plenty of documentation and training for your NOC, so your staff have a hope of getting on top of things enough that the stress disappears after a while. Also give them paths inside your own company when they want to leave. It's a bear to have turnover in your NOC, but it's great to have experienced people in your management or engineering roles. If you're cheap and try to understaff your NOC, you're not going to keep anyone in there and no one's going to have any time to learn anything. The few that do aren't going to stick around because they've no reason to owe you any loyalty. Give your people care & feeding and somewhere to grow and they'll bust their asses for you and be happy doing it. Selina

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Re: [NOOP] 24x7 NOC..
by Tim Salo 03 Oct '97

03 Oct '97

> Date: Fri, 03 Oct 1997 10:42:26 -0400 > To: Barry Caplin <bc(a)mtiweb.com>, Jamie Rishaw <jamie(a)arpa.com> > From: Doug McClure <dmcclure(a)infi.net> > Subject: Re: [NOOP] 24x7 NOC.. > > How about what I had to live with for 8 years in Navy Satellite > Communications: 2-48-2-72. It consisted of 4 watch sections, with a > rotation of 2-12 hour days, then 48 hours off, 2-12 hour mids, then 72 > hours off. I enjoyed this and had plenty of time to be involved in the > projects that the day staff was involved with. You always knew your > schedule and could have a family life as well. It'll screw with your > sleeping schedule but overall it worked for the military and I'm sure it'd > work in a NOC environment. It might work. On the other handa, NOC employees can quit with short or no notice without the serious repercussions which military personnel are likely to experience if they decide to quit with two weeks notice. -tjs

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Results of North American NOC contact information verification
by Sean Donelan 02 Oct '97

02 Oct '97

I recently tried to verify the contact information for all of the USA peers of DRA. I did this by calling the phone number given when we first established peering, either by e-mail or on the written peering agreement, as modified by the last update of contact information received from the peer. Considering some of the information was nearly two years old, it was better than I thought. All calls were during normal USA business hours, so after-hour contacts weren't verified. I checked there was no major Internet outages reported before calling so I didn't interrupt extrem NOC chaos. In the script I used, I identified myself, identified DRA as a "Peer" of the ISP at XYZ exchange points, and asked to confirm the telephone number and e-mail address of the ISP's network operation center. If necessary I explained what a network operations center was, or asked who I should call to report a network problem. I didn't require access to the network engineering staff. A customer service person was Ok as long as they could confirm the correct telephone number for reporting network problems and e-mail address for the NOC. Successes 21 Eventually reached NOC or someone who knew what a NOC was and could take a trouble report, some voicemail systems are horrendous to navigate. Longest time to reach a NOC was 20 minutes, average was about three rings. We're making progress, only three NOCs reported they had only 1-800/1-888 numbers. All the rest had some kind of direct dial phone number. Successes, but will eventually become failures 3 reached NOC after area code change/same exchange & number 2 reached NOC after telephone number changed with recording Failures 6 disconnected/not in service/no new number (growing fast due to end of permissive area code changes in some parts of the country) 3 number assigned to unrelated telephone subscriber 1 ring/no answer (3 minutes before telco cut off the call) 1 voicemail but no access without Touch Toning a customer account number which I didn't have 5 voicemail/human receptionist message, call never returned (maybe a success, unknown if calls returned, but my side failed or if they will return the call later) 2 voicemail but never given a chance to leave a message before hangup 3 reached human who didn't know how to reach the NOC nor take a problem report, but did answer the phone with the listed company name There really isn't any ISP size/problem correlation except the larger the ISP, the more likely they have a voicemail system from hell. If I hear that my call may be monitored for quality assurance one more time, I may scream. Surprisingly only 4 people asked for my contact information for their records. -- Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO Affiliation given for identification not representation

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AGIS/Cyberpromo Article
by Mark E Larson 02 Oct '97

