Career Profile
I am Unix and Storage System Engineer/Architect with over 22-year work experience, in which 10-years were of management/lead role including mid-level position. In my professional career I was blessed to be able to touch many different technologies, participated in few Data Center Migrations and Disaster Recovery designs and testing. In my recent IBM position, I did architect, built from ground up and managed 3 separate Data Centers; it was an incredible learning journey and experience. Computers and photography are my passion in life. Before Super Storm Sandy I used to have a mini data center in my basement where I did setup my Internet business and then later was able to “play” with new software OS and applications, where I could configure and test different setups and configurations. I love to get my hands on new technologies, learn new skills and just be on top of everything. I am geek at heart but I do enjoy working with people. I am very dedicated and committed individual, I take my work seriously and can deliver results.
Experiences
Working at Vandis is quite interesting experience, I don't have my "own environment" as in previous companies, Vandis has many active customers that they support, each customer is different, each has unique needs and requirements, but the idea is alwasy the same, its all about technology. Here at Vandis I was able to learn Cloud such as AWS and Azure, was able to help assist various customers with their technology needs such as troubleshooting, upgrades or moving to cloud.
• Assisted customers with VMWARE related issues and troubleshooting.
• Assisted customers with office 365 cloud migration.
• Assisted customer with Citrix/VMware upgrade.
• Assisted customer with DELL Storage migration.
• Participated in many training activities to support various software partners.
Vision for Life is an optometry practice, recently they acquired additional practices so they did outgrow current technologies they were using, I was able to help them meet and solve their technology challenges. While there I was able to upgrade and unify their systems and network, setup backup and recovery processes, was able to migrate their pbx and phone systems to reduce cost.
• Unified network infrastructure between offices via VPN site-to-site connectivity.
• Setup and configured new network infrastructure.
• Managed Windows 2008R2/2012R2 servers with MS SQL server, setup AD, user groups.
• New Camera Security System for monitoring in two separate locations using POE.
• Setup backups for all windows systems/servers infrastructure using Acronis and Veeam backup solutions.
• Upgraded PC’s and Network infrastructure (new cabling to support gigabit network)
• Replicating backup between locations. Replicating surveillance camera footage between locations
• Setup NAS servers (using Synology NAS devices)
• Helped with all the HIPA compliance recommendations
• Migrated old PBX system to cloud 3CX cloud pbx solution, replaced all phone systems with Voxbeam (huge cost saving solution).
• Providing day-to-day helpdesk support.
Cognitive computing is poised to systematically transform how organizations think, act, and operate, with IBM Watson leading the charge in this revolutionary new era of computing. I am part of the team responsible for the flagship Client Experience Center in the Watson group, which are a state of the art facilities capable of taking our key clients through real world immersive cognitive computing experiences, various Watson live integrated systems and provides innovation rooms for client discussions equipped with the most sophisticated collaboration technologies in the industry
• I was part of the Watson Client Experience Center, my job and responsibility is to run complete data center, from Server (UNIX/Linux, Windows and OSX) trough networking (CISCO) and SAN infrastructure including IBM XIV to Power and Cooling (Server Room). I did architect 3 data centers for client experience center in Austin, Cambridge and San Francisco. I did spec the power and cooling requirements, patch panels, cabinets, networking, san, storage. I then implemented the designed solution and helped maintain all while running the Astor Client Experience Center. Having managed 4 separate Data Centers made me aware of so many aspects of day-to-day challenges.
• Was a key Project Manager for all the Data Center built in Cambridge, MA and San Francisco, CA. for a Client Experience Centers. Organized resources, timelines, deliverables and schedules for those projects. Ordered equipment and helped coordinate resources to deliver equipment to staging locations, racking, and stacking of the equipment. I did organize and coordinated shipment of the cabinets, cabling, power and any other Data Center deliverables.
• Unix, Windows, OSX and VMWare systems administration (RedHat 6, Ubuntu 12, 14 and 16), Windows (7, 8, 10, 2012 R2), VMWare (5.5, 6.0 and 6.5), OSX. Administration consisted of setup and installation, recovery, maintenance and patching across multiple datacenters (in client experience centers which I managed)
• Interviewed and hired personnel to help maintain datacenters that I did build. Implemented support across those sites with full remote administration via all LAN supported devices across all the sites (Power strips, IMM, ilom’s etc)
• Supported DevOps environment (GitHub, Docker, Ansible, etc.)
