Muhsin Tawafig

Senior Infrastructure Eng.

Proven Success in Systems Optimization and Strategic IT Solutions

Accomplished Senior System Administrator with broad experience in systems, managing server infrastructures, data-center and application development with operations across multiple platforms. Field of expertise include not limited to extensive production and effectively testing environment, install, configure and optimize all aspects of IT infrastructure, (Networking, hardware, virtualization, Storage and BCP); Server farms and web application to consistently achieve high availability and performance.

Proven ability to create and deliver solutions tied to business growth, organizational development and systems/network optimization. Skilled problem identifier and troubleshooter comfortable managing systems, projects and teams in a range of IT environments.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Hardware:

HP/ Blade servers, IBM Blade Centre/ Netfinity, Supermicro, Dell, GATEWAY Servers / Workstations. Cisco, 3Com, HP, Networth, Netapp, Oracle,DELL EMC, Foundry, Bay Network (Switches, Routers, VPN devices)

OS Platforms:

Unix/Linux ( Solaris ( 5.7 to 11) Redhat, Suse, Ubuntu (debian based distros), VMWARE (6.x – 7.x) Windows server 2008/2012/2016,2019, Active Directory, GPO windows desktop win 10, 7, MS SQL 2012 -2016, IIS, Veritas Backup Suite, Veritas Netbackup, Veritas Volume manager, Veritas Cluster, Mcafee NetShield, MS Office Suites, Apache Web Servers, IMS, Netmail, GroupWise, Intranet/xtranet Design and Implementation, Dhcp, DNS (NT, NW, Linux), HTML, Zenworks, NDS, NDS for NT.,WINS ( NT, Linux), Active Directory, VMWare, Xen, Samba, Borderware, Cisco,OpenBsd Based Firewalls, Snort Dragon NIDs DIDS SANS Security Audits . Security policy development; SAN/NAS (Oracle, NetApp (7.x,8.x,9.x CDOT and 7 mode) StorageTek, EMC storage solutions (XIO, Powerstore,UnIty, VNXe) ZFS appliances (zfs3-3/zfsx-4). Cisco gear (switches, firewalls and Routers); San Switches (cisco MDS,Brocade), Cloud (AWS, Azure, OCI ), familiar with AIX and other MF systems

Highlights of IT Skills

LAN/WAN/NOC Administration

Project Management

Workflow Planning

Productivity Improvement

Technical Support

Systems Installation,

Configuration & Upgrading

Security Solutions

Database Design &

Management

NOS Patches &

Updates

Training & Mentoring

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Iconectiv/Telcordia(Ericsson), Bridgewater, NJ 3/2016 – Present

Senior System / Network Infrastructure Engineer

Senior Systems and Storage Eng. R&D, Development and Operations Group.

Senior Engineer for product infrastructure Design.

Design Monitor and implement Storage & Virtualization environment for multitier production and R&D environment.

Technologies include Oracle (x86 & spark) HP infrastructure (Blade center farm C7xxx),

Oracle Storage Infrastructure (zfs3-2, zfsx-x), Netapp (FAS6000/3000) Ontap 7-Mode and CDOT (7.6/ 9.x), EMC (Unity All Flash, XTremIO -genx All Flash, VNXe, Powerstore, EMC DPS for backup) - Block and NAS protocols.

Windows 2008r2/2012r2/2016AD/ Messaging Environment, (desktop windows7/10) Oracle, MS SQL server, MySQL / Redhat, OEL Linux 7.x, 8.x / Solaris 10/11 Unix

OVM 3.3.x /3.4.x infrastructure in 5 different location virtualizing Linux/windows (using HP Blade system and Oracle X4-X7 x86 server platforms.

Automating provisioning of using OVM scripting api and tools for rapid provisioning.

Automating provisioning using Vsphere PowerShell tools and SRM, OVM RESTAPI and Tools.

Solaris (10. 11.x) virtualization (LDOM for Oracle RACK Database farm) on T5/T7 utilizing nfs and FC storage repositories (oracle Zfs-x appliances, EMC unity & XIO)

Hands on experience with network and SAN installation out of box for all storage, server and Network Gear.

Monitoring Virtual Infrastructure Echo system using ORACLE OEM, HPSIM, NAGIOS, On Command Insight.

