Robert R. Hardesty

Preston, CT | (781) 726-0437 | Robert@Hardesty.com | LinkedIn

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Experience

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Senior System Engineer III (2013 - Present)

Designed the multi-tiered storage solution used by Dana Farber to store over 10 petabytes of research data.
Responsible for the selection of Mediaflux from Arcitecta as the front-end object-oriented database to manage all the research data.
Migrated over 10 petabytes of data from older legacy ZFS based block storage systems to a new object-oriented storage system.
Utilized products such as Trello, Excel, Smartsheet, PowerPoint, and MS Projects to manage and track the progress of the migration.
Built a private network between the storage servers to improve the data transfer time between servers and researchers by over 500%.
Implemented automation of many of the system’s tasks/processes to improve customer service response time from days to hours.
Integrated and tuned the monitoring system using Nagios to provide real-time system status.
Installed and configured Grafana to allow tracking of the storage systems and services to improve performance.
Created over 30 scripts using Python, BASH, or PERL to help new System Administrators manage the Mediaflux services.
Developed several scripts to run on a daily or weekly basis to generate reports on the system status and storage usage for management.
Used Ansible to keep the configurations between storage, database, and I/O nodes in sync and up-to-date to any changes and releases.
Documented the configuration of the systems, services and operating procedures using Confluence.
Produced over 50 SOP’s and how-to documents to standardize procedures and train new users on the system.
Managed the connected Spectra Logic’s Cube LTO-9 tape system and BlackPearl with the capacity to store over 30 petabytes of storage.
Configured the tiered storage system to work with the AWS cloud and Wasabi to give it virtually unlimited storage ability.
Managed the AWS and Wasabi cloud environments to create and delete users and data buckets.
Facilitated weekly Agile Scrum like meetings to track progress and resolve issues among other Engineers to keep their tasks on schedule.
Moved large datasets using the AWS Snowballs from the Data Center to the AWS cloud to reduce transfer times.
Reconfigured the ILO network to its own subnet and limited secure access to terminal server connections.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute – Data Life Cycle Manager

Designed and managed a tiered storage solution for clients’ Big Data needs.
Collaborated with different groups to manage their legacy data off older platforms such as Isilon and other private storage systems.
Reconfigured the storage architecture to better manage the customers’ needs.
Implemented a Disaster Recovery plan to reduce Data Center downtime from weeks to days.
Assisted with the installation and management of the QualStar XLS Tape Library with over 2900 tape slots and 9 petabytes of storage.
Responsible for designing a method to store and track backup XLS tapes at Iron Mountain.
Wrote several scripts to integrate the backup and archiving of the storage data with the QualStar Tape Library.

Technical Skills

Operating Systems: Solaris, Linux, CentOS, RedHat, Ubuntu, Fedora, among many others
Programming: Python, BASH, PERL, PHP, MySQL, HTML, LISP
Storage & Data Management: ZFS, Spectra Logic Cube, QualStar XLS, MediaFlux
Server & Infrastructure Management: VMware, DNS, LDAP, RADIUS, Sendmail, Apache, LAMP stack, ILO
Tools: Ansible, Grafana, Nagios, Trello, Smartsheets, Excel, PowerPoint, MS Project, JIRA, ServiceNow
Cloud: AWS (S3, IAM, Snowball), Wasabi, hybrid cloud architecture, Cloud buckets and user management
Soft Skills: Cross-team collaboration, agile-style leadership, project planning, training, and onboarding support

Education

Eastern Gateway Community College – Associate of Applied Business, Business Management with Information Systems Focus, summa cum laude (4.0 GPA)
University of Lowell – Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Minor in Math with Computer Science option

Extra Experience

REZ-1 – Senior System Engineer

Installed, configured, and maintained LINUX based VM servers running both RedHat and CentOS using VMware.
Installed, configured, upgraded, maintained several version of Nagios (XI/Enterprise/Core/Fusion) and Thruk.
Wrote many scripts using MK Livestatus to talk to the Nagios server to allow us to customize the monitoring alerts.
Supported and configured the backend disks on the IBM Blade Servers to setup Volumes and snaps on the XIV.
Planned and implemented key infrastructure changes to increase server uptime, reliability, and stability.
Wrote and updated the SOP documentation to better reflect proper Best Practices and to make it more usable.
Centralized the corporation’s time servers to keep the servers with an accurate and in sync time clock and made sure that all 100 plus servers synced to it.
Installed and upgraded the MySQL software to the current version levels and configured the servers for replication.
Setup the MySQL database backup processes using volume snaps to reduce downtime and increase RTO.
Participated and in the after hour on-call rotation and provided support to on-call personal while not in rotation.
Worked on projects using The Agile framework (Scrum, Rally, Sprints), to achieve deliverables in a timely manner.

