I will be going on a guided interview for a client who will be changing his company's networking scheme, and I need to come up with a list of questions to ask the client as my part of the job. Their company has 2 T1 lines running into their building, and they currently have 1 person as the dedicated administrator. What the company would like to do is consolidate their servers and have only one T1 line running into the building to save money...they would also like to have their servers remotely monitored and updated from our company's building, thus eliminating the need for a constant administrator in the building.

What I would like is if any professionals or skilled ametuers could list for me some questions I should ask the company to gather information on their systems for the change, and what programs would be recommended for use in remote administration. Thank you!

How much do they pay for each T1 and is it being used to capacity?

Are you in sales? I am surprised that your company is a candidate for remotely administering a client´s network if you don´t know what program you are going to use to do it...

* Where do the T1s go? Are they ISP T1s for Internet, or a T1 to some specific location (i.e. office to office T1)

* What kind of data travels on the T1? That is - Is the T1 used for accessing the "Internet" in general, such as web browsing, occasional FTP, etc. or is there a remote ASP (Application Service Provider) that they have to reach, such as an accounting, HR, or vertical market product they must use through this T1?

* How many telephone lines (unique trunk lines) do you have now? A T1 is 24 56K channels, and is identical to a "voice" T1. Some carriers will allow you to share the voice channels dynamically. For example, get rid of POTS (plain old telephone lines comming in to the building) and replace it with a T1. The cost of a T1, providing 24 "digital" (actually not digital per se, but who cares) trunks. The 24 POTS would be more expensive then the single T1, providing at least the same, or more features. Then have 2 T1s, and dedicate one for data and allow the other to be used for voice, and when not in use for voice "rob" channels for data. In theory, for exampe at night the client could have two T1 data bandwidth, and when the calls start comming in, it would scale back down.

(Assumption - both T1s are for Internet)

* What kind of firewalls do they have? This defines your remote management solution, and the VPN tunnel you will have to set up.

* What is the current routing schema? (How is it decided which T1 is used for the connection)

* What are your expectations of uptime? i.e. How critical is for your T1 to be up, and how long can it be down before it impacts the business significantly?

I am in a foul mood, & I could come up with some seriously crude comments, but I wont. I presume you were thrusted into this role, and you wanted none of it, but the powers to be force you. I am sorry. Your organization sounds either extreemly unprofessional, extreemly underfunded, or both.

Ab imo pectore - Kind regards and good fortune.

I wasn't really thrusted into the job, it was my choice. I'm tagging along as a learning experience--we had a professional working on it and I was shadowing--and part of the learning was to do my research and follow up with some questions. Everything else was covered; I wasn't in charge of the operation.


P.S.: To the Mods, I ask this thread be closed, as the interview has now been completed and I have gathered all information I would have needed from this thread. Thanks.