What Do You Do In Level 1 Systems Support @ NOC

What do people do in a level 1 systems support team in a NOC?

If you work or have worked in a NOC or in a level 1 systems team supporting internet systems, what were your tasks and what was your day like?

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networker050184

Level 1 NOC Tech supporting internet connectivity will more than likely only work layer 1 and 2 issues. The logical (layer 3 and above) is usually worked by another group from my experience.

You also probably won't have access to much equipment other than show commands. Level 1 sucks, but its a start and a way to work up.

darkerosxx

I mean systems, not the networking part. I'm not doing it, I'm going to help build a team that's going to do it. I'm curious what they do at other companies.

We have a level 1 team doing networking and we're building one for systems.

networker050184

Sorry, can't help on that front!

GT-Rob

I hate levels. Every company treats them different, it all depends on the structure of the company. What may be level 3 to some, is level 1 to others.

Anywho, I would say lvl 1 systems support would be first line of contact for users, answering phones, making tickets, escalating to other departments from there. Maybe some basic troubleshooting tasks and documentation.

Kasor

I agree.. you are first line support from the NOC. Mostly u get Field Tech or IT guy from field office calling in to check on something. You might be response mainframe DB access or file transfer problems... connectivity on SVR load balance. User access right to certain site if NOC controlled the Webaccess program ...etc

It is all depending on your company, no standard definition about job description. Go with the flow and you will learn about the job as you go by day-2-day.

empc4000xl

GT-Rob wrote:

I hate levels. Every company treats them different, it all depends on the structure of the company. What may be level 3 to some, is level 1 to others.

Anywho, I would say lvl 1 systems support would be first line of contact for users, answering phones, making tickets, escalating to other departments from there. Maybe some basic troubleshooting tasks and documentation.

You hit it right on the head. My military tier 1 NOC job was configuring routers and switches and making changes to the WAN as conditions changed. We T/S Linux, DNS servers, Sun Network Storage folders, ran debugs on routers when needed and T/S firewalls. On a few calls I got for jobs for tier 1 positions was watching a network monitor poll servers, routers and switches, and calling someone else if things when down and they T/S from there.

Mishra

I'm probably going beyond what I should here but I have to ask...

Why are you building 2 different teams for networking and systems for a NOC?

I'm not sure what your NOC is doing but generally they are there to monitor devices, take phone calls, inform admins, and be there 24x7 while doing other random odds jobs. You should be able to incorporate your systems and networking NOC into one entity to help in a lot of ways.

Now if you are talking about level 1 system support, then that isn't really a NOC. That is more like the first people the NOC goes to in order to solve problems for the Windows side.

So I guess I need clarification.

shednik

I have to agree completely with Mishra on this one maybe some more information will help us out on this one.

darkerosxx

Yeah, I'm talking about systems support and it could be the same people, but it won't be all of the same people. More concerned with what they're going to do than who's doing it, heh.

It is systems support and they're going to support not internal windows, but external internet-side systems infrastructure. I think I've got a pretty good idea at this point. It's mainly non-customer effecting issues or very low risk issues they work...everything else goes to level 2.

zack25

I'm currently a level 1 tech this what I do might be different other places.

We basically provide level 1 support as mentioned earlier. I monitor networks such as gamestop and other retailer's networks. For example gamestop all we do is recieve alarm, it creates ticket, we work ticket. Ticket comes in such as Node Down or Interface Down. We call the store provide first level support such as powercycle router and modem. If this doesn't work we work with telco on the issue such as coop test or set up overnight testing on the circuit. But anything to do with router config we give to our level 2. Nice job to have

CCIEWANNABE

i work for the government in the IP NOC monitoring pretty much all the branches of the military and their circuits in CONUS. There are 4 tiers, tier 0 - tier 3. This is a list of what we in tier 1 do:

proactively monitor the network through network management systems.
open up tickets when we see circuits go down.
open up tickets with commercial vendors to clear their path and equipment.
open up tickets with commercial vendors to provide loop testing.
we do layer 1-3 troubleshooting which can be one of the following:
troubleshooting equipment connectivity such as NIU's (Smartjacks), CSU's, DSU's, Routers, Switches, media converters, Satellite Equipment, Access T's, patch panels (pretty much any networking device out their)
loop testing to determine and isolate problems on the path, troubleshoot routing issues which include sorce/destination ip addresses, firewall issues (packets being permitted or denied)latency issues, packet loss issues, troubleshoot routing advertisement issues, troubleshoot routing protocol issues, troubleshoot access control list issues, troubleshooting out-of-band connectivity issues. working with the atm/sonet groups to troubleshoot outages. during the day, the phone is pretty much off the hook at all times in the NOC.

we also have encryption devices that we troubleshoot. there is so much to the job, and i have learned so much in the 2 years that i have been here. i am definately ready to move up. i am thinking about getting into VOIP after I get my CCNP this fall. we'll see

oo_snoopy

Just to show how much tier 1 can vary from organization to organization, I worked "tier 1" for Sprint on the IP-Core team, and we did everything. We watched alarms and worked every issue, I worked with Cisco, and ordered parts, did maintenance etc. We had one higher tier to use if we needed their help, which wasn't very often.

NightShade1

darkerosxx wrote:

What do people do in a level 1 systems support team in a NOC?

If you work or have worked in a NOC or in a level 1 systems team supporting internet systems, what were your tasks and what was your day like?

Well i started as a Level 2

As far i know in Level 1 they just can do shows and pings and that kind of things... they dont have any access to any equipment to configure anything....

Level 2 has the right to get in almost any equipment and do changes on them...

Level 3 well at least in here they look at most of the layer 3 stuff... i look some of it in L2 but not indeep