InterSystems – Senior System Engineer

Installed, configured, and maintained UNIX and LINUX based servers running a variety of flavors such as Redhat, SuSE, HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, Ubuntu, and more.
Reconfigured the BigBrother system monitoring tools to better reflect the environment and reduce false alerts.
Installed servers using VMware and ESX to better leverage hardware resources and reduce the datacenter server count.
Managed the corporate wide DNS, mail, NIS, NFS, and NTP servers to make sure that their data was accurate and complete.
Regularly checked and monitored the backup servers to make sure they were successfully backing up all the corporate wide data.
Centralized the corporation’s timeservers to keep the servers with an accurate and in sync time clock and made sure, that all 200 plus servers synced to it.
Built and configured clustered servers for development, testing, and production to make sure that the product would failover and recover properly in an outage as well as to improve performance on our core applications.

BackChannelMedia – Senior Network/System Engineer

Installed, configured, and managed servers installed in the Amazon Cloud, RackSpace and at EngineYard.
Used the LAMP stack to configure web servers and Internet services.
Designed and deployed the hardware/software infrastructure in the production environment.
Used CentOS and Xen to create virtualized server instances to run Linux and Windows servers on the same server.
Designed HA servers using DRBD, CentOS, and XEN for use in the production environment.
Designed and deployed the support site services using OTRS.
Traveled to customer TV and cable stations to do pre-installation visits and installations.
Designed and deployed the monitoring of the servers using Nagios and Cacti.
Responsible for installing all new software releases in production and other environments.
Provided direct support to the business units in resolving customer and service issues.
Documented changes to the servers, wrote SOPs (standard operating procedures) and HOWTOs so that changes can be reproduced and tracked.
In charge of the 24x7 on call rotation and after hour system reconfigurations.
Help maintain the several MySQL databases used to track and report ad serving activity and sign up.

ThirdScreen Media/AOL – Senior Linux/Operations Engineer

Installed and configured Red Hat Enterprise on HP Blade Series Servers.
Documented changes to the servers, wrote SOPs (standard operating procedures) and HOWTOs so that changes can be reproduced and tracked.
Participated in 24x7 on call rotation and after hour system reconfigurations.
Responsible for testing all new software, bug fix and E-fixes to the production system before installation.
Responsible for installing all new software releases in production and other environments.
Provided direct support to the business units in resolving customer and service issues.
Helped maintain the several large MySQL databases used to track and report ad serving activity.
Updated and configured the Nagios monitoring system to better reflect the production system environment and improve system outage notifications.
Updated and reconfigured the NTP, DNS, Apache, and Sendmail services to better reflect industry standards.

State Street Bank – Senior Systems/Security Engineer

Oversaw the implementation of new security standards that reflect Best Practices for maintaining server and network security.
Revamped and streamed lined the companies NIS/NFS configuration to make it simpler and more manageable.
Used Veritas Foundation Suite to maintain/manage NFS servers and local disks.
Managed the migration of Database servers to new and larger data servers.
Upgraded and patched the 400+ UNIX servers to the proper rev and patch levels to improve security and reliability.
Centralized the logging of the UNIX servers so that all errors and messages went to a single source to enhanced administration’s ability to respond in a timely manner to problems that in the past were missed.
Documented changes to the servers, wrote SOPs (standard operating procedures) and HOWTOs so that changes can be reproduced and tracked.
Installed and configured new SUN Solaris 8 and 10 servers using Jumpstart and Veritas server software.
Reconfigured the servers to use PAM and SSH to prevent unwanted hackers from being able to sniff employee passwords and sensitive data.
Wrote scripts using PERL and csh for testing and monitoring servers' system status and configuration.
Installed and configured new RedHat Enterprise servers using Kickstart.
Provided 24x7 on call duty by carrying a pager to support production environment.
Managed with a team the upgrade migration from Solaris 8 to Solaris 10.

