Customer Service Technical Support
Resume:
TONY SERRATA
****.*******@*****.***
VMware ADMINISTRATOR
Virtual Infrastructure Admin ~ Linux/Windows Systems Administration
Dedicated IT professional with 3 years experience in Virtual Infrastructure
administration. 8 years of overall IT experience. Excellent technical
support provider: ranked in top 1% of Microsoft's five thousand Technical
Support Engineers for customer support excellence. Proponent of continuous
personal and professional improvement: developed templates and processes
to reduce migration errors to new platforms; developed innovative solutions
which were implemented in product revisions and/or best practices.
Excellent communication skills, fluency in English/Spanish.
COMPUTER SKILLS
Hardware: HP DL38x series; Dell
Poweredge; EMC Clarion, Mac Xserve,
various desktop systems including Apple.
Software: VMware (all products);
Open Office, Dell OpenManage, HP iLO
Microsoft: Word,
Excel, Outlook; PowerPoint, Access, ACT!
Numerous Open
Source and Proprietary applications
Operating Systems: VMware: ESX 2x, 3x and ESXi and
vSphere, Windows, FreeBSD, Solaris, UNIX, Mac,
Linux (RHEL and Debian based distributions)
Programming
Languages: Bash Scripting, Perl, and
Batch scripting for Win32 OS.
Networking: Linux/Windows: MS and Linux
DNS, DHCP, POP, SMTP, OpenVPN, IPSec, Experience
with Cisco ASA and PIX series routers.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
TuneSat and FreeplayMusic LLC Sr. Systems Administrator/IT Lead Jan-
Present 2010 (Contract)
. Rebuilt networking infrastructure using a combination of Cisco
hardware and Pfsense router/firewall software to manage internal
infrastructure.
. Where budgets where a concern, would build customized hardware
appliances to drive costs down, while maintaining systems integrity.
This would include networking hardware and storage appliances with
custom or freely available software (Openfiler for storage and Pfsense
for networking)
. Built development environment for development team using Citrix
XenServer and VMware to manage the systems.
. Desktop Support where needed. The environment was a combination of
Macs and PCs mainly laptops.
. Managed and rebuilt datacenter operations for both TuneSat and
FreeplayMusic
. Created and Documented new processes to better manage and keep track
of systems.
. Extensive rewiring of datacenter systems to provide better cooling of
systems and easier wire tracing.
. Managed both LAN and WAN connections to office and datacenter
operations.
. Managed OpenXhange email systems and developed a migration proposal
for moving to Zimbra email to better accommodate the heterogeneous
infrastructure.
. Saved the company thousands of dollars in additional equipment costs
by optimizing or building lower cost solutions that provided the same
service at a lower cost. In other cases establishing proper business
use of hardware and finding the appropriate hardware for the budget.
. Managed Audio/Video systems that are critical to TuneSat and
FreeplayMusic's existence.
. Oversaw infrastructure changes to various services such as FTP and Web
access
. Interacted with clients in setting up TuneSat software against their
hardware configuration.
Accomplishments:
. After a catastrophic gateway failure, built and deployed a ready made
solution to reestablish the website and communications. Lack of a
budget prevented a reduntant setup so it was necessary to build a
cheap drop in replacement to the gateway. This solution has proven to
so effective that a secondary replacement was requested.
. Quick resolutions to often very difficult problems inherent in the
legacy infrastructure.
. Documented production environments; defined server roles and
locations.
. Managed multiple datacenter sites and issues related to each site.
Bank of Scotland/Lloyds Banking Group TSB, Systems Administrator NY, NY,
July-Sept 2009 (Contract)
. Maintained/upgraded existing VMware environment.
. Mass p2v of production systems (20+ systems) to Virtual Infrastructure
. Created a long term storage plan so that going forward storage could
be managed properly using VMware established best practices.
. Enabled Sys Admins to effectively monitor and manage the virtual
environment with zero cost investment.
. Trained the IT staff on the benefits of Virtualization and what it was
as well as proper management of the existing virtual infrastructure in
accordance with established best practices.
. Migrated entire Virtual Datacenter over to a new IP range ESX hosts
and VMotion IPs required this change as well.
