Randy Cook – SCSA, MCSE

 

(323)207-5492 * randy@rcook.com *

4262 Woodcliff Rd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403

Professional Summary

Experienced, certified and published IT professional with over 20 years of entrepreneurial and corporate experience. Experienced manager of architectural design, upgrade, migration and implementation projects. Highly effective troubleshooter with a great deal of success in leading support teams via mentoring, documentation, communication and strong leadership skills.

Experience and Certification

SCSA – Sun Microsystems Sun Certified System Administrator Passed Solaris System Administrator Exams Parts I and II.

MCSE – Microsoft Certified System Engineer and Microsoft Certified Internet Information Specialist – Passed Microsoft Certification Exams on Windows Desktop, Windows Server/Active Directory, Networking Essentials, Internet Information Server, Index Server and TCP/IP. Experienced Exchange administrator.

Over 20 years of experience as a System Architect and IT Engineer on a wide variety of operating systems and hardware including UNIX, Linux and Windows Active Directory environments.

Experienced in designing systems on a wide variety of hardware platforms. Experienced in the creation of custom UNIX shell, Perl, Cygwin and Expect scripting, disk management with LVM, Solstice and Veritas and load balancing with F5. Experienced installing and supporting clustering software, cloud/backup solutions and performance and diagnostic tools including MDM, AWS, Legato and NetApp. Experienced building and supporting Oracle Databases and RAC. Experienced in design and management of VMware domains.

Graduate of Microsoft Online Institute courses for Windows Server, Active Directory, Networking Essentials, Internet Information Server and TCP/IP.

Graduate of Sun Microsystems Java Tutor Educational Programs for Solaris System Administrator Parts 1 and 2 and Solaris Network Administrator.

Producer and host of Technically News, a syndicated radio news program for information technology professionals.

Published Work

  • “Surviving the High Tech Interview” article for Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine.

  • “Sun Certified System Administrator for Solaris 8 Study Guide” book published by McGraw-Hill

  • “Hack-Proofing Solaris” book published by McGraw-Hill (Hack.Proofing.Solaris.Preface.RCook)

  • “RHCE Red Hat Certified Engineer Study Guide” book published by McGraw-Hill

  • “Optimizing Networks with SnifferPro” book published by McGraw-Hill

  • “How to be Anti-Social: Preventing Social Engineering Hack Attacks” Whitepaper published by Syngress Media

  • “New Security Features in Solaris 9” Whitepaper published by Syngress Media

  • “Sun Certified System Administrator for Solaris 9 Study Guide” book published by McGraw-Hill (Solaris.Study.Guide.RCook)

Work History

Sept 2017 to present: USGS – Linux System Engineer

Responsible for writing system support documentation, ongoing support of Linux desktop/servers and VMware virtual machines.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• Researched and wrote extensive documentation for Tier 1 to Tier 3 support engineers.

• Designed and installed backup/restoration capabilities and full disaster recovery for all servers.

• Built a test server farm used for training and testing.

Oct 2011 to Sept 2017: TekSystems – Sr Windows/Linux System Team Lead Providing technical support for production/test systems and support for database, AWS, Apache/Tomcat and Jenkins systems. Track project deliverables, work with hardware/software owners and provide support documentation.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

  • (GE Digital) System Engineer responsible for upgrades, hw architeture and user support. Responsible for design, installation and management of ESX/VMware Vcenter Windows/Linux environment, security monitoring, cloud computing resources and Windows server support. Built Oracle RAC servers and supported database admins. Used Powershell and Linux shell scripts to automate backups, account creation and security monitoring. Supported Apache/Tomcat, MDM, Puppet, NetApp and AWS, Azure and Vormetric Cloud services. Provided 3rd Tier support for Office365.

  • (Capital One) Network Implementation Lead managing network upgrade process, SEV 1 resolution and technical documentation. Designed hardware solutions, wrote shell scripts with Cygwin and Expect and provided desktop support documentation. Supported AWS, MDM, Exchange Email and Windows AD services.

  • (Bank of America) Managed all aspects of decommissioning process. Wrote shell script to streamline decommissioning process to insure proper backups, security and other policies were implemented using Expect and Cygwin. Trained Helpdesk staff on support and on decommissioning process. 



Oct 2007 to Oct 2011: PlanIT Technology Group – Support Lead 


 Provided technical support, architectural design and project management for Windows/UNIX/Linux systems for wide variety of customers. 


ACCOMPLISHMENTS:


    

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    (Luckstone) Designed new datacenter and managed project to migrate all servers to new facility.
    

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    (Northrup-Grumman) Provided architectural design of new servers and network services for enterprise. 
    

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July 2006 to Oct 2007: Circuit City, INC. – Manager Linux/Windows Support 


 Managed team providing enterprise-wide hardware/software web and database server support for Circuit City Direct Online Sales servers, instore cash register systems and corporate Sun and RedHat Linux servers. Provided architectural design of new ecommerce site.


ACCOMPLISHMENTS:


    

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    Did architectural design, capacity planning and load testing on several dozen high-end Sun servers including T2000s, Enterprise 6500s and assorted Fire and Netra series servers. Hired, trained and managed support team of 10 Circuit City Associates and contractors responsible for building new SUN servers used during Christmas sales season. Despite the largest traffic spikes in company history, the website experienced no downtime and resulting sales set new company records.
    

