SUMMARY

• Results - oriented Information Technology Specialist with proven success in designing, implementing, administering and managing IT solutions, seeks a new and exciting opportunity to apply my vast Systems Administration/Systems Engineering skills.
• Solid knowledge of Systems Administration/Systems Engineering, utilizing Windows 7-10, 2008 R2, Server 2012, Server 2016, Active Directory, VMware 5.x\6.x and Hyper-V
• Extensive experience in implementing and supporting data center infrastructure, data protection and replication, system monitoring, VMware services, network support, storage and remote access solutions.
• Expertise in supporting and troubleshooting hardware, software and networking issues.
• Exceptional administrative, organizational, problem-solving and leadership skills. Thrive in both independent and collaborative work areas.
• Outstanding communication skills were proven by effective interaction with management, colleagues, and customers.
• Energetic and self-motivated team player. Effective manager of multiple senior-level projects and responsibilities.
• A genuine commitment to quality and customer satisfaction.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Systems: MS Windows (Windows 7-10, Server 2008 R2, Server 2012, Server 2016), VMware v5.x\6.x, Hyper-V

Protocols: TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, VPN, FTP, SMTP, HTTP.

Software: vSphere Client v5.x\6.x, ESXi, Commvault, Microsoft Office Suite, MS Exchange Server, Microsoft MSMQ, Symantec IT Mgmt Suite (Altiris), iTOP CMDB, MS SQL Server, Citrix Metaframe, RAS, McAfee, MS Sharepoint, MS WSUS/SCCM, Symantec NetBackup, Workdesk Systems Administrator, MS Clustering, EMC Management, Kemp Load Balancer Appliance.

Hardware: IBM Servers, Dell Servers, Cisco UCS, EMC Clarion, Hitachi VSP, HP 3PAR, Kaminario, Brocade switches/backbone, NAS, Remote Storage Library, Switches, firewalls, Video Conferencing, Projectors, Hubs, Polycom Video, Crestron Control Systems.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Confidential

Systems Administrator IV

Responsibilities:

• Systems Administrator/Engineer/ for Windows domain infrastructure utilizing VMware hosts, virtual hosts and virtual machines in a multiple domain environments
• POC for multiple data center environments of large physical Dell and HP hosts in a clustered environment with 100+ hosts and over 600 VMs.
• Responsible for data center physical hardware design, build-outs, power/cooling, management and updating of all server hardware.
• Responsible for VMware installation and configuration, data center and cluster builds, capacity planning, high availability, and upgrades.
• Responsible for planning and implementing MS Windows Server OS upgrades from Server 2008R2 to 2012 and server 2012 to server 2016.
• Active Directory installation and management in support of merging and consolidating AD services, and security of disparate systems across multiple merged companies.
• Administration of AD across multiple domains, security, group policy, remote access, account creation and account termination.
• POC for disaster recovery, sandbox testing of DR plan utilizing virtual host environments, patch management schedule from lower environments to production.
• POC for iTop CMDB setup, configuration, and correlation of all systems and applications within the IT infrastructure.
• On-call rotation support of all systems and backup rotation in support of the NOC.
• Project technical lead for data center inventory, design, and rebuild of pod environments of 6 servers per pod(front-end\back-end) and 30 pods.
• Identified problem areas within the data center environment, made recommendations to resolve those problems and implement approved plans.
• Responsible for procurement, of all hardware required for the Data Center build-out and installation of all hardware in support of the project. This included rack and stack, cable running, identifying network requirements, managing power distribution, and load, configuring iDRAC for out-of-band management, updating the CMDB, updating IPAM, and creating rack, model, service tag diagrams and on-site documentation.
• Responsible for the installation of VMware ESXi hosts and NIC Teaming (on-site and automated), Installation and configuration of PSC and vCenter(HA) appliances and creation of data center and cluster groups in support of the migration and segregation of various business entities.
• Responsible for configuration of host profiles, HA, DRS, vDS, VMKernel Ports and Port Groups.
• Migration of VMs and creation of new VMs utilizing vMotion or inventory remove and add. Creation of VM templates associated with the various business entities.
• Management, monitoring, and updating of all hardware and software related to the various vCenter environments.

Confidential

Systems Administrator

Responsibilities:

• POC for Management of the USDA virtual server infrastructure and multiple domains. Responsible for multiple data center environments of large VMware clusters of 50+ hosts and over 600 VMs.
• Senior Engineer for escalation support of USDA HelpDesk Services for the Engineering Operations Group.
• Administration of the AD across multiple domains, group policy, security groups and account administration.
• POC for disaster recovery, infrastructure-wide server systems management, configuration management, patch management, server health and proactive monitoring using Symantec IT Management Suite (Altiris).
• VMware maintenance, configuration management, monitoring, and availability.