02 Oct '97

http://www.freep.com/browsing/internet/qagis1.htm > >October 1, 1997 > > BY MIKE BRENNAN > Free Press Business Writer > > A Dearborn Internet company must put the Web's > largest creator of electronic junk mail back on > line, at least for the next two weeks, a federal > judge ruled Tuesday. > > But Cyber Promotions must post a $12,500 bond > to pay for any potential damage to Apex Global > Internet Services' (AGIS) computer network > from net users opposed to bulk electronic > advertising, U.S. District Judge Anita Brody said > in her ruling in Philadelphia. > > Cyber Promotions had been sending daily millions > of unsolicited electronic ads for everything from > get-rich-quick schemes to sexually explicit Web > sites. > > Sept. 16, AGIS pulled the plug on Cyber after > three AGIS central switching stations were shut > down by a flood of electronic signals from Web > surfers opposed to junk E-mail. > > Brody ruled AGIS' contract with Cyber > Promotions requires a 30-day notice before > service could be terminated. > > So, she said, AGIS must reinstate Cyber > Promotions through Oct. 16, or until the junk > E-mailer gets connected through another Internet > service provider. > > AGIS President Phillip Lawlor said he was > disappointed with Brody's decision because he > feels she did not hear all the evidence. He > contends he may still disconnect Cyber > Promotions without notice because of the > electronic attacks against his network and > because the company also used AGIS' network to > counterattack its Web enemies. > > He asked that anti-bulk E-mail forces end the > warfare against AGIS because of the court > order. "The court has spoken," Lawlor said. "We > need to honor our connectivity contract to Cyber > Promotions." > > Lawlor said he now regrets his decision to give > Cyber Promotions and several other bulk > E-mailers -- called spammers in Net jargon -- a > home. But he said he took his actions to help > create a code of ethics for bulk E-mailers. > > Now he would welcome federal legislation > blocking the use of the Internet to companies that > send unsolicited bulk E-mail to Web surfers who > don't want to receive them. > > "I would like some law I can enforce," he said. "I > don't consider myself an anti-spammer, just a > large backbone provider burdened with the task > of protecting the Internet." > > Cyber Promotions President Sanford Wallace > could not be reached for comment. > > Not addressed in the judge's ruling was Cyber > Promotions' contention that the First Amendment > guarantees its right to send all the E-mail it > wants. > > "Under the law, it is improper to consider the > nature of the activities of Cyber," Brody wrote in > a footnote. "This includes my strong personal > distaste for Cyber's business." > > Brody said the public interest "tips towards the > issuance of a preliminary injunction, although it is > undisputed that Cyber's business ... is a > controversial one. > > "However, the fact that Cyber is an unpopular > citizen of the Internet does not mean that Cyber > is not entitled to have its contracts enforced in a > court of law or that Cyber is not entitled to such > injunctive relief as any similarly situated > business," Brody ruled. > > > >

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Netcom Contact ?
by Jim Browne 02 Oct '97

02 Oct '97

Here we go again. Does anyone have a contact at Netcom that understands that SMTP is not transported via POP (or port 110) and who could possibly figure out why Netcom's mail servers are unreachable by us and several other providers? I would forward the responses from Netcom's front level support, but unfortunately nanog-humor doesn't exist. For Randy, here's what we've tried so far: 1) NETCOM Network Management (NETCOM-NM) dns-mgr(a)NETCOM.COM (408) 881-1810 [ phone AND email ] 2) NETCOM DNS Administration (NETCOM-DNS) hostmaster(a)NOC.NETCOM.NET 888-698-HELP [ phone AND email ] 3) [Upstream 1's] Netcom peering contact 4) [Upstream 2's] Netcom peering contact (Netcom's business office) 5) Calling and asking for "Mike Newton" (listed on AS2551 @ whois.ra.net ) 6) Calling Netcom's business office. Any info would be greatly appreciated. If anyone at Netcom with authority gets this, read [NETCOMticket#233593] for entertainment. Jim Browne jbrowne(a)jbrowne.com "She may be good for nothing, but she's not bad for nothing." - Mae West

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