Linux Engineer, Systems Engineer, Cybersecurity Analyst

Usama Mazhar

+1-571-***-**** ***************@*****.*** https://www.linkedin.com/in/usama-mazhar-157776264/ Summary

Systems Engineer with 8 years of experience provisioning and optimizing Linux-based infrastructures, with a focus on automation, performance, and cost efficiency. Skilled in VMware, Ansible, and AWS services, with a strong track record of enhancing OpenShift and OpenStack environments. Experienced in leading vulnerability management initiatives and developing workflows for complex upgrades to improve system reliability and security.

Professional Skills

• Operating systems: RHEL 6/7/8, CentOS 6/7, Oracle Linux 7/8, Ubuntu, RHCOS

• DevOps Tools: Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins, Terraform, ArgoCD, GitOps, Helm

• Cloud Tools: AWS (EC2, IAM, S3, ELB, VPC, CloudWatch), OpenShift, OpenStack

• Automation: Ansible, Ansible Tower, Kickstart, Bash Scripting

• Version Control: Git, GitLab, GitHub

• Vulnerability Management: Tenable, Prisma, RedHat ACS, Guardium, Onspring, WhiteHat, CrowdStrike

• File & Disk Management: Ext3, Ext4, XFS, Raid Levels, LVM, SAN, NFS, S3, Glacier

• Monitoring Tools: Nagios, SolarWinds, Zabbix, Prometheus, Dynatrace

• Remote Access Console: iDRAC, iLO, MobaXterm, PUTTY, VPN

• Servers: PXE, DHCP, DNS, TFTP, NFS, FTP, Apache, SNMP, EC2

• Software Management: YUM and RPM, Local Repository

• Documentation: Google Docs, OneNote, Confluence Pages, MS Office

• Virtualization: VMware, ESXi, vSphere, vMotion, vConverter

• IT Service Management: Jira, ServiceNow, Confluence, Visual Studio Code, Notepad++

• Languages: Bash, YAML, Python

Work Experience

Cigna Oct 2023 - Present

Lead Infrastructure Security Engineer Bloomfield, CT

• Automated and optimized OpenShift patching, achieving a 95% SLO (up from 15%), enhancing security, reducing manual intervention, and ensuring consistent SLA compliance

• Optimized resource allocation across OpenShift and OpenStack, reclaiming 45% underutilized resources and boosting performance while reducing costs

• Managed OpenShift & OpenStack upgrades with zero downtime, ensuring system integrity and performance

• Built and maintained OpenShift clusters using GitOps, Terraform, Jenkins, and ArgoCD, integrating CI/CD pipelines to deliver scalable, secure, and high-availability applications

• Developed upgrade playbooks to streamline infrastructure upgrades, improving reliability and minimizing service disruption

• Collaborated across teams to solve infrastructure challenges and implement scalable, secure solutions, enhancing overall system reliability

• Directed and executed vulnerability management initiatives using Red Hat ACS and Tenable, generating exec-level reports and proactively reducing risks across critical infrastructure

• Conducted security assessments with Tenable, Prisma, Guardium, and Red Hat ACS, identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities, ensuring 100% compliance with regulatory frameworks

• Ensured multi-standard compliance (CIS, HIPAA, PCI, NIST, GDPR) across cloud and infrastructure environments by implementing security controls, designing security architectures, conducting audits, and proactively mitigating risks Warner Media Jun 2020 - Aug 2023

Linux Engineer NYC, NY

• Administered and maintained 15,000+ Linux systems (RHEL 6/7/8, CentOS 6/7) across dev, test, and production environments, optimizing performance to ensure reliability and fault tolerance

• Deployed, patched, and registered Linux systems in bare-metal and VMware environments using Red Hat Satellite and Ansible, significantly reducing manual intervention through automation

• Executed RHEL 6-to-7 and 7-to-8 migrations for 3,000 servers, utilizing in-place upgrades with Leapp and clean installs, achieving a 75% success rate and maintaining high availability

• Configured LVM and formatted logical volumes (EXT3, EXT4, XFS) to improve storage scalability and cross-platform compatibility across diverse Linux environments

• Implemented NIC bonding for load balancing and redundancy, increasing network reliability and minimizing downtime during interface failures

