1. Noc Theory and Practice Timothy Brown, Independent Consultant Matthew F. Ringel, Akamai Technologies, Inc.

2. Introduction “So you want to build a NOC?” Two parts: theory and practice Theory: the functional components of a NOC, and how they’re put together. Practice: the organizational details that make a NOC work on a day-to-day basis.

3. Part I: NOC Theory Taking It Apart, Putting It Back Together.

4. Definitions What is a NOC? A network operations center (NOC), is an organizational unit that:  Handles day-to-day monitoring of the network  Serves as a point of contact for customers, internal and external  Creates, processes, and sometimes resolves events that arise in the network

5. Overview All NOCs have things in common, regardless of size Who and where are the customers? Internal vs. external SLAs shape the infrastructure as well

6. The Model Inputs “Something has happened” Event sources  Monitoring programs (e.g. HPOV, Netcool, netsaint, etc.)

7. The Model (Cont’d) Outputs “We have taken care of what happened.” Event sinks  Fixing problems, handing off other issues to be resolved by others

8. The Model (Cont’d) Process The actions in the middle while and event is being worked Two schools of thought  NOC as first-level tech  NOC as dispatchers only Ticketing systems  Life-cycle of an event

9. Scaling and Portability Large variety of scale NORAD vs. “Two guys in a cage”. Portability Can you pick up and monitor somewhere else? Integral to Disaster recovery

10. Example: Bare-Bones NOC Are all the functions there?

11. Example: NORAD-style NOC Are all the functions there?

12. The Portable NOC The definition of NOC says nothing about location NOC isn’t just a set of big screens with blinkenlights. “Go home and monitor!” Distributed functions

13. Model of the Portable NOC Are all the functions there? Inputs Outputs Services

14. Evaluation: Portable NOC Organizational Unit, independent of location. Centralized event sources and sinks with distributed observers Diminished intra-NOC communications, but sufficient for emergency.

15. Conclusion A NOC is not just a place It’s a set of inputs, outputs and processes that are accomplished by people. Function is similar regardless of scale Portability is important And it emphasizes the functional divisions

16. Next- Part 2: The Nuts & Bolts