• Supported Applications in IBM Hybrid Cloud environment.
• Setup and administered IBM SAN XIV 2048 and V7000 Storage arrays.
• I setup CISCO 9504 and 3k switches with redundant links for vrf, vpc and hsrp, implemented all the necessary redundancy and performance of 10 gig network with uplinks up to 40gig. Performed upgrades and updates, upgraded in New York old IBM switches with Cisco industry standards. I also did setup 16gig SAN Cisco MDS Switches to support SAN infrastructure.
• Supported global satellite experience centers across the globe (Singapore, Melbourne, Dublin, London and Rio)
• Implemented monitoring across sites via Nagios and DCNM, vCenter for VMware.
• Was a main PM for UPS/Battery project in my New York Data Center. Upgraded New York Client Experience Center power to consists UPS/Batteries and new Generator (budgeting, planning and implementation) to protect against brownouts and power failures. I implemented AdaptiveCool floor tiles and sensors for CRAC units. Maintained UPS and CRAC units, configured remote management and notifications
• Hardware: IBM/Lenovo x3850’s and 3650’s. IBM XIV 2048 and IBM V7000. Colfax servers. Cisco Nexus 9504, 3172T. Cisco MDS 9148S and 9396S switches, Lenovo KVM’s. APC power strips.
• OS: Linux RedHat 6, Ubuntu 14, 15 and 16. Windows desktop 8.1, 10 as well Win 2012 R2 servers. VMWare 5.5,6.0 and 6.5 with vCenter.
• Data Center: Vertivo/Liebert/Emerson (PDU, UPS, CRACK DS), ATS Switches, AdaptiveCool, BMS
When I joined Federal Reserve Bank of New York Markets group I was faced with the task of Opseare (HP Server Automation) to make sure we were able to quarterly patch the servers. I introduced my group to RedHat 4 as they were 100% Sun Solaris shop. While at the Bank I was part of DataCenter Migration, SAN capacity planning, upgrades and architecture. I primary did work on project and engineering tasks while I was at the FED.
• Was part of the Markets Systems Engineering team in a Federal Reserve Bank of New York. As part of Markets Business Technology staff, I support Markets Group business lines objectives trough researching, evaluating, designing and implementing various technical solutions for Group's mission-critical systems.
• Served as technical subject matter expert to the Market’s Group’s project teams.
• Designed and Implemented system infrastructure components as well as non-functional system solutions and processes.
• Interacted with Bank’s Information Security and Audit teams to ensure that proposed system solutions adhere to FRS policies and standards. Implemented System Security Guidelines based on those interactions for RedHat and Solaris systems.
• Helped implement centrify for two factor authentication enforcement using Kerberos, AD and ED (LDAP setup for various applications). Also, helped implement centrify direct audit to log every activity of users connected to all unix servers. Setup reporting and auditing. Full engineered solution to satisfy auditing and logging requirements.
• Taking major part in migration from centrify old classical zones to new hierarchical zone structure including Active Directory structure.
• HP Server Automation (SA 9.04/10.21) and Orchestrator (OO 9.0/10) design, implementation, upgrades and support. Started with Opsware 6.5, 6.6, 7.0, 7.50 and 7.84. App Configs/Templates, creating policies, maintenance, patching, user administration etc. Virtually I am a primary Opsware (HP Server Automation) go to guy here at the FED. Extensive work on HP Server automation templates and policies. I did implement unattended build procedures via HP Server Automation solution for Solaris, Linux Red Hat and VM servers.
• Introduced my group to RedHat 4 and 5 as primary platform used to be Solaris 8/10 only. Designed security policies, procedures, implementation and automation.
• Took major part on the Engineering team for the Data Center Migration project.
• Extensive knowledge of Solaris 10 zones and zfs
• Major involvement with Linux virtualization, both on ESX and RedHat.
• Did implement unattended build procedures via HP Server Automation solution for Solaris, Linux Red Hat and VM servers.
• Solaris 10 U2 to U6 as well most recent U10/U11 migration, designed complete plan and procedures for upgrade.
• HP/3PAR SAN knowledge, monitoring, tools, snapshots, thin provisioning, volume tuning. S400 and T400. Working on Data Center migration from storage perspective to replace T400 with 7400 series 3PAR. Capacity planning, setup and configuration matrix, quotes/budgets, plans for migration.
