Ronald A. McCormick Jr.

2433 Cambridge Drive

Aurora, IL 60506

630-801-0445

EMAIL: ramccor@pluribus.org



CAREER SUMMARY


Highly skilled and certified UNIX and Network Engineer with comprehensive experience in large scale, 24x7 environments. Broad background includes extensive work in network engineering with emphasis on cost containment, security, and system performance. Proficient in the use of protocol analysis tools to perform fault isolation. Strong attention to detail during all stages of life cycle support. Able to ensure the smooth operation and maintenance of Linux clusters and stand alone systems in both real-time and non real-time environments.

EXPERTISE


Systems: Solaris, Linux, some AIX and Windows {2000/XP/2003}.

Networking: TCP/IP, ATM, Ethernet, HTTP, FTP, DOCSIS, PNNI, X.25, Packet Switching, Load Balancing

Vendors: Cisco, FORE/Marconi, UNISYS, BBN, SuSE, Redhat, F5, RSA.

Other: Apache, BASH, Borne, Csh, and Perl scripting; RAID, C++ coding, MySQL, Backup, SecurID, ASA

Certification: Brainbench Transcript id: 4496848


PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE


Electronic Transaction Consultants, Lisle, IL Nov. 2005 - Oct. 2009

Network / Systems Engineer

Responsible for the day to day operations of the toll collection networks. Provide Tier 3 / 4 support to the lane controller analysts. Assist the software development group in the isolation of software issues and the testing of fixes. Configured and managed the F5 Load balancers serving customer web applications. Create and execute test plans at the customer's request. Support the corporate VPN environment using Cisco ASA 5500 series security appliances and RSA SecurID. Work the customer's Information Technology group to satisfy support and maintenance requests. Perform regular security audits of corporate IT systems to satisfy payment card industry security requirements. Work with the solutions engineers to migrate the core business products from Windows to Redhat Enterprise Linux. Responsible for the maintenance of the core OS distribution used for toll collection services across multiple customer organizations. Engineered the disaster recovery site for customer data per customer requirements.


Lane Control Analyst II

Directly responsible for the configuration, maintenance, and operation of a 400+ node collection of Linux systems used for the real-time collection of tolls on the Illinois Tollway. Performed the conversion of all operating systems from QNX to SuSE Linux to leverage hardware resources to their full potential. Performed application and system tuning for optimal performance. Worked with software and hardware vendors to resolve issues in a timely manner. Provided 24x7 support to mission critical applications. Responsible for training new analysts and for providing on-call support to the technicians who are responsible for the operation of the hardware in the field.


Independent Consulting Jan. 2002 – Nov. 2005

Independent Contractor providing support to two very different environments. This included on call System Administration support of Linux and Windows 2000 operating system, computer networking, and application support. Provided installation and configuration services for Cisco routers. Below is a sampling of work.


eGenesis, Pittsburgh, PA

Provided hardware and software recommendations and installation services for Linux based distributed high performance computing cluster of over 20 machines. Provided support of mission critical applications requiring 7/24/365 application availability. Performance tuning the Linux servers to improve application performance. Provided ongoing technical and software support for Linux and OSX users. Requires working knowledge of C, C++, HTTP, and CVS on multiple platforms. Deployed web serving cluster using Apache 2.x, MySQL and PHP. Load balancing provided via round robin DNS for survivability. File synchronization is handled using RSYNC. The distributed computing cluster currently supports over 75K users with peak usages over 950 concurrent users. MySQL databases are replicated between servers for complete access to data.


Community Christian Church, Naperville, IL

Provided on-call System Administration and Network support for a large multi-campus organization running Windows XP/2003. Network is a distributed network of over 130 windows clients and a Windows 2003 server cluster, with Linux servers providing mail filtering and virus protection. Managed the networks, firewalls, content filters, and RAID storage arrays. Engineered telephony services provided by a Voice over IP (VOIP) solution to reduce cost of new facilities. Performed certification testing of new T1 circuits. Responsible for firewall engineering on SonicWall 4060 firewalls. Engineered, built and administer a Redhat Linux cluster to handle SPAM, virus filtering, and network management using sendmail, spamassassin, MailScanner, MRTG, Custom Perl, BASH and PHP scripts using SNMP to manage network devices. Email records are stored in a MySQL database for quick retrieval for abuse and legal records. Used OpenLDAP for user authentication and for tracking of user filtering preferences. Manage DNS zone data and servers using OpenLDAP and BIND. DHCP services are provided using ISC DHCP server. Deployed virtual servers using VMware's ESX server products.



RCN, Chicago, IL Oct. 1999 - Nov. 2001

Senior Engineer

Responsible for the design, testing and implementation of a new cable modem infrastructure to replace an obsolete and aging network. Utilized a variety of Solaris and FreeBSD UNIX systems to greatly reduce customer implementation time. Studied existing networks to determine pitfalls of existing infrastructure, created requirements documents, and worked with vendors to provide the most economical and fault tolerant network design. Automated many systems and network tasks through the use of BASH, perl and python scripts. Performed all staging operations of new equipment to ensure proper operation. Worked with operations to deploy equipment in the production environment. This network design and implementation was responsible for bringing the RCN/Chicago cable data network to profitability years ahead of internal time estimates.


