Storage Administrator, Systems Administrator, Team Lead/Manager

Kareem Forbes, B.Sc.

*** ***** ***** ** *******, ON M9B 5J8 416-***-**** *************@*****.***

Enterprise Storage & Systems Administrator

Solutions-oriented IT professional with over 20 years of experience in systems and storage administration. Exceptional problem-solving skills, driving to success a broad range of high-risk projects while participating in the planning and implementation of corporate IT initiatives to support business objectives. Excellent communicator, displaying composed leadership of a team and solid knowledge that inspires confidence to senior executives.

Core Competencies: Network & systems administration; Windows and storage administration, Microsoft Server, project management, complex problem analysis, team building, high ability to communicate complex technical subjects with/to various audiences

Education and Qualifications

Bachelor of Science, Computer Science - Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario (1993)

Storage Professional supporting IBM San Volume Controller (SVC), IBM DS3000-DS8x00, XIV, Brocade DCX Directors, EMC Symmetrix

Window 2000/2003 MCSE, MCP, A+, Dell Certified Storage Networking Professional

Microsoft client and server operating systems including XP/Vista/Windows 7, Server 2003/2008/2012

VMWare ESX 3.x (Install and Configure, Deploy Secure and Analyze) and VSphere 4.x

Active Directory (2000/2003/2008), DNS, DHCP, RIS/PXE and clustering experience with Microsoft Exchange/SQL Server, ExtremeZ-IP utilizing NSI Software’s Geocluster and EMC SRDF/CE

Professional Experience

IBM, Toronto, Ontario 2014 - Present

Storage Administrator

Support storage for 7 IBM Western Canada accounts.

Technology supported includes IBM DS8000/XIV/DS5K/SVC, HP EVA/3PAR, Brocade and Cisco fibre channel directors and switches, Netapp

Perform data center migrations for storage using XIV and SVC

Perform disaster recovery testing using SVC/global mirror for replication

Utilize TPC for reporting and performance troubleshooting

Create and maintain documentation as required

Utilize ITIL change management processes

CIBC (World Markets), Toronto, Ontario 2008 - 2014

Storage Administrator

Team lead for operations and root cause analysis with vendors and engineering, develop technical solutions and secure support from senior executives for implementation

Support 8 SVC Clusters and over 3 PB of data on IBM DS3400/4000/5000/8300-8870

Completed IBM training on IBM DS8000, XIV, Tivoli Productivity Center (TPC), San Volume Controller (SVC), Brocade Director Switches

Supported multi-year SVC migration project from DS8000 to virtualized with IBM SVC

Daily activities include project allocations/reclamations, disk expansions, fabric health initiatives, fibre channel troubleshooting and diagnosing complex performance issues/root cause analysis

Recognized as team and quarterly individual achiever on multiple occasions, received exceptional rating for 2013 performance review and 2 quarterly achiever awards

Senior Systems Administrator/Intel Technical Specialist

Supported, maintained and deployed Windows Servers and SQL Server clustering subject matter expert

Joined Intel Server Administration team responsible for 4000+ Servers supporting approximately 60,000+ users at CIBC locations across Canada

Team lead for geocluster and local cluster farm management (approximately 60 clusters with 150 nodes on windows 2003/2008 with SQL 2000/2005/2008). Responsibilities included new farm deployment ensuring best practices are followed, software currency, patching, supporting new deployments, projects, migrations and decommissions, issue identification with root cause analysis, 2nd and 3rd level escalations, training Intel support staff

New systems deployment - physical, virtual, and blade, VMware 3.x/4.x and Microsoft, Server maintenance (patching) and issue resolution with root cause analysis

Project, and data center relocation Support, major projects included EMC Symmetrix migration to IBM DS8x00, migration to IBM SVC for storage virtualization.

Twice recognized as a CIBC quarterly achiever and only team member to receive highest performance rating for yearly review (exceptional among peers)

PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Toronto, Ontario 2007 - 2008

Senior Systems Administrator

Manage and maintain Intel, Vmware, Cisco and Netbackup environments

Joined production services team responsible for 500+ Servers and approximately 5000 users.

New systems deployment - physical and virtual - VMware and Microsoft, Server maintenance (patching) and issue resolution, EMC and Netbackup 6.x administration

Environment monitoring and configuration using What’s Up Gold v11, Systems Center Operations Manager 2007, Configuration Manager 2007 and Dell IT Assistant

Trader Corporation (Yellow Pages Group), Toronto, Ontario 2003 - 2007

Senior Systems Administrator

Administration of Windows Server Infrastructure, Dell/EMC Storage and Netbackup

Managed over 150+ servers with over 2500 users

Key technical resource to manage and implement migration projects for LAN and DMZ from NT 4.0/Exchange 5.5 to Windows 2003/AD/Exchange 2003, including creating a virtual replica of the production environment for migration testing purposes

Daily duties included AD/Exchange administration, WAN and Firewall support, Cisco Content Switch support, backups, server builds, windows updates, antivirus, LAN/DMZ Monitoring, pager support (24x7), SAN administration, DNS, DHCP, FTP, VMware, IIS, root cause analysis, capacity planning, documentation

Implemented and managed VMware GSX server/VMware server to support multiple development environments, reduced server management, and reduced environment build time

Team lead in systems department, trained systems administrators and user support personnel in AD, Exchange, Clustering, Netbackup, SAN Storage, VMWare, IIS, DNS

Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment (Air Canada Centre), Toronto, Ontario 2001 - 2003

Systems Administrator/Technical Support

Support Intel Servers and AD/Exchange Migration and End User Support

Planned, implemented and managed migration project from NT 4.0 to Windows 2000 AD/Exchange 2000

Technical support for 350+ end users, support Microsoft Office applications, legacy applications, client and server installations, configurations

Awarded team IT/Finance department award in recognition of performance excellence

Selzee Southern (BellSouth Contractor), Daytona Beach, Florida 1999 - 2001

Systems Administrator/Office Manager

Support Head Office Server and Workstations

Bethune-Cookman University, Daytona Beach, Florida 1995 - 1997, 1998 - 1999

Network Administrator

Support Education Department Computer Systems

Business Forms Associates, Toronto, Ontario 1997 - 1998

Consultant/Technical Support

Support Clients Windows Servers and Workstations

Contact this candidate