VMware Inc., Palo Alto, Ca, Virtual Infrastructure Administrator, 2006 -
2009
. Supported internal cloud infrastructure from OS/application setup to
physical and virtual hardware maintenance. This included maintenance
of applications and ensuring high availability of systems via VMotion
and other high availability applications.
. Supported the underlying virtual hardware and OS for all web based
applications and worked with the Web development team to troubleshoot
or test applications for deployment in the cloud infrastructure.
. Member of principal lab staff for VMWorld 06/07/08.
. Managed VI3, DNS, DHCP, WSUS, Active Directory, NIS, Windows/Linux
Printing, Nagios Monitoring (via Groundwork.)
. Primary for OS specific questions (release dates, modifications for
Virtual Appliances); managed Windows VMs on the Virtual
Infrastructure.
. Provided support for engineers running specific applications on the
Virtual Infrastructure (Cloud). This included checking for hung
applications or other troubleshooting steps at the application level
after checking virtual hardware and OS.
. Worked on ESX implementations in both development and production
environments.
. Coordinated activities between the Systems Administration team and
other teams when manager involvement was no longer necessary. Acted as
the "face" of the team.
. Looked for ways to use VMware products internally as part of a dogfood
initiative. This initiative allowed me to become very familiarized
with various VMware products at a much deeper level and also the
opportunity to test out new OS' for possible production use in a
virtualized environment.
Accomplishments:
. Built, using CUPS and SAMBA, a printing infrastructure that reduced
dependencies issues and resources.
. Built custom template OS VM images and ESX to use in production.
. Upgrade and re-implementation of VMware's Virtual Infrastructure to
vSphere (aka VI4) - During time at VMware oversaw and/or implemented a
50 percent to 98% virtualized environment.
. Worked with marketing to develop best practices for all VMware client
sites using Virtual Infrastructure team as the gold standard.
. Documented production environments; defined server roles and
locations.
. Created template for Helpdesk management/reporting; trained users and
teams taking over specific roles.
. Built a solution, using Linux, to manage software archives.
. Pitched use of targeted print advertising; idea implemented and a
successful marketing strategy.
Vmware Inc. Windows/Linux/Mac Desktop Administrator, 2005 - 2006
. Instrumental in formation of Technical Operations group developed to
assist software engineers.
. Helpdesk and Desktop Support; development of policies and procedures.
Accomplishments:
. Member of team that developed tested and migrated to internal
ticketing system (Helpzilla.)
SYNOPSYS, Mountain View, CA 2005
Global Solutions Support
. Organized helpdesk support team; created policies and procedures to
support organizational goals.
. Technical support for Windows and Linux, spyware, virus, firewall,
software fixes, VPN troubleshooting; maintained statistical
information re walk-in/phone/email tickets.
. Created/re-activated inactive RSA Tokens.
. Primary contact for all helpdesk related issues. Functioned in a
mentoring capacity to new helpdesk personnel.
CARDINAL HEALTH AIS/PYXIS, New York City, NY 2003 - 2005
Field Service Technician
. Maintained/repaired Pyxis automated computer systems including
medicine-delivering robots running on Windows 2000 embedded with
special interface; repaired DOS/Windows3.1/Unix-based kiosks
dispensing medication.
. Technical responsibility for Windows NT servers managing Cardinal
Health/Pyxis product lines.
. Implemented/upgraded Pyxis products in hospital environment.
Accomplishments:
. Recognized for exceptional customer service and commitment to the
organization.
. Commended for development of innovative solutions which were later
implemented in product revisions.
MICROSOFT CORPORATION, Orem, UT 2001 - 2002
Technical Support Engineer
. Windows 9x/2000/XP technical support.
. Creation of numerous Microsoft KB published technical articles
Accomplishments:
. Rewarded for customer service excellence in four consecutive months.
TRAINING AND CERTIFICATIONS
MCP Windows 2000
Comptia Network+
Comptia A+
CCNA, RHEL4, Microsoft and Security certificate courses
VMware, Inc.
Internal training on all VMware products
Courses in: Project Management, Linux, Virtual Infrastructure, BMC
Bladelogic, RedHat.
Microsoft Corporation
Windows 9x/2000/XP support and architecture
Office 2000/XP support
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