Have you ever noticed the typical layout of a Data center!!
The infrastructure of Data Center incorporates the Computer Room, Network Operations Center (NOC), Entrance Room, Telecom Room, Office, and Support Rooms.
Among all, NOC Room or Network Operations Center is one of the important parts of a Data Center. It is a centralized location where the organization supports its associated computer network and Telecom infrastructure.
Today we are going to illustrate about Network Operations Center Room and cover the following topics.
Topics to be covered
- What is Data Center NOC Room?
- What are the NOC Engineer Roles & Responsibilities?
- Why Network Operations Center [NOC] design for?
- NOC VS Help Desk
What is NOC in Data Center ?
A Network Operations Center (NOC, pronounced as knock) is a control room where the IT Technician supports the efforts of remote monitoring and management (RMM) software.
It houses many video screens to monitor the equipment in case of any alarms. The team keeps a watchful eye on the endpoints that they monitor and manage, resolve the issues and take preventive steps to ensure no issue remains in the system.
It has a high-functional infrastructure with an automatic alert that notifies the team about the issues that occur. Sometimes the room lies within the Data Center or sometimes they lie externally. The overall function of the Network Operations Center is to maintain the network uptime with smooth and uninterrupted operations.
Capabilities of Data Center NOC Room includes:
- Net Flow Server & Endpoint Monitoring
- Hardware & Software Installation
- Network Analysis & Troubleshooting
- Monitor Common Threats, Virus & DOS Attacks
- Alarms Handling & Performance Improvements
- Monitor Power Failures and System Backups
- Email Management Services
- Voice & Video Traffic Management
NetForChoice, a data center and cloud hosting company in India, has its NOC Room that protects the customer’s server from any physical threat. To know more about this mail us at info@netforchoice.com or schedule a FREE MEETING with our customer relationship manager.
Related: Benefits Of Network Operations Center-Comprehensive Guide
Roles & Responsibilities of NOC Technicians
NOC engineers are responsible for performing the following roles.
- Monitoring Infrastructure Health
- Check Security & Network capacity on a client’s environment
- Perform high-level security actions
- Backup & Disaster Recovery Efforts
- Maintain 100% Network Uptime by scrutinizing the network 24*7*365
Above all, when any action from the Managed Service Provider (MSP) is required, then the NOC team can create alerts by ticket system that used to identify and categorized the issues based on severity, alert types or other criteria.
The technical team then resolve the problem by identifying its root cause to prevent future issues. Moreover, technicians are categorized according to the “levels” which indicate the severity and difficulty of issues they handle. The levels are numbered from 1 which is for the minor issues and are increased accordingly. For example, if in a case of hardware failure, the alert assigned to the level 1 technician at first. And by inspection, if the problem goes beyond the hardware failure then the ticket will be assigned to the Level 2 or 3 technician.
Network Operations Center (NOC) Processes
In this section, we are going to describe the NOC best practices to improve the overall effectiveness of the Data center NOC room design to eliminate monitoring risks. All the points are listed below.
- Ticket Management: The ticket system helps to keep track of all open issues, according to severity, urgency and the person assign to handle each task. It eases the daily routine work & also helps in providing the best services to the customers.
- Incident Management: Analyze the incidence, find the underlying problem and resolve it immediately to ensure the operation is running smoothly without affecting the business.
- Root Cause Analysis: Use root-cause Analysis (RCA) to identify key issues for improved performance and easier connectivity.
- Documentation & Reporting: Track and document each and every issue to maintain a healthy knowledge base.
- Escalation: For every employee working in the Data center NOC room, it is required to have roles & responsibilities with appropriate designation. Most of the time, problems are too complex to be resolved by the Level 1 and 2 Engineer and thus the same need to be escalated to the higher management for assistance.
After getting enough knowledge about NOC room, let’s have an overview of how it is different from the service desk.
NOC vs Help Desk: What is the Difference?
Most of the business owners confuse between the terms NOC and Help Desk. It is worthwhile to note that the NOC team and the Help Desk are totally different. Help Desk deals with end-clients and a NOC interacts with MSPs.
| NOC Room | Help Desk |
|---|---|
| The NOC team has skilled NOC engineers who provide back end maintenance, problem resolution, and support so that the MSPs respond to the issues as they arise. Also, it ensures seamless connectivity of the Client network and uptime. | The help desk is like a customer support center which is handled by a team of professionals trained to assist users with any IT related issues. Clients can access 24/7 support for immediate help. |
In an easy word, we can also say that if an end-user is having any problem they can call the help desk. And if the MSP is having any problem they will contact the NOC.
Final Say!!
That’s all about the overview of a Data Center NOC Room. Your networks, servers, applications, and websites are having around-the-clock protection so that you may direct your attention to your business. Monitor your network without any interruption with the Network Operations Center service.