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@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. ------------------------------------------