Working with DBA & SA Team to resolve performance and capacity changes issues.

Working with management team for capacity Planning and solution evaluation of new technologies.

Auditing and revising customer requirements.

Hands on Experience in upgrading and patching all Infrastructure units (Storage, Servers, network gear, SAN)

Hand-on experience in upgrading software and hardware, provisioning the corporation storage needs, thin provisioning, Snap Mirror etc. Details as following:

Supporting NetApp & brocade storage infrastructure for Window, VMware and UNIX servers.

Managing groups and configuring LUNs.

Troubleshooting and managing CIFS, NFS exports.

Configuring Auto snapshot for Oracle and EMC Storage.

Support and design implementation of Oracle Database Storage needs,

Configuring the snapshot for client basis and managing.

Performing Snap restore for volume and files based on client request.

Configuring Snap mirror and managing the snap mirror relationship.

Performed volcopy, ndmpcopy and aggrcopy.

Creation of FlexClones volumes and Lun clone for testing purpose.

Configuring De-duplication for the volumes for effective space utilization.

Increasing Flex volume, Lun and Aggregate.

Thin provisioning implementation and management.

Performing the Ontap Os upgrade.

Physical Storage Management: Assigning Disk Ownership, aggregate, RAID-DP, Disk Scrubbing etc., VIF management.

Coordinating with Netapp/ Oracle/EMC support team for hardware failures.

Managing takeover and giveback for Active/Active Configuration.

Coordinating with windows and UNIX team for ALL server Issues.

Design and deployment of Linux AAA Infrastructure (LDAP, NIS, SUDO)

Manage and monitor availability, latency, scalability, performance, capacity, and efficiency of storage services by engineering reliability into the overall storage design and architecture, using OnTap CLI, in conjunction with Emc unis here (VSC) and zfs-applinace Oracle OEM Metrics

VMware VSphere 6.x Enterprise, Oracle OVM 3.4.x and KVM virtual hosting infrastructure

Windows (2008/2012/2016,2019) Solaris 10/11.4and RHL, OEL (6.x,7.x,8.x)

SAN and Network Cisco Switching Gear (nx6000, s3xx Fabric manager)

Support design and Deploying of BCP plans. Testing and deployment.

Scripting python, power shell, bash, perl, php, git

Automation tool Ansible, Fabric

Monitoring: Zenoss, Nagios, HPCIM and Oracle OEM

Cloud (Familiar with AWS, Azure, OCI )

Alcatel-Lucent/NOKIA, New Providence, NJ 3/2015 – 3/2016

Senior System / Network Infrastructure Engineer

Oversee the development and lab infrastructure in ALU main HUB.

Monitor and resolve all issues pertaining to infrastructure and networking

IBM Clear case, Git, HG … repositories

HP, Dell, Oracle, Cisco Infrastructure

Linux, Solaris and windows nodes.

Verizon Wireless, Branchburg, NJ 10/2013 – 3/2015

Network Engineer / System Administrator (CDS Group)

System, Network and Storage Administrator for Wireless Services Infrastructure.

Production Environment (5 Data centers)

Responsibilities’ include troubleshooting and resolving all aspects pertaining to operating environment

Oracle environment (Hardware and software Solaris/Linux.

Other technologies, storage Neap, EMC, NetBackup.

IPC Info Systems, NJ 10/2010 – 10/2013

Senior IT Engineer /Research and Development Unit “R&D”

System, Network and Storage Administrator for R&D Operations for a multi-national 55 countries operation. Included 4 Data Centers two of which are Off-shore.

Lead Engineer in all aspects pertaining to BCP plan and deployment, including and not limited to power HVAC, network. Continues upgrade and development of BCP plan on going update to comply with company policy. Enhance new deployment to incorporate the BCP requirement plan.

Responsible for all aspects of system administration for servers, networks, applications, databases, telecommunications (4 datacenter 2 of which are off shore total over 800+ server).

Lead engineer in DOT Frank requirement solutions including recording solution testing for deployment in several financial institutions. (NICE, NPR, NIM)

Implementation, configuration, coordination, control, maintenance, troubleshooting, security, and monitoring of IPC R&D systems and infrastructure.

