SUMMARY

• Server systems engineer with 10+ years of experience with Microsoft and VMware technologies running on high - density HP and Cisco compute clusters in an extensive enterprise environment. Strong, customer-focused engineer, generating client satisfaction through the use of effective communications, best practices and standards, skilled troubleshooting techniques, and a demonstrated capability for both thorough and efficient problem resolution.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Infrastructure Engineer

Confidential - Chattanooga, TN

Responsibilities:

• Designed and executed vSphere 6.5 multi-datacenter upgrade on Cisco UCS B200 M4 blade servers in a vBlock configuration as well as on a Dell VxRail HCI solution that included use of DR features such as Site Recovery Manager, Metro Stretch clustering, and RecoverPoint for VMs. Migration from standard to vSphere distributed switch networking was collaboratively executed with the Networking team. Through use of PowerCLI automation wherever possible, many menial and time-consuming tasks were condensed to rapid, repeatable, and consistent operations; greatly speeding up the host migration to a green-field 6.5 vCenter.
• Took on a goal of maximizing availability through early detection and avoidance of hardware and software issues that could lead to ESXi host instability. Via new deployments of vROps and VMware Log Insight, various contributing factors to host issues such as DIMM errors or All Paths Down events were added to alerting. Proactively resolving these issues has put a stop to the team reacting to at least a couple of host crashes per month and countless hours of time spent with VMware or Cisco support to remediate those events. The result of this effort is also applied toward the infrastructure SLA as the host crashes (and correlating VM crashes) have not been a problem for well over a year.
• Through the use of vROps, right-sizing initiatives were begun and an initial cost savings (through hardware purchase deferral) was estimated around $200,000.00. An estimation of VM performance efficiency improvement through this effort varies based on size and usage, but some VMs were seen to improve speeds by over 100% through the reduction of CPU Ready delays.
• Developed and instituted new documentation methods for work plans and SOP documentation.
• Audited Smart Net renewal quote and found approximately $150,000 in savings due to hardware lifecycle.

Server Engineer

Confidential - Kennesaw, GA

Responsibilities:

• Designed multi-datacenter vSphere environment including clustering with HA and DRS design, both SAN and NAS storage, and a hybrid of standard and distributed vSwitch networking configurations. As a result of the dedicated effort to growing the virtualization platform through best practices, the company benefited from increased confidence in virtualization technology leading to tremendous cost savings, multiple points of high availability redundancy, and drastic reduction in SLA delivery times for new servers. This VMware infrastructure went from meekly supporting only a fraction of non-critical systems to a rock-solid reliable foundation for 98% of all server infrastructure. The result was a growth from only a couple of hosts with a couple dozen VMs to several datacenters, dozens of hosts, and thousands of VMs. The virtualization platform has further grown to include VDI solutions, setting the End User Computing team on a path to far greater efficiency in supporting their customers’ needs.
• Upgraded corporate messaging systems. Exchange servers merged from two separate AD domain Exchange 2003 systems to a single Exchange 2010 with multiple email domains adding DAG between two sites. Live Communications messaging upgraded to Office Communications 2007 leveraging Exchange for conversation history and unified presence. Faxing upgraded from stand-alone fax machines and old modem-based fax server to RightFax 10 solution utilizing FOIP and AD-integration for fax messaging simplicity. Prior to departure, involved in O365 migration project for continued growth and assimilation into global infrastructure. This project included complex networking challenges that involved heavy cooperation with the network engineer teams; both locally and remote.
• Stood up a “COLO” datacenter for both disaster planning and “warm” use of compute resources for Dev/QA needs. This also involved AD Sites and Services configuration for subnetting and replication of a layer 2 WAN datacenter as well as the use of multiple vCenters in linked mode.
• Migration and consolidation of three datacenters, each with unique geographic logistical challenges. The successful migrations were handled with only brief planned outages utilizing P2V conversion, SAN duplication, physical relocation, and backup /restore strategies. Reconfiguration of AD site replication and relocation of subnets, as well as DNS consolidation, AD Trust configuration, and Domain Controller decommissioning were also vital parts of this effort.
• Set-up and maintenance of a multi-domain UCS blade system starting with first-generation gear, up to present-day systems. This included tailored template designs, multiple authentication methods, VLAN configurations, firmware updates, and support and maintenance contract coordination with Smart Net.
• Early accomplishments also include tackling a six month gap in support of several peripheral systems that had fallen into disrepair. Piloting the documentation and re-implementation of a patch management strategy (WSUS), monitoring strategy (WhatsUp Gold, Argent, SolarWinds, HP SIM), and deployment strategy (Altiris/HPRDP, WDS) all contributed to shoring up vital controls needed by the department for continued success in a growing complex environment.
• Completed several core server infrastructure designs and upgrades including Active Directory (beginning with 2000 through 2012), AD trusts, AD replication, Group Policy, Exchange, Office Communications, WSUS, DNS, and DHCP.
• Took responsibility of several maintenance contracts including virtualization and hardware and worked extensively with the VAR to consolidate multiple disparate contracts into single, co-terminating, easily managed contracts.