• Deployed and managed vSphere environments, including ESXi installation, vCenter setup, and datastore configuration to support virtualized infrastructure

• Diagnosed and resolved network connectivity issues using TCPDUMP, traceroute, and Wireshark, while troubleshooting protocols such as SSH, DNS, HTTP, and FTP

• Collaborated in implementing LAMP Stack, DNS, NFS, and DHCP servers

• Performed root cause analysis (RCA) on network, performance, and disk-related issues, minimizing downtime and improving system reliability

• Developed and maintained automation scripts and Ansible playbooks, including job templates and task scheduling in Ansible Tower, for patch management, user/storage management, and web server configuration, improving efficiency and reducing manual intervention

• Managed Docker images and deployed containerized applications using Docker Compose to ensure seamless deployment, scalability, and performance across Linux environments

• Managed and optimized AWS infrastructure, including EC2, S3, ELB, VPC, IAM, and CloudWatch, to support scalable web applications with enhanced performance, availability, and cost-efficiency

• Utilized CloudWatch to establish alarms and custom dashboards, enabling proactive monitoring, performance tuning, and secure resource management

• Monitored security threats with SIEM tools like Splunk, integrated vulnerability data from Tenable, and used EDR tools (CrowdStrike) to investigate and remediate risks

• Implemented patch management strategies across all systems, using CVE severity and CVSS scores to prioritize remediation and re- duce risk

United Health Group Mar 2018 - May 2020

Linux Admin NYC, NY

• Managed 10,000+ Linux server lifecycles, including provisioning, patching, upgrading, decommissioning, and performance tuning, improving overall system reliability

• Collaborated with cross-functional teams to troubleshoot and resolve infrastructure and application incidents, minimizing downtime and reducing mean time to resolution (MTTR) by 30%

• Deployed and maintained Red Hat and CentOS systems, implementing HA, DRS rules, vMotion, backups, and P2V/V2V conversions, enhancing server availability and scalability

• Resolved system performance bottlenecks by monitoring memory, CPU, swap, and file system metrics using TOP, IOTOP, VMSTAT, IOSTAT, and SAR utilities, reducing incident resolution time by 25%

• Automated system maintenance, log rotation, backups, and performance monitoring using Bash scripts, cronjobs, and Nagios, reducing manual workload and improving operational efficiency

• Created and extended logical volumes (LVM) across Linux systems, optimizing storage utilization and increasing system flexibility to support rapid infrastructure scaling

• Synchronized Linux servers with local NTP servers to ensure time accuracy across 100% of managed systems, enhancing security and log traceability

• Optimized NIC configurations for critical applications, achieving higher network throughput and reducing latency for business-critical workloads

• Conducted kernel tuning and parameter adjustments based on client-specific requirements, improving system performance for high-demand applications

• Administered user account management and security policies across Red Hat Enterprise Linux environments, ensuring compliance with organizational security standards

• Analyzed system and application logs to provide Tier 1 and Tier 2 support, resolving 95% of incidents without escalation and maintaining SLA compliance

• Troubleshot and resolved Linux issues, including kernel panics, package conflicts, subscription management errors, NFS configuration, and NIC connectivity, improving overall stability and performance and contributing to 99.9% system uptime Accenture Oct 2016 - Feb 2018

Linux Analyst NYC, NY

• Provisioned and deployed servers end-to-end, including racking, cabling, vendor coordination, and collaborating with the network team to ensure optimal connectivity

• Created and maintained documentation, including standard operating procedures, troubleshooting guides, and procurement records, enabling efficient knowledge sharing and smooth operations

• Managed incidents, requests, and change tickets throughout their lifecycle, providing client support to resolve technical issues and ensure minimal downtime

• Implemented RAID solutions and installed packages using YUM and RPM, optimizing system reliability, storage redundancy, and performance

• Troubleshot system issues by examining logs, creating soft and hard file links, and managing logging services with Splunk for proactive system health monitoring

• Monitored and managed infrastructure resources across multiple data centers to ensure optimal performance and resource management

• Conducted vulnerability scans using Nessus, identifying and remediating security risks to maintain server security and compliance Education

Virginia Commonwealth University

Bachelors in Science

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