Managed over 26000 customers using ISC DHCP server in a 7/24/365 environment. Responsible for network diagnostics of a complex network using MPOA, RSVP, 802.1Q VLANS, and IGRP.


Responsible for working with vendors to ensure interoperability across ATM and cable modem networks. Also responsible for taking appropriate action when interoperability goals are not achieved. Work with vendors to introduce new features and evaluate new products for possible introduction into production networks. Worked with software engineers to create a new service-provisioning package to replace an existing one, thereby reducing provisioning times by 94%.


Created and maintained scripts to perform automated upgrades of user cable modems and CMTS equipment, automate creation of ATM PVCs for DSL customers, perform software and hardware inventory of network equipment using SNMP. Responsible for tracking network capacity to determine when additional hardware would be required to ensure a consistent level of service for the customers.


Later assigned responsibility for managing a junior network administrator to perform day to day operations of the network. This administrator was then trained on the network technologies and equipment in use on the networks.


Marconi Corp. (Formerly FORE Systems), Pittsburgh, PA Oct. 1997 - Oct. 1999

Regional Engineer

Performed on-site network analysis, testing, trouble shooting and problem resolution for critical cases and "Hot Sites", contracted quick-response (2/4 hour) for strategic accounts as defined by FORE Systems management. Coordinated with the corporate Technical Assistance Center and Engineering in the determination and correction of product deficiencies related to installed system performance. Assisted and directed third-party Authorized Service Providers in problem resolution. Documented issues and status to customer and FORE Management. Assisted in the installation of FORE equipment as available. Provided expert analysis and prompt resolution of difficult or high visibility problems for customers in the seventeen state region and throughout the United States. Extended FORE's support services capability beyond that provided by TAC and allowed pre-sales systems engineer's to focus on increasing product sales. Assisted customers in diagnosing and repairing network issues related to FORE equipment and interoperability with other vendor equipment using LANE, MPOA, MPLS, BGP, and OSPF.


Sprint Paranet (Formerly Paranet), Oakbrook, IL May 1996 - Oct. 1997

Senior Systems Analyst

Managed network operations and engineering for seven buildings of a fifteen thousand-user customer campus. Designed, configured, and supported many different types of routing and switching equipment and associated networks. Designed and programmed many dynamic web-based programs using CGI, and Perl to collect and present network traffic statistics using a web based format. Managed and supported a wide variety of Sun SPARC hardware and Solaris UNIX software. Participated on a team to redesign and migrate the customers eight thousand node local area FDDI network to a hybrid Fast Ethernet and ATM switching network.


Worked with customer's corporate security groups to define and manage firewall rule sets to ensure limited legal exposure to the company. Monitored the firewalls to ensure compliance with corporate policies regarding acceptable use of corporate resources and to ensure compliance with local and federal law.


Provided traffic analysis of customer's networks to ensure peak performance. Made recommendations, when needed, of changes required to comply with both internal and external service level agreements.


Unisys Corporation, National Security Solutions Division, MD Apr. 1991 - May 1996

Senior Engineer

Directly responsible for the testing, evaluation, implementation, and integration of ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) equipment into the customer's operational network. Kept track of the software and hardware versions. Investigate the equipment for security holes and software bugs, and work with the vendors to correct problems.


Performed security audits at the request of the customer to attempt to validate their Internet and Intranet design from a security standpoint. This audit uncovered several severe flaws in the customers architecture which could then be repaired prior to a data spillage.


Systems Administer / System Architect

Support the customer's enterprise-wide client/server based internetwork, providing network hardware support, and integration of network management tools. Performed as a lead system administrator and troubleshooter; managing DNS, NIS, and mail software; assisted less experienced systems administrators; automated many of the system administration functions on a network of many different UNIX servers as well as both UNIX and DOS workstations.


Provided capacity planning services and performed required re-engineering of customer systems to handle present and future requirements. Developed automated tools to ensure compliance with customer service level agreements.


Network Engineer

Performed network configuration, fault troubleshooting, and security accounting for a FDDI based multi-campus, enterprise wide intranet, which included numerous LANs (Ethernet, Token Ring, AppleTalk, IPX, TCP/IP, etc.) as well as two world wide packet switching networks. Performed system administration support on many types of UNIX machines, automating many of the tasks through the coding of shell scripts.


BBN Communications, Columbia, MD Mar. 1989 – Apr. 1991

Network Analyst

Furnished direct support for customer LANs and WANs at customer sites; installed operating system and packet switching node software; tracked and installed patches for the customers PSNs (Packet Switching Node), routers and gateways; responsible for troubleshooting problems on customers networks and taking corrective action; developed wide range of experience in network problems using equipment.


Systems Administrator

Maintained company and customer UNIX system. Performed system tuning to gain maximum performance. Responsible for maintaining all system activity records; performed tape and disk to disk backups; created and maintained a variety of short C programs and shell scripts to automate system administration; performed system accounting for billing of machine usage; Coordinated test lab usage; Wrote and performed various test plans for software and hardware patches; Performed all in-house data cabling and connections.


Department of Defense, Ft. Meade, MD 1987-1989

Computer Systems Operator

Monitored over 120 computer systems in a machine room environment. Duties included training new employees, system backup/recovery, computer generated output distribution, maintaining operational logs, and escalation of complex problems.