Confidential

Systems Administrator

Responsibilities:

• Worked on numerous projects related to upgrading and migration of infrastructure systems, the roll-out of new hardware and software technology, consolidation of infrastructure resources, server and network security management and escalation support.
• Assisted in planning and implementation of Exchange to MS 365 migration utilizing a staged migration plan of all departments. Responsible for exchange and 365 domain preparation and nightly batch migration of mail-enabled users. Escalation point for all help desk requests related to security and administration of 365 security and mail-enabled accounts.
• Assisted in the evaluation and roll-out of Windows 8 tablets to the U.S. Federal Courts Office of the Administrator. Tested and resolved issues regarding user experience, security, hardware compatibility and debugging of Microsoft issues requiring Microsoft support engineering escalation.
• Performed administration of Group Policy including troubleshooting GP related problems, the creation of new GP policies as required by the Security Administrator and evaluation of current policies and new policies related to Windows 8 and Windows Server 12.
• Full server infrastructure evaluation for a project to remove 40+ remaining critical and non-critical Windows 2003 servers from the environment and upgrading to Windows 2008R2 or Server12. This included migration planning of physical hardware to new physical hardware or migration to a virtual environment.
• Assisted in the National Active Directory (NAD) project to use AD/ADFS for single sign-on purposes across Federal Courts Administrative Office. Coordinated with various departments to schedule migrations, backend administration to prepare departments for migration which included migration to a new domain, AD administration, McAfee Security administration, Windows profile redirection and onsite support during migration. Point of Contact for escalation of unforeseen issues and training of help desk tiers.
• Member of the escalation team responsible for hardware and software in support of the Tier 1-3 Help Desk.

Confidential

Systems Administrator/Systems Engineer

Responsibilities:

• Assisted companies with planning and implementation of their VMware infrastructure and developing a migration plan.
• Performed assessments of the IT infrastructure and made recommendations for upgrades to data center infrastructure.
• Took appropriate action to resolve systems administration and VMware errors or misconfigured hardware and software.
• Worked on large and small projects related to Data Center infrastructure evaluation and virtualization recommendations as well as general systems administration.
• Built server systems, providing upgrade paths, expanding current server infrastructure and made recommendations for resolving current infrastructure concerns.
• Provided break-fix support for Microsoft AD and VMware environments and provided support for migrations of servers which are being moved from a physical to virtual environment.

Confidential

Systems Administrator

Responsibilities:

• Responsible for the IT server infrastructure in support of the HarmonyIS Aging Health Application totaling 200+ servers and multiple Data Center infrastructures.
• Planned the migration and consolidation of multiple data centers in support of the company's IT cost savings and updated application rollout which included the development and implementation of a hybrid physical\cloud server resource environment.
• Performed daily monitoring and reporting of all critical services provided by our environment.
• Supported all aspects of IT infrastructure hardware.
• Supported all aspects of the IT shared software infrastructure using Citrix XenApp and Citrix XenDesktop
• Managed and supported the XenApp stack to provide various remote user business groups with application support and reducing costs for personal computer by using thin clients to access published applications.
• Managed and supported the XenDesktop stack to provide various remote and on-premise business groups which utilized more resource intensive applications and required a more secure remote experience utilizing thin clients.
• Systems Administration using Active Directory Services and ADFS to manipulate and maintain all high-level domain functions as well as account login resources for external customers.
• Used VMware vSphere Client to configure, manage and maintain large groupings of virtual servers.
• Backup of all sever data daily utilizing Commvault.
• Manage all patching and firmware updates for the environment.
• Manage Storage resources for the virtual environment.
• Project technical lead and assistant project manager for the consolidation and relocation of multiple data centers for cost savings and application upgrade initiative for the Aging Health application used by state government agencies.
• Provided a full assessment of the current IT infrastructure hardware, utilized versus available server resources, application loads, and recommended improvements for the current infrastructure in preparation for upgrades and changes during the data center consolidation and migration.
• POC for all infrastructure meetings, assessments, validations, and cost analysis for the successful migration and consolidation of the data centers.
• Vetted all potential data center facilities, SAN storage vendors, IT infrastructure resellers, and submitted my findings to the Director of IT Operations with regard to which vendors we would be using and how they would benefit our consolidation and migration initiative.
• Responsible for final decisions regarding all IT infrastructure purchases and resource recommendations. Adjusted costs accordingly to stay within the project budget and provided detailed reports as to why the budget needed to be adjusted and the benefits of exceeding the initial budget limits if required.
• Worked closely with the Data Center project managers and technical leads to inform them of our facility needs and requirements and make sure that our cloud service and physical resource environment was configured correctly and provided all necessary redundancies. This included an assessment of rack space requirements, power, cooling, Internet bandwidth, network switches, firewalls, load balancers, SAN, and security.
• Configured the VMware Virtual infrastructure using a three-node cluster providing N+1 and high availability which would allow for expansion and additional consolidation while allowing costs to start low and grow as required to meet business needs.
• Provided detailed infrastructure diagrams and worksheets of the Data Center consolidation plan and outlined all resources which would be moving to this new environment.
• Tested all networks, VLANs, routing, and firewalls for proper configuration for the cloud and physical environment.
• Worked with the data center cloud team to ensure proper configuration of F5 load balancers for front-end infrastructure and configured Load balancer pools and Virtual IPs.
• Successfully reduced current physical infrastructure run rate from roughly $68K+/month with 25+ racks down to a virtualized, cloud/physical hybrid environment with a run rate of roughly $15K/month and 3 racks.
• The project also included plans for reducing the data center resources at the disaster recovery site and allowed for replication of data and a hybrid warm/hot site for backup and recovery.

