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Field Report: IT Support & Multi-Floor Network Monitoring at Menara 165

An engineering field study covering enterprise multi-floor network monitoring with Zabbix and UniFi, hardware diagnostics, MikroTik routing, and infrastructure maintenance at Menara 165 (ESQ Group).

internship2026-06-017 min read
IT SupportZabbixUniFiMikroTikHardwareInternship

Field Report: IT Support & Multi-Floor Network Monitoring at Menara 165

This technical field report documents my three-month internship experience (July 1 – September 26, 2025) within the IT & Operations Division of ESQ 165 Leadership Center, situated on the 24th Floor of Menara 165, South Jakarta.

The core focus of this role was maintaining high availability across high-rise corporate network infrastructure, delivering rapid technical response to end-user issues, and executing proactive hardware and peripheral maintenance.

1. Executive Summary & Operational Scope

Menara 165 is a high-rise office tower with demanding connectivity requirements and heavy staff mobility. Corporate operations rely heavily on seamless IT integrity—spanning executive video conferences, sales & marketing workflows, and building operations.

Key operational responsibilities included:

  • Centralized Network Monitoring: Real-time health monitoring of enterprise hosts, managed switches, and physical servers across multiple building floors.
  • Physical & Wireless Infrastructure: Deploying and maintaining Ubiquiti UniFi Access Points, managing MikroTik core routers, and terminating Cat5e/Cat6 structured cabling.
  • Client Device Diagnostics & Tuning: Troubleshooting system stuttering, memory allocation bottlenecks, component upgrades, and thermal repasting for staff laptops and workstations.
  • Peripheral Recovery & System Utility: Resolving critical printer downtime (waste ink pad counter lockouts) and deploying standardized scanning utilities.

2. Multi-Floor Network Monitoring with Zabbix

To maintain high uptime and resolve network degradation before end-users experienced disruptions (proactive monitoring), the IT team leveraged the Zabbix Enterprise Network Monitoring Server.

Zabbix Operational Workflow:

  1. Authentication & Central Dashboard: Logging into the internal Zabbix monitoring server with elevated administrator privileges.
  2. Hosts Inventory Navigation: Accessing the Hosts view to inspect servers, switches, and access gateways distributed across Menara 165 floors.
  3. Incident Detection & Latency Analysis:
    • Tracking real-time status indicators (green for healthy/up, red for down/unreachable).
    • Analyzing live traffic throughput graphs and server resource utilization metrics.
    • Pinpointing sudden packet loss anomalies to prevent dropped video conferences or corrupted internal file transfers.

3. UniFi Wireless Management & MikroTik Routing

High-density wireless connectivity was managed centrally using the Ubiquiti UniFi Controller, while boundary routing and gateway bandwidth allocation were configured via MikroTik WinBox.

Architecture & Practical Implementation:

  • Ubiquiti UniFi Network Controller:
    • Monitoring wireless client distribution across floor access points to prevent channel saturation on a single AP.
    • Analyzing RSSI signal strengths and re-provisioning access points experiencing interference or intermittent disconnects.
  • MikroTik WinBox (GUI):
    • Inspecting interface traffic, active DHCP leases, firewall filter counters, and router CPU load.
    • Verifying balanced bandwidth allocation to ensure voice and video traffic remained priority-routed without gateway bottlenecks.

4. PC & Laptop Hardware Maintenance & Diagnostics

Complementing my background in device optimization, systematic preventative maintenance was performed regularly to prolong equipment lifespan and keep employee workstations responsive.

Standard Diagnostic Procedures:

  1. Initial Fault Isolation: Identifying symptoms such as system lag, extended boot times, excessive thermal output, or power-on self-test (POST) failures.
  2. Physical Overhaul & Dust Mitigation:
    • Opening desktop and laptop chassis following anti-static handling guidelines.
    • Clearing accumulated dust from heatsink fins and fan blades to resolve severe thermal throttling.
    • Cleaning dried compounds and applying fresh high-performance thermal paste onto CPU and integrated GPU dies.
  3. Memory & Storage Integrity Testing:
    • Reseating and testing RAM modules across motherboard DIMM slots to verify stable dual-channel operation.
    • Inspecting drive S.M.A.R.T attributes to catch early signs of storage degradation and prevent unrecoverable data loss.
  4. Operating System Provisioning & Tuning:
    • Performing clean Windows installations for new workstation setups and shared public terminals.
    • Configuring drive partitioning schemes, disabling unnecessary background telemetry and startup services, and optimizing memory paging allocations.

5. UTP Structured Cabling & Termination (Physical Layer)

Office reconfigurations and the addition of new cubicles required running new physical Ethernet links to ensure low-latency, shielded connectivity directly from patch panels.

Standards & Quality Assurance:

  • Cable Preparation & Pinout: Stripping Cat-grade UTP cable jackets and aligning conductors strictly according to the T568B standard (White-Orange, Orange, White-Green, Blue, White-Blue, Green, White-Brown, Brown).
  • RJ45 Termination: Precision crimping to ensure copper teeth fully penetrated conductor insulation without pinching outer jackets unevenly.
  • Continuous Continuity Verification: Running each completed link through an electronic LAN Cable Tester to verify that pins 1 through 8 fired sequentially without open circuits, split pairs, or shorted pins.

6. Epson Printer Reset & Recovery Procedures

A recurring blocker in office administrative tasks was the Service Required lockdown on department Epson ink-tank printers once internal software reached maximum Waste Ink Pad Counter thresholds.

Recovery Workflow:

  1. Connecting the locked unit directly to the technician laptop via dedicated USB interface.
  2. Launching the specific EPSON Adjustment Program (Resetter Utility) matching the target printer model.
  3. Entering Particular Adjustment Mode and selecting the Waste Ink Pad Counter inspection menu.
  4. Executing counter readout to quantify ink absorption percentages.
  5. Triggering the Initialize routine to clear internal counter registers back to 0%.
  6. Power-cycling the hardware and executing test print / document scan cycles via Epson Scan Utility to confirm complete recovery before redeployment.

7. Key Takeaways & Field Impact

Three months of real-world IT operations in Menara 165 demonstrated that enterprise productivity relies fundamentally on robust, quietly maintained infrastructure.

Core Lessons Learned:

  • Proactive vs. Reactive Operations: Automated monitoring platforms like Zabbix and UniFi save countless hours compared to waiting for user failure tickets.
  • Standardized Maintenance: Adhering to strict hardware diagnostic protocols significantly extends machine longevity and reduces hardware downtime.
  • Technical Communication: Translating technical issues into clear, reassuring explanations for non-technical colleagues is a vital capability for any modern IT Engineer.