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    Designed architectural solution and managed team responsible for testing and installing improved version of Linux-based, point-of-sale systems for over 1600 retail locations.
    

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April 2003 to July 2006: BayMountain, INC. – Engineering Manager


 Provided clients with architectural design services for network, web hosting, system and application tuning and upgrades. Managed team providing 24/7 oncall support for a wide variety of systems in a managed hosting environment. Provided 3rd Tier level support for UNIX, Linux and Windows server systems. Managed teams responsible for installation, performance tuning, documentation and monitoring as well as operational support for the datacenter. 


ACCOMPLISHMENTS:


    

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    Wrote customized shell scripts to provide secure backups for client’s servers to NAS.
    

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    Participated in architectural design, capacity planning, buildout and migration of data center to new facility. Managed the migration of client’s servers with no unplanned downtime and no loss of data.
    

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    Project Manager for all new client installations. Worked with Sales Team to design technical solutions for prospective clients, managed budgets and timelines, worked on all areas of installation into data center and worked directly with clients before and after to insure all goals were met.
    

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July 2002 to April 2003: MSD, INC – Sr. UNIX SysAdmin


Redesigned web server and database services and managed migration project to new systems running Solaris, AIX and RedHat Linux.


ACCOMPLISHMENTS:


    

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    Designed procedures, tested/configured software and provided documentation for monthly capacity planning, performance monitoring and forecasting reports. This provided more accurate planning for upgrades and maintenance of production servers.
    

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    Delivered monthly capacity planning and performance monitoring reports in departmental meetings providing recommendations for upgrades, cost analysis and in-depth Q&A sessions.
    

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April 1999 to June 2002: Sapphire Technology – Sr. UNIX SysAdmin


Trained and supervised network support staff on UNIX systems. Also provided support for AIX RS6000, Tru64 Compaq AlphaServers, Win2k and Linux workstations and servers. Provided all technical support documentation.


ACCOMPLISHMENTS:


    

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    (PMUSA) Upgraded production and development systems from HP G70 servers to HP 9000 L and N class servers. Responsible for change control, purchasing, installation, testing, documentation and migration of applications into production. These systems ran Oracle, were clustered using MC/ServiceGuard and were mission critical. 
    

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    (PMUSA) Designed NT/UNIX integration solution using SAMBA and Webmin for network support staff and new monitoring/alerting solution resulting in 2/3 faster response to production issues.
    

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    (Cisco Systems) Designed, built and supported training facility using Solaris Ultra 20 workstations, Solaris Fire and Netra servers and Cisco 2500 and 3600 series routers. Wrote and conducted 3rd tier level training on Solaris and Cisco products for Cisco internal and client’s support staff.
    

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April 1997 to April 1999: Renaissance Worldwide – Sr UNIX/NT SysAdmin


Provided installation and support for Solaris, Linux, NT 4.0 and Exchange E-mail services, Cisco routers, Nokia firewalls and Solaris-based gateways for network with over 500 locations and 15,000 user accounts. Assisted in the hiring of support staff. Wrote and conducted MCSE and Solaris training. 


ACCOMPLISHMENTS:


    

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    (AMF Worldwide) Moved file and print services from NT to Solaris systems, maintaining integration with Windows-based desktops using SAMBA.
    

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    (AMF Worldwide) Designed and supported WAN which served 15,000 users in 500 foreign and domestic offices. 
    

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    (Va Dept. of Transportation) Upgraded e-mail services from Exchange 4.0 to Exchange 5.5.
    

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    (AMF Worlwide) Replaced Microsoft Proxy Server with Solaris server running Squid proxy application.
    

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    (AMF Worldwide) Redesigned NOC to improve physical security, upgraded UPS, AC and fire suppression systems.
    

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Oct 1995 to April 1997: Productivity Point – Educational Coordinator


Responsible for writing customized courseware on wide variety of applications and platforms from end-user level to certification exam preparation classes. Assisted in the installation and support of classroom workstations and servers and internal network running on Cisco, NT and HP-UX UNIX. 


ACCOMPLISHMENTS:


    

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    Assisted in migration from Novell to NT and HP-UX based network services.
    

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    Wrote end-user manual for Circuit City PC customers.
    

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1993 to 1995: Global Information Resources – Owner


 Provided advertising agency clients with demographic research and consulting services for hardware/software purchases. Provided support for Solaris, SCO and Windows platforms.


ACCOMPLISHMENTS:


    

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    Provided clients with weekly report on market trends, news on competition and ways to cut costs of information technology services.
    

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    Designed and installed WAN using Solaris X86 servers for file and print services and Windows-based remote sales offices.
    

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    Migrated clients from Microsoft DNS and Exchange services to open source Linux-based solution. 
    

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1989 to 1993: Edens Broadcasting – Sales Manager


 Responsible for the sales and production of radio commercials. Won Ad Club of Richmond award for commercials produced for local client.


1988 to 1989: Dale Carnegie Corporation – Management Consultant


 Designed and conducted management and sales training.


1985 to 1988: The Steele Agency – Security Consultant


 Provided consulting and training services for loss prevention, employee theft and personal protection. 


1981 to 1985: United States Marine Corps – Infantry/Scout-Sniper


 Received 3 meritorious promotions, Good Conduct Medal and 


Special Commendation from Republic of South Korea.