• MDS9506 support, maintenance, upgrades, TEACACS+ integration, loging, security.
• Evaluated Oracle OpsCenter for OS provisioning and automation (POC).
• Software: Apache 2.x, Oracle 10g & 11g, MySQL (stand alone and cluster). Veritas Cluster, Volume Manager, Veritas Storage Foundation, WebSphere 6 & 6.1, Veritas Netbackup 6.5, 7.0 & Pure Disk, TCPWrapper, IPChains, IPFilter, OpenSSH. TCP/IP, sendmail, bind, Solaris ZFS, Solaris Zones/Containers, HP Server Automation (SA 6.5, 7.0, 7.50, 7.84 & 9.04), HP Opsware Orchestrator 7.51 & 9.0
• Hardware: T4’s, M4000, V880, X4100, T2000, Sun-Fire 480R, V490, 280R, V245, V240, E4500, V440, switches Catalyst series, CISCO MDS 9506, SAN 3PAR S400/T400/7400 Series
• OS: Solaris 8, 10 & 11 (SPARC). Linux RedHat ES Release 4, 5 & 6, VMVARE 3.5, Oracle
HealthMarkets was an insurance company located in Norwalk, CT. I joined HM because they gave me chance to learn Storage Area Network (SAN). I was able to help them with my UNIX expertise. During my tender at HealthMarkets I managed their Data Center and Co-location environment, I migrated their Data Center to their HQ in Dallas, TX. I did their annual Disaster Recovery testing with Sunguard.
• Responsible for system 24/7 availability and security.
• I did Data Center reallocation from NYC to TX. I designed and implemented UNIX server migration. I consolidated servers utilizing Solaris 10 containers/zones and zfs. Migrated Linux jboss servers into Solaris 10 zones. I did drastically reduced footprint.
• Implemented new development and QA environments based on datacenter migration so that they are the same. Worked with developers to develop deployment scripts and procedures.
• Working on new disaster recovery strategy and implementation for our new Texas Data Center.
• Involved with new Oracle SOA and Application servers, code deployments, troubleshooting.
• Did setup new EMC Clarion CX320 from Dell, installed PowerPath. Maintaining it. Also, had to upgrade enclosure to gain more storage.
• Daily UNIX system administration, backups, code deployments and troubleshooting
• Cloned various production environments using Solaris 10 zones for demo presentation purposes
• Configured and implemented awstats to collect web servers, mail gateway and ftp server statistics.
• Implemented Nagios service monitoring tool to monitor the network infrastructure at two data centers in NYC and CT. Setup Apache web server to display output from Nagios. Created custom Nagios plugins to monitor network interface usage and errors. Configured Nagios to report performance data and setup MRTG to display this data.
• Proposed complete plan to move out of our current data center in NYC to a new location in TX.
• Enhanced backup with backups to disk, upgraded NetBackup 4.5 to 6.0 MP3/MP4
• Implementing Solaris zones to consolidate servers, using zfs file systems, snapshots, implemented and utilized zfs send and receive feature to transfer incremental zfs snapshots between locations.
• Maintaining DNS and sendmail including over 3000 virtual user. Implemented ClamAV, spammassasin and DSPAM to filter incoming SPAM mail.
• Hardware and OS installation (Linux RedHat and Solaris 10) on Sparc, Intel and AMD platforms; configured for SAN, clustering and Oracle 10g DB and applications including Oracle Portal Application. Assisted in Oracle RAC implementation.
• Maintaining and administering HP StorageWorks 4000 (EVA4000) and HP SAN switches.
• Software: Netscape 4.x & 6.x, Apache 1.3.x & 2.x, Oracle 8.1.7, 9i and 10g, MySQL. Veritas Cluster, Volume Manager, Veritas Storage Foundation, Sun Volume Manager, JBoss 3.2.5, Veritas Netbackup 4.5PM6 & 6.0MP3, TCPWrapper, IPChains, IPFilter, SiteScope, OpenSSH. TCP/IP, sendmail, bind, Solaris ZFS, Solaris Zones/Containers, CITRIX, BMC Control-M
• Hardware: V880, X4100, T2000, Sun-Fire 480R, V490, 280R, V245, V240, E4500, V440, E450, E250. Local Director 430, Big IP F5, hubs & switches Catalyst series, StorEdge D1000, LTO3, SAN Qlogic SANbox 5600, HP MSL6030 & Dell ML6010 Tape Libraries with LTO-3 drives, HP SAN EVA4000 (HP StorageWorks 4000), HP SAN EVA6000, EMC Clarion CX320.
