Network Operations Policy Outline
DRAFT – July 11, 2011

  1. Introduction
  2. Motivation
  3. Part of the IT Consolidation Activity #7
  4. Discussions to date (Provost, IAC, Council of Deans, ISTeC EAC and RAC, subnet managers)
  5. Need to harden network in support of
  6. VoIP Transition
  7. Increased demand for real-time applications and life/safety initiatives
  8. Sustainable environment for ACNS NOC
  9. Directive from the Provost to become more efficient
  10. Details of VPIT’s charge to CIC to develop a policy
  11. Effective, efficient, flexible, clear, sustainable
  12. Considerations
  13. Applications for exemptions, and approval mechanisms
  14. Possible funding implications
  15. Scope
  16. “Covered Devices”, shall include
  17. Building distribution switches that have been migrated to dual gigabit Ethernet connections (via the IAC CIC model)
  18. Edge switches in buildings where VoIP has been deployed
  19. Exceptions to this policy include network switches used to implement college or departmental infrastructure, e.g. HPC computing clusters, SAN implementations, or for purposes other than supporting “edge” devices such as end-user workstations, laptops, printers, etc.
  20. Policy
  21. Covered Devices, as described in (2), above, will fall under the administrative control of the ACNS NOC.
  22. Define an exemption process for “extreme” cases
  23. Distributed IT personnel will be granted “read” access to Covered Devices, and as available, assistance with tools and utilities useful in monitoring network utilization, port errors, etc. useful in supporting users and applications on the LAN
  24. Procedures will be defined, and periodically reviewed and modified, per IAC approval, for:
  25. Port Activations
  26. Propose pre-configuration of ports on departmental data VLANs, so jack activations can be accomplished in a timely fashion by local IT support personnel
  27. Documentation process for activating available ports
  28. VLAN changes for ports, whether they are currently active or pre-configured with an alternate VLAN (e.g. as defined by 3.c.i.1.a, above)
  29. Requests to “mirror” edge device traffic to a specific monitoring port for diagnostic purposes
  30. Procedures defined by 3.c, above, will include reasonable expectations for turnaround time for a “small” number of changes (up to 6?)
  31. Procedures defined by 3.c, above, will also include an escalation process; perhaps allowing a certain number per college or department per month at no cost, and a reasonable cost beyond that
  32. There should be a cap on the maximum number of “emergency” requests per month
  33. Large requests (over 6), will have an expected turnaround time reasonably longer than “small” requests (perhaps multiple business days rather than the same business day)
  34. Shared responsibilities shall be defined
  35. Authorized local IT staff shall physically connect (“patch”) departmentally requested port activations
  36. Any traffic requested for monitoring purposes shall adhere to the University’s Acceptable Use Policy

Policy impact notes:

A funding modelmust be developed, perhaps in concert with definition with new basic service rates for telephony, to sustain Covered Devices (distribution and edge switches) over time

Initial procedure document outline

  1. Self-service, eID authenticated web pages to request actions described in 3.c, above, noting reasonable expectations for turnaround times and escalation procedures (3.d,e)
  2. Details regarding 3.e.i-ii, above
  3. Such self-service pages will be automatically entered into the central trouble ticket system, which includes automatic response and escalation procedures
  4. Define shared responsibilities mentioned in 3.f, above
  5. Other basic functions, required to get going?