Provides coverage for technical support, and provides advanced troubleshooting for hardware, software, voice, data and server systems.

Staging of massive test and performance environment replicating customer deployments.

Technical lead in certification of all different VOIP and interoperation with our set of products with different enterprise messaging products.

Analysis and troubleshooting all types of application and protocols.

Deep technical knowledge of Unix (Solaris 5.7-11), Linux (Red Hat / CentOS), VMware, Windows servers AD and Apps, and network technologies including DNS, subnets, VLANs, SMTP, DHCP, firewalls, proxy servers, and network monitoring.

Key Contributions:

Manage and deploy R&D wide storage resources NAS & SAN (NETAPP, Oracle ZFS, and ISCSI SAN. Backup Administrator to a Symantec Net backup domain

Administer all type of network gear of switches and routers (Cisco).

Project planning for all infrastructure projects

Scripting Skills: Shell, PHP, Power shell, Perl, python

Contribute in the planning of the overall deployment, upgrade and improvement of services including SCM (Software control management) and Source Control (IBM Clear Case, Rational Team Concert, SVN)

Children Dental Hospital, NY 9/2009 – 10/2010

System and Network Administrator

System administration and support for all Dental electronic data collection and Imaging. Active Directory, GPO, Mail, Backup and DR site configurations. Replication of all data (Linux, windows) to remote hot site. BCP planning and deployment.

Dovetail Systems, Fairfield, NJ 2/2008 – 7/2009

Systems and Network Operations Administrator

Supervised and executed all IT operations and processing of data. System administration of all production systems. (Windows and Unix)

Build and administer corporate IT infrastructure. Coordinate and maintain 3rd party Vendor relations. Supervision and monitoring of data center and production environment, support 50 developers datacenter size 190 servers, Linux (RH and Suse 9+)

Supervise product platform builds and development environment

Administer all WAN and LAN equipment. Manage all security devices as firewalls, VPN hubs and IDS

Technologies: Windows 2003 domain structure, Active Directory, GPO, Linux, Solaris (9,10)

Iptivia Inc., NY 7/2007 – 2/2008

IT Operations Manager

Oversee all IT operations and processing of data

Built IT Infrastructure and system administration of all production systems

Liaison for 3rd part Vendor relations

Supervision and monitoring of data center and production environment (nagios, Cacti, MRTG)

Supervise product platform builds and development environment

Admin all WAN and LAN equipment (cisco, extreme)

Manage all security devices as firewalls, vpn hubs and IDS

Technologies: Windows Active Directory, GPO, Linux (Suse 9+ and RH); Solaris (9,10); Environment with over 350 server’s data center. HP, Dell, Sun (hardware platforms)

Liberty Travel Inc. Mahwah, NJ 11/2006 – 7/2007

Data Center Administrator

Administered Multi-Data Centers.

Provided multi-level support for production environment. Administered all productions and QA environment. Supported Operations Team on /Production issues. Vbscript, Perl and Shell scripting

Technologies: Windows 2000 /2003 / SQl 2000, 2005 Active Directory, Exchange 2003, Oracle 8+, Linux RH Enterprise, Suse (9+), EMC storage, HP UX (11.x). Process monitoring (Nagios, MRTG, HP Open View) ERP, Network Management and monitoring (400 + servers per data Center)

About.com – A New York Times Company, NYC, NY 1/2006 – 11/2006

Data Center Administrator

Duties includes managing over 400+ freebsd, linux, Solaris 8/10 production servers and 25, windows 2000 /2003 Active Directory, GPO SQL 2000 / mysql environment

NetApp (7xx, 8xx) OnTAPP 6.x,7.x, storage admin

NetBackup 6.x, enterprise backup

Server, Network monitoring, integration and optimization

Datacenter operations (3 datacenter total 1200 servers)

Monitoring tools (nagios, Cacti, MRTG). All cisco gear (switches, routers, firewalls)

Load Balancer F5, Netscallers 9000

Nortel VOIP Phone switching and vpn and other open source

Overpeer Inc. a Loud Eye Company, NYC, NY 3/2005 - 12/2006

Network Administrator / System Engineer

Duties includes managing over 1100 Unix/linux (Suse, Gentoo, Redhat) production servers

Managing SQL 2000 /Exchange 2003, Active directory environment. Security audits and control of servers

Monitoring using open source tools (nagios, Cacti, MRTG)

Administer all San (Storage Tech), Netapp

Administer all management network devices terminal servers, intelligent power strips, KVM servers

Administer switching and routing equipment (Foundry, Extreme, Cisco, Nortel)

Shell, Perl and VBS scripting

Independent Contractor 4/2004 - 3/2005

System and security administrator

Security Audits and Site Management of various sites. Security scans and security policy auditing.

