Transcript Slides

Design and Set Up of the New GÉANT NOC
Toby Rodwell, DANTE
TNC09, 9 June 2009
connect • communicate • collaborate
Agenda
Introduction to DANTE
Motivation for an in-house NOC
NOC set up
“DANTE Dashboard”
connect • communicate • collaborate
Background
DANTE established in 1993
Formed by European NRENs
Purpose: set up and run a European backbone data network
– EuropaNET
Initially DANTE only let and managed the contract
Later, DANTE designed then operated networks
But until 2009 (GN3 project), NOCs always outsourced
connect • communicate • collaborate
Outsourced NOCs
Advantages
Instant expertise
Fixed costs
Guaranteed service
Economies of scale
But inflexible
Difficult to walk away from
Difficult to re-task
connect • communicate • collaborate
NOC Project Plan
Set up …
In-house NOC, for network management and control
Outsource …
Service Desk, for routine tasks and communications
Procure …
Trouble Ticket System (existing TTS proprietary to GÉANT2 NOC)
Late summer 2008, contract awarded to Magdalene Ltd (UK)
For Tier 1 NOC (Service Desk) and Trouble Ticket System
connect • communicate • collaborate
Tier Responsibilities
Tier 1
First point of contact (new questions, requests, notifications)
Detect and report new network incidents
Tier 2
Investigate and repair basic network problems
Configure and upgrade network elements
Tier 3
Advanced trouble shooting and configuration
connect • communicate • collaborate
Network Control Centre
Staff
NOC Manager
Two Tier 3 engineers (IP and optical specialists)
Six Tier 2 engineers (two shifts of three)
System Administrator
Working hours
Monday – Friday 0500 – 2100 (UK local), inc Public Holidays
(except Christmas and New Year’s Day)
On-call engineer out of hours
Located in Cambridge, UK (400m from main DANTE office)
connect • communicate • collaborate
connect • communicate • collaborate
NCC Engineers
NCC responsible for both Juniper backbone routers and Alcatel-Lucent
transmission and switching equipment
Small number of engineers, so all engineers must be competent in both
areas
Qualities sought
Enthusiasm for networking and ability to learn quickly
Good theoretical knowledge and a desire to understand concepts
NOC or similar experience important but not essential
Equipment experience desirable but not expected
connect • communicate • collaborate
connect • communicate • collaborate
DANTE Dashboard
Developed by DANTE staff (in-house and contractor)
Required to provide SD with clear, accurate and unambiguous
information for new trouble tickets (SD assumed to operate without any
knowledge of network topology)
Receives SNMP traps from e.g. Juniper routers, Alcatel Network
Management System
Correlates received alarms and displays (or updates) single alarm on
dashboard
Integration with DANTE Ops database for meaningful/friendly
names
connect • communicate • collaborate
Questions?
connect • communicate • collaborate
connect • communicate • collaborate
SDE Features (i)
Calendar view for Planned Maintenance, to help NOC spot conflicting
work
connect • communicate • collaborate
SDE Features (ii)
Configuration Item database populated (and updated from) DANTE’s
‘Ops Database’
Help DANTE track trends in poorly performing circuits and hardware
Help NOC engineers determine ‘affected services’ given a defective
dark fibre, circuit or network element
connect • communicate • collaborate
GÉANT NOC - Requirements
24/7 operation
Reliable response to calls and e-mails
Prompt alerting of network faults
Devolvement of responsibilities
Flexibility in re-tasking
For GÉANT, EUMEDCONNECT and the End-to-End Coordination Unit
(E2ECU)
connect • communicate • collaborate
NOC LOCATION (CAMBRIDGE, UK)
SDE ‘Self Service’
Basic web interface for users to add and view tickets
Updating tickets directly not supported (but e-mail can be sent to SD
from the website)
connect • communicate • collaborate