Resume

David Petzel, Systems Engineer

website: http://www.dpetzel.info
email: [email protected]

Summary Of Qualifications

Extensive operational experience in organizations of all sizes. Driven self-starter who likes to learn new things and make existing things better. I’ve spent the last 5+ years providing operational support in a large scale and very complex environment. I have a strong desire to automate as much as possible, and take pride in ensuring things I do automate are well documented.

Professional Experience

ESPN - Bristol CT

Senior Software Engineer

September 2016 - Present

Responsible for a variety of espn.com backend applications including Personalization, Content Management, and API services. Work with several programming languages including Python and Ruby with a focus on Java based applications and services.

Responsibilities include: * Rearchitecting, Planning, and coordinating migration of applications out of a traditional hosted data center, into the cloud. * Implementation of automated testing and continuous delivery * Datastore migration from MongoDB to Cassandra

The Walt Disney Company - Bristol CT

Staff Systems Engineer ESPN.com

February 2013 - September 2016

Works closely with ESPN.com business Engineering and Production teams to gather requirements, troubleshoot issues, and provide superior customer support. Design and implementation of automation and configuration management systems including open source, and internally developed tools. Provide mentor-ship to junior team members and shepherd interactions between development and infrastructure teams to delivery highly reliable systems in a highly complex environment.

Work closely with build engineering team to help bridge the gap between operations and development.
Member of a Chef working team responsible for development of Chef cookbooks that are common across multiple business units.
Technical lead on a project to replace antiquated internal load testing appliance to a cloud based load testing solutions provider.
Implementation of automated Chef cookbook testing and promotion pipeline to ensure all cookbooks were tested before reaching the Chef server.

Sr. Systems Engineer ESPN.com

August 2008 - February 2013

Responsible for the operational support of ESPN.com and affiliate Internet properties. Collaborate closely with ESPN development teams and Disney technical teams to provide resilient, high performance solutions to achieve ESPN and Disney business goals. Responsible for planning and executing small-to-medium scale projects. Typical projects would include new business unit initiatives and updates to existing products and services that require planning, incredible attention to detail, and flawless execution.

Developed deployment tool which allowed engineering teams to perform self-service code deployments freeing up hundreds of human hours a month.
Implemented replacement of HTTP caching tier from an internally developed solution to Varnish.
Developed cache flush system which allowed editors as well as programmatic access to flush content across entire Varnish cluster.
Replace single instance Cacti server with a distributed Zenoss implementation.
Technical participant in large scale project to migrate data centers.
Development and support of CFEngine promises and bundles. Load testing of new applications as well as capacity planning around major sporting events.

Northwest CT Community College - Winsted CT

Part Time Instructor

January 2002 – Summer 2010

Part time instructor for undergraduate courses. Primary courses were CST 120 Intro to Hardware, and CST 240 Data Communications & Networks. Class forums started as primarily a classroom environment but eventually shifted to a completely on-line based structure.

Blue Frog Solutions - Pompano Beach Florida

Systems Engineer

August 2006 - August 2008

Provide operational support for Production and UAT infrastructure for a medium size software development company.

Primary responsibilities include:

Infrastructure and Application support of the internal flagship application, Affirm for Annuities, based on the proprietary ADMServer framework. Backup administration using Veritas Backup Exec and Dell Tape Library
Server administration and monitoring for 30+ physical Vmware ESX servers and 200+ virtual machines, including Windows and Linux
Design, Implementation, and Administration of multiple ESX Clusters connected to SAN storage via both iSCSI and Fiber Channel
Reduce ESX Server build time by over 300% by creating a custom shell script to handle repetitive configuration tasks involved in a new server build.
Support of a multi domain Active Directory Forest, utilizing a combination of Group Policies and Custom Scripts to facilitate standardization.
Exchange 2003 administration
Design and implementation of customized file mover routines based on Windows Batch, as well as Biztalk Server 2006
Support of Customized in house application utilizing IIS 6, ASPNET 2.0 and SQL Server 2005 Clusters.
Change Control and Standardization documentation
Proactive server monitoring using MOM 2005 & Dell Open Manage IT Assistant. Including custom MOM scripts to support event log retrieval and archiving.
Design, Implementation, and Administration of IBM Websphere MQ V6 Environment.
Custom script creation using PERL, Linux Shell Scripting, Windows Batch Scripting and VBScripting.

Sun-Sentinel Company - Deerfield Beach FL

Sr. Systems Engineer

March 2005 – September 2006

Administration of enterprise level production servers including, Exchange 5.5, Windows 2000 File and Print, WINS, Active Directory Domain Controllers, Windows 2000 Application Clusters, and VMware ESX Servers. Daily responsibilities include user maintenance, mailbox maintenance, patch management, server administration and monitoring, and change controls.