Confidential

Systems Administrator

Responsibilities:

• Responsible for all core servers and hardware for the Confidential prescription transfer initiative comprised of two locations totaling 600 physical and virtual servers. Availability of prescription transfers required a 5 nines high availability infrastructure.
• Perform daily monitoring and reporting of all critical services provided by our environment using the Altiris monitor solution to ensure that systems are running at optimal levels.
• Support all aspects of infrastructure hardware, fiber attachments, SAN, 10G Ethernet, and building of VMware clustered nodes.
• Systems Administration using Active Directory Services to manipulate and maintain all high-level domain functions. Using VMware Vshpere Client to configure, manage and maintain large groupings of virtual servers.
• Backup of all sever data daily utilizing Commvault and Data Domain for deduplication, and replication of data to alternate sites.
• Managed all patching and firmware updates for the environment.
• Key personnel overseeing and implementing multiple Data Center consolidations and moves.
• Assisted in the design and layout of the new Data Center floor space which included cabling of cat6, 10g Twinax, fiber, racking and testing of servers, network and storage infrastructure.
• Researched and introduced the Altiris IT Management Suite (6.x-7.x) to the production environment. This packaged solution replaced our outsourced management and monitoring solution which saved the company more than $500K/year.
• Responsible for the setup, design, and implementation of the Altiris ITMS. Created all rules, policies, and metrics based on the needs of our environment to greatly enhance our monitoring capabilities.
• Trained the Level 2 monitoring group on using the system, creating a runbook, and assisted them with troubleshooting when necessary.
• Successfully virtualized the Altiris ITMS environment to aid in disaster recovery and successfully created a contingency plan for moving the Altiris ITMS to various sites as required during site outages.
• Introduced VMware clustered nodes to the company to replace our QA/DEV environment. Used Vsphere v5\5.1 to assess our current physical server environment to properly plan storage capacity, CPU utilization, memory utilization, identify wasted resources and configure physical server resources for N+1.
• Configured the environment for HA, vMotion, Storage vMotion, DRS and used P2V to migrate physical servers to the virtual environment.
• By implementing VMware I was able to reduce our physical server footprint, show the value gained by implementing VMware, as well as demonstrate its broad disaster recovery capabilities. This project led the way for implementing VMware in all environments including our core production environment which saved the company significant money on redundant hardware, server warranties, power consumption, cooling, as well as leased Data Center floor space.
• Completed the VMware required instructor lead training course which allows entry to complete the VCP certification.

Confidential

Systems Administrator

Responsibilities:

• Responsible for all tiers of IT in support of the Washington, DC Headquarters office, East Coast and Europe offices of the American Electronics Association.
• Managed core servers, consisting of ADS, Web, File/Print, Backup, Mail, VPN, and VOIP
• Supported server and workstation hardware and software in a mixed environment.
• Performed daily monitoring and reporting of server mail queues, VPN sites and connectivity, backup rotations, and firewalls.
• Systems Administration using Active Directory Services to manipulate and maintain all high-level domain functions. Creating users and devices, as well as group and organization creation, assignment, policy, access rights and Lotus Notes, account creation and Exchange account creation.
• Backup of all server data on a daily basis using Backup Exec with offsite storage and IDR procedures.
• Implemented and Managed the David Confidential Conference Center project which included Polycom video conferencing, multiple video screens, fully integrated audio conferencing and multi-microphone whole room audio, video and audio recording, Crestron control panels and wireless access.
• Planned, implemented and managed the IT infrastructure merger of AEA and ITAA. Conjoining multiple domains and multiple offices and migrating to a new Confidential domain. Merging and migrating two dissimilar mail systems into a single system utilizing Microsoft. Analyzing various protocols, and software packages and determining which proved to be the best for the company to move forward.