Ken Barlow
Objective: I will bring raw skills together with experience in networking, operating systems and business technology problem solving to provide daily undeniable value to the company.
Summary: Gifted technical problem solver and communicator, blended with a desire to learn and explore. Current daily in-depth working experience includes a wide range of topics from TCP core protocols, embedded networked systems, project management, operating system administration (UNIX: Solaris, Linux (RedHat, SuSE, Gentoo others), HPUX and others) to clustering, administration, preventive maintenance and web servers and services (WebSphere, WebLogic), bind, sendmail, postfix and a gaggle of other fascinating topics. I have a hidden wealth of Windows server experience.
Working Experience: 10/2004 - IBM, Rochester, NY
Senior Unix SA for a major IBM GS commercial account, Linux team lead, primarily responsible for production (revenue impacting) Linux hosts (55 hosts) covering web services (Apache 1.3 and 2), middleware (WebSphere, WebLogic (updates, patching, publishing, configuration, debugging)), database (mySQL), messaging (sendmail, postfix), name services (bind), SAN and clustering. Linux includes Red Hat (2.1, 3, 4), SuSE (SLES 7, 8, 9), Perl and shell scripting, minor Java work in J2EE. Also responsible for several Solaris hosts (8 and 9) on different platforms (15k, 4500, enterprise and v series). Patching, performance monitoring, application support, business support, hardware and software change management. Also responsible for bringing new hosts into the environment, covering all aspects of support from recommendation to contracts and install.
8/2002 - 10/2004 Parx Group, Rochester, NY
Contractor: Senior UNIX SA assigned to IBM, primary system owner of dozens of Solaris servers ranging in use from production Oracle, web, application, DNS and file servers to QA and development machines where uptime is kept to %99.99 or higher. Primary system owner responsibilities include patching, security policy enforcement, disk maintenance using DiskSuite and Veritas, change control, backups (tape/TSM/NB), sendmail, Apache, various types of Linux, shell scripting, SSH, application installation and maintenance, automation of repetitive administration tasks. Servers use local disk, Sun arrays, Shark arrays and EMC solutions. Increasingly responsible for Linux application servers.
1999-2002Xerox CorporationRochester, NY
Network System EngineerThird-tier customer support position that required following processes and standards to replicate and solve customer problems by following bugs through their entire life cycle. Network administration support including firewalls, WAN/LAN, (Ethernet and Token Ring over fiber, twisted pair, coax, wireless), client server applications, complete server builds from ground up to operating system of choice including those listed below. Complete network builds from wiring, analysis, design to implementation. Sole source of UNIX (primarily Solaris 8 and Linux) operating system support. Includes installation, general administration, printing services, massive amounts of shell scripting, some Perl, CGI, SQL, HTML, daily use of Java (J2EE, J2SE) and UNIX networking issues (Solaris, Linux, HPUX, AIX and others), Veritas VM, Disksuite disk management. Network support including many protocols at different layers (SMTP, LPD, POP, NetBIOS, TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, AppleTalk, too much DHCP, ARP) and network centric applications using protocols such as Open LDAP, network authentication using Samba and other tools.
Network troubleshooting using tools, Ethereal, Sniffer Pro and network hardware analysis using Fluke tools. Protocol debugging, hardware debugging. Java helps here, I often find myself writing network-enabled Java apps to ease investigations.
1995-1999Mindex Technologies, IncRochester, NY
Contract IT Professional: Shell scripting for customer automatic CD archiving devices. Administrating UNIX hosts on a large heterogeneous network including Solaris 2.6/7, AIX, SCO and Linux hosts. Administration of Windows NT servers. Systems security administration. Department level printing services administration. Network administration using large routers, hubs and switches. Managed web services and servers using Netscape's Enterprise Web Server and Apache. Network support in a large IP network, protocol support, debugging and problem analysis and resolution. Load measuring, capacity planning and systems upgrade project management.
Disaster recovery support, backup maintenance plans, design and general systems maintenance.
Outside of work, I run the Excelsior Brigade Fifes and Drum corps, a living history fife and drum corps representing American Civil War field musicians. Since 1995, I've run a Linux/apache based web server for my hobby at . This server is hit tens of thousands of times a month as people search for historically accurate music for reenacting and other purposes. This server utilizes SHTML, SSI, CSS, perl and shell scripts and other technology to deliver content to the fife and drum interested community.