Key Accomplishments:

Developed a WMI VBscript to pro-actively monitor disk space usage on 140+ Windows Server and 455 data volumes.
Designed and implemented a 2-node VMware ESX server infrastructure, which housed 7 production virtual machines.
Planned and implemented a Windows 2003 multi-domain Active Directory architecture for a 1400+ user network consisting of 0+ physical locations.
Designed and implemented a 2 node Terminal Server 2003 cluster to provide MS Outlook to 100+ OS X MAC clients.
Designed and implemented an “All Virtual” SharePoint Team Services Architecture.
Developed a pre-production WMI VBscript to centralize windows event logs into a SQL 2000 database and publish the consolidated logs to the intranet using ASP.
Designed and implemented a Neoware EzUpdate infrastructure to provide a true “0-touch” thin client computing environment.

Sr. Desktop Engineer

June 2004 – March 2005

Sr. Desktop Engineer for level 2 support group of 1400+ PC’s and 150+ Macs. Responsible for case queue management to ensure problem cases were resolved in a timely fashion while meeting customer satisfaction levels. Responsible for auditing of PC software utilizing SMS as well as software package distribution. Provided support to all divisions within the company including departmental specific software. Responsible for creation of Ghost images for new system models as well as updating existing images. Responsible for supporting CSSR group to assist them in handling difficult cases

Key Accomplishments:

Designed and implemented a centralized Norton Ghost architecture that allowed multiple PCs to be imaged simultaneously
Expanded the utilization of the existing SMS infrastructure from approximately 400 PCs to 1100+
Developed a KIXtart script to check for Duplicate machine SIDs on the network and automatically fix any problems that were found.

Contractor/Temp

February 2004 – June 2004

Contract assignment to migrate domain user accounts to a new Active Directory domain, utilizing scripting techniques.

RKL & Associates, LLC - Torrington CT

Lead Sr. Technician

November 2001 – December 2003

Lead technician for a consulting firm. Responsibilities included procedure development to standardized technical solution deployments, administration of a Linux-Ensim web server for the web hosting side of the business. Routine support of clients maintaining service contracts, ranging from software updates, PC and server installations, LAN and WAN configurations/maintenance. Windows 2000 and W2K SBS servers, including Exchange, ISA and SQL Server 2000. Support of a wide variety of applications found in the SMB market space. Project management of other technician’s larger projects. Point of contact for all new and potential clients.

Key Accomplishments:

Developed an Access 2000 database to track all clients’ hardware and software assets.
Implemented standardized, documented procedures for how various solutions should be implemented to ensure consistency across clients.
Performed numerous NT 4 to Windows 2000 Active directory upgrades.

Wentworth Labs - Brookfield, CT

Sr. IT Support Specialist

Oct 2000 – Oct 2001

Specify, administer, maintain, and upgrade enterprise network (WAN and LANS), servers, network printers, and personal computers. Administer and maintain system security, mission critical Manufacturing Software, and Intranet Web/FTP sites. Perform routine System Administrator functions such as backups/restores, user account maintenance, file system (NTFS and Network Share) Permissions, system performance monitoring, NT Scheduler, Exchange Maintenance, and Virus Prevention. Create and maintain procedures, policies, and other documentation on equipment and software attached to the network. Upgrade of LAN to 100BaseT Switching Network. PIX Firewall installation. VPN Installation. Replacement of Older Cisco Routers. Creating OS and Software Images for many different hardware models and software types. Microsoft Exchange administration.

Key Accomplishments:

Upgraded an existing Multi Domain NT 4 infrastructure to a Windows 2000 Active directory architecture consisting of 300+ users and 5 sites.
Upgraded an existing Multi Domain NT 4 infrastructure to a Windows 2000 Active directory architecture consisting of 300+ users and 5 sites.
Upgraded the existing Exchange 5.5 infrastructure to Exchange 2000.
Designed and Implemented a centralized backup strategy utilizing Veritas Backup Exec 8.6.
Developed an automated PC deployment process including OS images.

Priceline Webhouse - Greenwich, CT

Systems Analyst

Apr 2000 - Oct 2000

Responsible for the overall health and accuracy of website transactions in a very transaction intensive environment. Responsibilities included monitoring, load balancing, configuring, and troubleshooting more than 75 NT servers and monitoring 8+ Oracle databases. Utilized Active Server Page (ASP) Technology, database function and structure, IIS 4.0, MS Transaction Server (packages and components), COM+, and network infrastructure. Development of customized utilities to aid in the troubleshooting and maintenance of servers.

Howmet Corporation - Winsted CT

Systems Support Specialist

July 1998 - Apr 2000

Primary responsibilities included desktop hardware and software support of a 125-user network. Applications included Lotus Notes, Microsoft Office along with Outlook, AutoCAD, Attachmate, Cyborg, Made 2 Manage and various vendor and home grown apps. Used Norton Ghost for OS imaging and SMS for software installation and management. Also responsible for NT server maintenance including backups, user account management and security. Created Access databases for use by various departments. Created VB applications for departmental use.

Education

Northwestern Connecticut Community College Winsted, CT Computer System Technology, Associates Degree

Certifications

MCSE - Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (NT 4, 2000 & Windows 2003)
MCSA – Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (Windows 2003)
MCP – Microsoft Certified Professional
MCP+I - Microsoft Certified Professional + Internet
Comptia (A+, INET+, Network+)