What Does a Network Operations Center Engineer Do?
A Network Operations Center is designed to help monitor a company’s network and to make sure that everything is being stored, backed up, and running correctly. The only way for a NOC to be effective is to have a responsible team of engineers, technicians, and shift supervisors there to make sure that it is running and operating in top condition. Different positions have different roles and responsibilities to make sure that a NOC is running efficiently and that the company using the NOC is appropriately notified and taken care of.
For instance, ExterNetworks is successful because their engineers, technicians, and shift supervisors know what they are doing and what they are responsible for. They work together to ensure that the NOC is working properly for their clients. A network operations center NOC needs competent engineers and mindful shift managers to run properly.
How Communication Flows Through a NOC?
There is two central personnel that make up the staff of a NOC: shift supervisors and engineers. There are three significant parts of this flow, and each one is handled in a specific manner to make sure that the NOC is operated properly.
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Incident Handling
NOC engineers and technicians handle this part of the communication flow. They handle any complaints from the company about their network to see what is happening. They also handle company requests for updates, new orders, reports, and other information managed by the NOC.
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Escalation
A NOC engineer or technician usually handle escalation, but it can be taken over by a shift supervisor at the request of the company who owns the network. An escalation generally happens when standard troubleshooting does not help, but it needs to be fixed in a timely fashion.
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Prioritization
Prioritization is handled by shift supervisors. They monitor all of the tickets and incidents that come into the NOC, and they assign them based on importance and priority to make sure that the most critical tasks get completed sooner rather than later. This helps to ensure that there aren’t any minor glitches in a company’s network.
Skills Needed to Run an Enterprise Network Operations Center.
Just like every job, there are specific skills that are required for employees of a NOC to possess to make sure that it is running adequately at all time:
Incident Handling – Proficient at handling any incidents that occur on the NOC or company’s network.
Documentation – Must be proficient at documenting issues, reports, etc. to make sure things are taken care of promptly.
Monitoring Infrastructure – Must know the inner workings of and the functionalities of NOC infrastructure to be able to monitor it accurately for glitches.
Use Experience – Must be proficient at experiences of a NOC
Understand Routing/Switching Pretty Well – Must know how to route information and be able to switch routes when needed
Monitor Systems – Must be proficient at how to monitor systems and what to look for
Reporting – Must be skilled at reporting different aspects of a network properly
Understand SAN Basics – Proficient at understanding the basics of SAN
Tracking Issues – Proficient at following/tracking issues that are appearing on the NOC
Troubleshooting the Problems – Proficient and knowledgeable about networks and how to properly troubleshoot various problems
Overall, a NOC has to run properly in order for it to be effective. NOC shift supervisors, technicians, and engineers have to have extensive knowledge of procedures and technical issues to perform their job efficiently for the companies that use them. They need to be available to monitor networks 24 hours a day, to make sure that they are always optimally running for their clients.