Hardlink Communications – CTO

Designed and installed the entire networking infrastructure including wiring, routers, switches, modems, terminal servers, web servers (Apache), mail servers, backup systems, NFS servers, and all the other server services needed to run and maintain a full-service ISP.
Managed and designed the new billing and accounting system for the company to make it more streamlined and user friendly; efforts resulted in reducing the billing time frame from weeks to under an hour.
Improved the companies SPAM filtering using Sendmail, Razor, ClamAV, SpamAssassin, Milter’s and other third-party tools to increase the amount of SPAM being filtered by the servers to over 97%.
Instituted regular nightly backup procedures using tape Jukeboxes, CD burning, and disk mirroring; resulting in a significant reduction in data loss and quicker system recoveries.
Fine-tuned the Solaris servers to run services such as mail, web, news, NFS, DNS, RADIUS, and NIS; resulting in a 25% increase in system performance.
Manage the day to day operation of the Systems Group to make sure that all 100 plus servers are running, have the latest patches and security updates; resulting in reduced downtimes and uptimes that are measured in years.
Developed extensive knowledge of installing and configuring Solaris, RedHat, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, Debian, CentOS, and other LINUX flavors.
Designed, installed and managed full service, MySQL back ended, e-commerce sites for customers products.
Continually monitor the network to make sure that any network congestion or interruptions are quickly resolved before they can significantly affect services.
Managed the daily operation of the web Development Group to make sure that they produced high quality web sites capable of handling E-commerce and databases transactions.
Visited customer’s sites and gave presentation on the company’s skills with web development, web hosting, SOHO networking, and server hosting; resulting in closing 85% of sale leads.
Experienced on installing and configuring Solaris versions 2.1 all the way up to 2.9 on many different kinds of SUN platforms.
Visited customer’s sites to install wired and wireless networks and configure networks connectivity to the internet and between each computer.
In charge of purchasing new equipment such as routers, servers, and switches, and integrating them into the system operations.
Worked with customers on improving their sites so that they were optimized for search engine placements on sites such as Google and Yahoo; resulting in some sites being list number one or in the top ten.
Provided first line support for customer support issues via phone, on-site visits, and email.
Designed and built high-end web sites for customers using Fireworks, Dreamweaver, HTML, and PHP.
Configured the Cisco routers to prevent Denial of Service attacks and to firewall certain machines and ports from access by outside networks.
Installed and configured VPN networks to increase security for remote users.
Designed, purchased, and installed a Wide Area LAN between office buildings, to allow high-speed data traffic between offices.
Reconfigured the server to support disk mirroring, disk cloning and RAID to increase server uptime and minimize downtime.
Helped spec, purchases, and install a nation wide VOIP service capable of handling over 10,000 simultaneous calls.

Progress Software – Senior System Administrator

Managed the company's computer lab of over 200 computers running a variety of UNIX OSs that included SunOS, Solaris, HPUX, AIX, SCO, AUX, UnixWare, Sequent, NCR, Motorola, NEC, MIPS, ICL, Data General, SGI, and Unisys.
Upgraded and downgraded existing machines to new OS levels.
Worked with vendors and purchasing to obtain new systems for the computer lab.
Interacted with the development, porting, patch and support departments to make sure that lab facilities were being used to the maximum advantage.
Installed and configured new systems for the computer lab.
Developed long range plans for system needs and maintenance.
Managed servers using VERITAS for backup and volume management.
Installed and configured third-party software for UNIX servers such as Oracle, CISAM, Ingress, and Sybase.

Meiko Federal – Senior Software Support Engineer

Responsible for all onsite hardware and software upgrades to the system.
Maintained the Compute Surface-2 at Lawrence Livermore National Labs.
Was in charge of scheduling system preventive maintenance times with the user community.
Wrote scripts using PERL and csh for testing and tracking system components on site.
Maintained and monitored the customer problem database.
Site required Q clearance for access to the computers.
Took offsite courses in Solaris Internals, Solaris System Administration I & II.
Trained employee at Livermore Labs on how to use and maintain the Compute Surface.

Meiko Scientific – Customer Support Manager

Responsibilities included but were not limited to pre-installation site prep, shipping, installing and maintaining all Compute Surface-1 and Compute Surface-2 sites.
Responsible for all Meiko’s customer support sites in North America.
Gave onsite training to new users on how to administer the system.
Developed systems to track site inventory, customer calls, software releases, system errors and bug fixes.
Maintained all the Solaris servers used in house for develop and day-to-day operations.
Configured and installed system software to the customer’s specifications.
Recommended future purchases for better performance of the customer’s machine.

Thinking Machines – Test Engineer

Developed and enhanced diagnostic software in Lisp on Symbolics 3600 series computers.
Wrote debug procedures for five large system boards - average complexity is 400 - 500 equivalent IC's.
Designed and implemented test procedures at the board and system level to increase test coverage.
Designed and modified test equipment.
Analyzed failure readouts of floating point chips, correcting problem.
Implemented a system for keeping and tracking failure data.
Designed and programmed a database management system for data tracking.
Debugged the Connection Machine and the disk drive system at all levels.