Evaluating Application and Site Security – Site venerability testing (network, applications) infrastructure security audits.

Dyntek Inc., 2001- 3/2004

Site Analysis, Administration and Integration Engineer

Design and implement different IT Technologies for more than 220 branch sites Nation Wide.

Administration of a hybrid HUB environment

Linux, HP, Netware and Windows environment

This included Web, Mail, Fax, FTP, LDAP, SQL, clusters of Linux, Windows systems (RedHat, Trustix, Suse, w2k, 2003)

System and Data security planning and implementation

Scripting Perl, bash, php, vbs, nsn

Mail relays and servers administration. A wide variety of ftp servers.

Cisco routing and switching design and implementation of redundant routing, Load balancing and firewall Services (VRRP/HSRP). Routing using (Cisco, Linux, Unix) routers. Network monitoring and administration (devices and applications) using SNMP

A wide variety of MS technologies w2k, XP active directory. MS SQL cluster admin.

Netware admin for 5.x and 6.x servers

Network security Infra structure: IDS, NIDS, DIDS administration and implementation

Computer Consulting (CSM), Summer Field, NJ 2000 - 2001

Site Administration & Analysis

Site management of different educational and business fields

Installation and support different varieties of technologies.

Design and installation of LAN and WAN equipment including all types of Internet and Intranet communications and support.

Supporting Windows NT/2000 services, Netware 5.X and Unix (HP 3000, RedHat Apache web servers).

Implementing and Installation of advanced desktop management packages. Cisco routed and Switched environments

Monitor and diagnose LAN and WAN links

Wiring design and implementation. Evaluation of site technology needs and implementation of the same

Cisco Routing and switching (LAN and WAN)

American Business Financial Services Inc. NJ 1998 - 2000

LAN Analyst and Administrator

Duties accomplished were:

Migrated Intranet ware 4.11 to Netware 5.0 Implementing NPDS and LDAP, with Zenworks 2.0 for workstation management (with nw5 dhcp dns services)

Migrated Novell 3.11 to Windows NT 4.0, including e-mail (GroupWise 5 to Exchange 5.5).

Implement Internet access using Proxy 2.0 on WinNT 4.0 (350 users)

Creation of a migration and upgrade pLAN of all branches under the control and administration of central Office

That includes installation of WAN area connections. (7 branches in the states of NJ, MD, DE, FL).

Upgrade all server os from 4.x as standalone location to a 4.11 (Novell Intranet ware) plus design of NDS for Central administration

Setting up centralized Help Desk for these branches including Main Branches (total users of 350 users).

Setting up a local Intranet for training and process tracking plus shared corporate information.

Installation of a MS SQL (7.0) Web Application Platform for corporate wide use (including administration and Backup applications)

Setting and Designing training materials for newly implemented technologies.

Installation of all Servers in a Heterogeneous environment of (NW, NT, UNIX, DEC VAX, Linux (Samba))

Monitoring and Diagnoses of all WAN connection problems working with Cisco (7200, 1600.). Switches, hubs and FDD equipment

Design of wiring closets for 10/100, 1 GHz access.

Management of all Workstations (win95, win98, NT 4.0) & ZenWorks

Set helpdesk Procedure and policies for all tech team (3 technicians)

Server Hardware (Compaq 3000,5500, Proliant, Prosignia) HP (NET Servers EXX)

Preparation and pilot testing of all existing systems (Hardware and software) for Y2k Compliance.

Creating and testing Contingency plans for existing servers with zero down time target

Routing and switching (CISCO).

Additional IT Experience

Excelled in early Systems Administrations Career, advancing through increasingly responsible roles including:

Education & Training

Varna Technical UNIVERSITY — master’s Degree in Technical Science

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