Playing a lead technical role in a major project to migrate the Unix back-end
of our Change Management suite to windows(Not my choice. And was shown in testing performance suffered. I tried to get my voice heard).
Part of a technical team of subject matter experts to virtualise our IBM Facing
Development Domain using the VMware suite of products
Perl script to Power Shell conversions
Server 2012 WebSphere builds to allow thin-client access to the change management
tools via the web
Windows 7 virtual machine image customisations and roll-out
Office 2012 roll-out and Rational tool integration
Documenting and teaching the help-desk personnel how to administer and maintain the
new environment through VSphere and Microsoft SCCM Server
Worked with our Lotus Notes developer to virtualise, upgrade and document our Domino email/database servers.
He is now able to maintain and administer the Domino clustered servers
I was tasked with finding a solution to upgrade the antivirus software on all the programmes Windows Servers with minimum admin overhead. After some research I found a wider IBM Global solution with Symantec. Our servers are now registered with this solution and are checked every four hours and definition updates are applied as necessary.
A report of events is now sent to a task ID daily
Position: Systems Support Specialist 2008 - 2014
This period of time saw many changes on the project from a large staffing drop to a new partnership with
Boeing Defence and another infrastructure move to Boeing’s lights out data centres and offices.
This threw up many new challenges for our team including data security, aligning the two platforms and new remote access solutions for many of our software tools.
Key Achievements
Bravo Bonus award for excellent continued/uninterupted support to the project.
Working with our Boeing partners on the successful data migration/Disaster Recovery testing on Boeing’s Storage Area Network.
Customisation of IBM’s RedHat eclient for use on the project.
Creation of VM images of developer’s workstations using P2V ready to be added to Boeing's Virtual Windows environment based on
VMWare and Administered using VSphere.
AIX6 upgrade.
Successful implementation of new remote access solutions for the projects development suite.
Successful roll-out of Windows 7 e-client laptop Solution for IBM staff at Boeing’s facilities.
Testing Technical Platforms Microsoft SCCM Server solution before it went live for use by In Service Support. I was praised by the Technical Platform Manager for helping clear up
issues with documentation that would be used by members of the In Service support team.
Helped Technical Platform plan and implement the backup/recovery/reporting solution that we in the data centre had performed earlier in the development domains.
Creation of new test/development environment and process for our Problem Tracking schema developers to follow when developing,
testing and rolling out ClearQuest updates and schema changes.
Position: Senior Systems Specialist 2006 - 2008
In 2006 I was promoted to the position of Senior Systems Specialist. My duties included the maintenance & management of the Critical Unix/Windows based server environment,
the management and monitoring of backups across the Unix/Windows environments and disaster recovery media and libraries across two sites and the administration and maintenance of the projects Change Management suite (Rational ClearCase & ClearQuest).
This period saw a successful and major upgrade of the projects backup/disaster recovery software tools, strategy and processes. I also became more involved again with the windows infrastructure helping create new Windows XP images.
I was again asked to work with our configuration management to design and roll-out a new Problem Tracking solution (ClearQuest) after successfully rolling-out ClearCase years earlier.
Key Achievements
A Bravo award for the successful roll-out & user training of Rational ClearQuest
ClearQuest and DB2 Administration Courses.
Position: Open Systems Administrator/Support Analyst 2003 - 2006
After a successful period working with the Open Systems team and taking on more responsibilities in February 2003 I was invited to join the team whilst offering 2nd line support to the PC/LAN team.
This period saw drastic drop in the number of Data centre support staff with the number dropping from 20 to 15 and then 10. This did however open the door to learning new skills and roles within the data centre. This was a very busy time with many large infrastructure and software changes.
My role was to maintain and support the projects Unix servers running the Configuration Management software, Informix Databases and the projects Backup/Archive solution Tivoli Storage Manager and its Tape Libraries. I also picked up Windows 2000/2003 skills whilst working on a new
Change Management Solution across two domains.
Key Achievements
Architect of new Change Management Solution. I was tasked with investigation and concept of Rational Software’s Configuration Management Suite: ClearCase with the configuration management team. The new solution had to be more stable, incorporate new development techniques and usable for both the Windows and Unix development environments. The new ClearCase solution far outperformed continuss and offered far more configuration management options and features to the configuration management team.
It also offered a far cleaner interface for users that made training new users of the system far easier and less time consuming.
Initiated a location security/policy review. This was to cover machine room access, Server Security configurations and user privileges/roles review.
Upgrade AIX Environment from AIX 4.3 to AIX 5.3 (Implemented OS hardening and performance best practises as per IBM Guidelines).
Co-wrote and set in place a project Disaster Recovery Procedure based on Tivoli Storage Manager Software and Client API’s.
Set-up/testing of second location in Welwyn with recovery capability.
Added TSM functionality to allow the help-desk to do TSM file restores/recovery for any server (Unix or windows) via an Intranet site that displayed the full procedure once a failed server had been selected.
Completed AIX User/Admin courses and CompTIA security + course
Position: PC LAN Support Analyst/Team Leader 2001 - 2003
I was asked to join the PC/LAN support team in January 2001 as I had shown that I could resolve a growing number of issue’s being raised at source, on the phone. The IT Manager said he wanted to put me in a more challenging customer facing role. My role was to provide 1st-2nd Line support to the technical infrastructure at both Stevenage and Welwyn sites. In this new role I was part of the team that relocated the projects entire infrastructure to a new building in Stevenage. This was done in the space of a weekend with zero impact to our users and clients, all systems were available first thing Monday. In September 2001 was promoted to the position of PC LAN Support Team Leader for both the Stevenage and Welwyn sites.
I was responsible for a team of four support analyst’s it was together our duty to ensure that all faults and user requirement requests were resolved correctly and on time.
This period also saw me working more and more with Data centre support teams in the implementation of hot/cold isles and Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) installations in the site machine rooms. I also began learning Unix (AIX) whilst helping the Open Systems Support Team.
Key Achievements
Promoted to PC/LAN team leader.
Part of the Data Centre team that relocated all infrastructure to new site in a weekend, without issue.
Completed CompTIA a+ CBT
I began learning some the Unix Admin tasks.
Position: Help-Desk Administrator/Analyst 1999 - 2000
My role was to manage all calls from opening to closure within a department of 20 people supporting the large number of applications and platforms being used by the project consisting of 300+ users.
Verify users are happy with conclusion. Create and maintain user domain accounts for Windows NT and Lotus Notes.
Key Achievements
Received Project Award for the highest score ever on a Help Desk Satisfaction Survey.