Storage Area Network Consulting

I have three years of experience with SAN administration, including storage virtualization devices, storage arrays, and Fibre Channel switches.

In VMware engineering, I performed qualification testing between cutting-edge storage systems and VMware ESX Server.  I was also the primary SAN administrator in my engineering group.

VMware's SAN environment was highly complex and dynamic, and the majority of my work was performed in pressure situations based on customer problem escalations.  I'm a skilled and fast SAN administrator!

Storage Virtualization Devices

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In VMware engineering I gained extensive hands-on experience with both testing and administration of the Hitachi USP/USPV, IBM SVC, and NetApp V-Series storage virtualization platforms.  I was a key member of a small engineering group responsible for qualifying storage virtualization technology with VMware ESX Server.

I was the primary VMware engineer responsible for interoperability testing between the VMware ESX Server product and the Hitachi USP/USPV storage virtualization platform.  After completing that project, I continued as the primary Hitachi administrator.

I worked with several Hitachi engineers to configure and debug a complex environment based on an NSC55, and to exercise advanced virtualization features such as transparent volume migration and mirroring of back-end storage volumes.  I also re-implemented the Fibre Channel cabling between the USP/USPV platform and VMware engineering's SAN fabrics.

I have extensive experience with Hitachi NSC55, Hitachi AMS500, HP EVA8000, and VMware ESX Server integration.

I was the primary IBM SVC administrator in VMware's sustaining engineering group.  I have hands-on experience with the IBM SVC's Web-based administration tool, command line interface, Fibre Channel cabling design, and switch zoning architecture.

I was the primary NetApp V-Series administrator in VMware's sustaining engineering group.  I'm experienced with the integration of a V3020 two-node cluster with HP EVA8000 and IBM DS4800 arrays, using both the Web-based and command line tools.

I've also set up and re-configured the V3020's iSCSI targets and NFS service in high pressure, customer escalation situations.

Storage Arrays

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I have experience with HP EVA, IBM DS, Hitachi AMS, and EMC CLARiiON storage arrays.

I was the primary EMC storage administrator in VMware's sustaining engineering group. I have experience with the administration of AX150, CX3-20, and CX3-40 arrays, using both Fibre Channel and iSCSI.

Fibre Channel Switches

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I'm familiar with Brocade Fibre Channel switch administration, including WWPN alias and zone definitions that make it much easier to manage large, highly dynamic SAN environments.