• OS: Solaris 7, 8, 9 and 10 (SPARC, INTEL and AMD64). Linux RedHat ES Release 3 & 4, Linux kernel 2.4.21 – 2.6.9, Win 2000/XP/2003, ALOM, RSC, ILOM, OBP, VMVARE
• Languages: AJAX, PHP4, PHP5, bash, ksh & perl. Light knowledge of HTML, XML & DHTML.
Sotheby's is an auction house. When I joined Sothebys they were starting their On-line Auction business. I was the main lead administrator. I managed their Data Center and Collocation services, I setup the Disaster Recover environment and procedures, Supported 24/7 operation.
• Supervise day-to-day UNIX system administrator team tasks.
• Manage and negotiate vendor relations and maintenance contracts.
• Responsible for system 24/7 availability and security
• Designing and implementing fully redundant secure internal system architecture
• Designed and implemented Disaster Recovery infrastructure for mission critical application.
• Implemented complex monitoring structure. (BigBrother, Nagios, MRTG, ORCA)
• Drastically reduced cost of operation ($950k in between 2001-2005).
• New infrastructure design and implementation, upgraded complete backup systems to new Sun Microsystems technology. Upgraded legato networker 7.1 to emc networker 7.3.2
• Did play major role in 2006 major infrastructure upgrade (hardware, OS, software & application).
• Software: Netscape 2.x, 3.6, 4.x & 6.x, Oracle 8.0.5 8.1.7 & 9i, mysql. Veritas Cluster, Volume Manager, Veritas Storage Foundation, Verity Search (k2), WebVision Auctionnet, Weblogic 5.x and 7.x, Legato, Trillium, Checkpoint FireWall-1, TCPWrapper, IPFilter, BigBrother, OpenSSH. TCP/IP, orca, sendmail, ntp, bind, ProFTPd, Solaris ZFS, DSPAM, SpamAssassin & ClamAV
• Hardware: T2000, V490, V440, E4500, E3500, V240, V210, E450, E420R, E220R, E250, U10, U5, V120, V100 and X1. Cisco 3640, Local Director 416 & 430, hubs & switches Catalyst series, StorEdge 3320, 3510, A3500, A1000, A5200, DLT7000, L8, L25, L280 & L1000. Nokia 440 and 330 Firewalls, SAN Qlogic SANbox 5600
• OS: Solaris 2.5, 2.6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Also know Linux Kernel 2.1.x, 2.4.x, RedHat 8, Win 2k/XP
• Languages: PHP4, PHP5, bash, ksh & perl. Light knowledge of HTML, XML, DHTML & AJAX.
Queens Internet Service Corp started at my college days. While in college I was introduced to the INTERNET, AOL, Compuserve and other companies emerged, I wanted to be part of it, I wanted to get people on-line. Internet at that time was primarily available by modem connections, thats how it all started. I was able to build my company, user base, setup and build servers, network and routers. Thats how my ISP business was born. I have learned quite a lot during those days and it was not by searching google, youtube or other resources, all was in the manuals and books.
• Initial setup, design and implementation of a company.
• Vendor relationship, contracts, projects and management were the major part of my responsibilities.
• Managing Sun and Linux servers, Cisco routers, dialup servers and internet servers such as email (pop3, imap and smtp), ftp, web (apache with perl and php3), database (mysql), DNS, Radius.
• Light programming in languages such as C/C++, perl, php3, java script, shell, bash, ksh.
• Light web design (html programming)
• High networking and Internet background (founded the company and made it grow up to this point, set up all the equipment such as servers, routers, dialups, switches and hubs).
• High technical skills such as building and fixing computers, finding and fixing network problems.
• Microsoft knowledge and support (Windows 95, 98, NT and 2000)
• Project management and customer relationship were the key steps to success as our Internet Services grew. Provided Web Services to many private and public Customers. Created websites. Needed to deliver quality of services and keep competitive timelines. I coordinated efforts of many people for the success of the company.