Grant Taylor

10 Cornell Drive
Longmont, CO 850503
+1 (720) 250-6060
gtaylor@tnetconsulting.net

Objective:

To secure a position that will allow me to leverage my 20 years of experience in a multi-vendor / multi OS environment leveraging my creative problem solving ability to solve today's problems while planing for tomorrows dreams.
Profile:

Problem-solving, dedicated, and motivated networking professional, and team player, with a vigilant eye on security, scalability, and growth trends. Continually learning the best ways to implement current and future technology standards. Comfortable working with mission critical systems, including daily operations and in-production live migrations / upgrades. Proficient at working in and solving the unique challenges in multi-vendor environments. Each new challenge is welcome and I look forward to offering my skills and expertise.
Skills:

These are some of the skills that I have gathered over the years from both professional and personal projects and show a broad range of hands-on understanding, including how various technologies impact and interact with each other and apply to different situations.

  • TCP/IP Networking: IPv4 / IPv6 (addressing, subnetting, routing), designing and implementing multi-site networks, anycast IP addressing.
  • Routing: static, dynamic, multi-path, load balanced, split horizon, IP (layer 3) NAT, policy based routing
  • Switching: STP / bridging, VLAN / trunking, CoS / prioritization, MAC (layer 2) NAT
  • Firewalling: MAC filtering on layer 2, IP filtering on a layer 2, IP filtering on layer 3, stateful, stateless, reverse path filtering, keyword / pattern matching
  • VPN: IP-in-IP, GRE, Hamachi, PPTP, L2TP, IPSec, SSL, SSH, WireGuard
  • Internet connectivity: dial up, ADSL, SDSL, HDSL, Cable Modem, ATM, Frame Relay, (proprietary) wireless, 802.11 wireless, satellite
  • Operating Systems: Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, SCO, Windows, OS X, DOS, OS/2, OS/400
    • Linux: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 / 5 / 6, SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 / 10 / 11, Debian 6 / 7, Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, Slackware 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12, Gentoo 2004 / 2005 / 2006, Linux From Scratch 6.2-3 / 6.2-5
    • Solaris 6 / 8 / 9 / 10
    • AIX 4 / 5 / 6 / 7
    • HP-UX 11i
    • SCO OpenServer 5 / UnixWare 7
    • FreeBSD 4 / 5 / 6
    • Microsoft Windows 3 / 95 / 98 / ME / NT / 2000 / 2003 / 2003 R2 / 2008 / 2008 R2
    • Apple OS X 10.7 (Lion) / 10.8 (Mountain Lion) / 10.9 (Mavericks) / 10.10 (Yosemite)
    • DOS: MS-DOS 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 (9x), PC-DOS 4 / 5 / 6 / 2000, FreeDOS 1.0 / 1.1, Novell DOS 7
    • IBM OS/2 2 / 3 / 3 Warp / 4 Warp, eCom Station 4.5
    • IBM OS/400 v4r5 (basic operator training)
    • Novell NetWare 4 / 5
  • Programming / Web Languages: Shell, Perl, PHP, ASP (VB Script), CGI, SSI, HTML, JavaScript, MS-DOS Batch / Windows Command files, REXX
  • Directory Services: NT Domain, Active Directory, NIS / NIS+, NDS
  • Protocols / Services: Telnet, SSH (SCP / SFTP), FTP(S), SMTP(S), DNS / Dynamic DNS / DNSSEC, DHCP, HTTP(S), POP3(S), NNTP(S), NTP, IMAP(S), SNMP, LDAP(S), LPD, RSYNC, SOCKS, NetFlow, UUCP, BGP, RIP
  • Software: Red Hat Cluster Suite, Sudo, Oracle RAC 10g / 11g, OpenSSH, F-Secure SSH, NcFTPd, ProFTPd, Sendmail (w/ milter and SASL), ISC BIND, ISC DHCP, DNSMasq, Apache HTTPD, QPopper, Courier POP3 / IMAP, WU-IMAP, INN, Apache Tomcat, OpenLDAP, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft IIS, Microsoft WINS, Microsoft DNS, Microsoft DHCP, Microsoft NLB, Squid, Linux Virtual Server, Pound, Nginx, MRTG, SmokePing, NFDump / NFSen, OpenNTP, Grisoft AVG Free / Pro / Network Edition 7.0 / 7.5 / 8.0 / 8.5, HylaFAX, Samba, ColdFusion, Novell GroupWise
  • Databases: SQLite / MySQL / PostgreSQL / Microsoft SQL / Pervasive SQL / Sybase ASA
  • Virtualization: Linux KVM, VMware Workstation / Server / ESXi, Sun VirtualBox, Microsoft Hyper-V, User Mode Linux, IBM LPARs, Sun LDOMs
  • eMail administration: Spam Filtering, SASL, SRS, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MTA-STS, MTA / MSA, tar pitting, smart hosting, routing, mass mailing
  • Backups: NovaNET, BackupExec, BackupPC, RSYNC, Volume Shadocopy Service, Copy / Xcopy / Robocopy
  • Servers: x86 Cisco / Compaq / HP / Dell / IBM / SuperMicro / generic; other IBM AS/400 / IBM pSeries / SUN Enterprise Servers / DEC Alpha / DEC VAX / HP 9000
  • Routers: Cisco 800 / 1600 / 1700 / 2500 / 2600 / 2800 / 3600 / 7200 / 7200vxr / 7500 / RSM / SOHO77 / PIX / ASA, Siemens SpeedStream 5800 / 5940, Windows NT / 2000 / XP / 2003, NetWare 4, Linux 2.2 / 2.4 / 2.6
  • Switches: Cisco Catalyst 2900 / 3900 / 5000 / 5500 / NCS, Juniper QFX5100 / QFX10002, HP ProCurve 4000M, Dell (Marvel), Netgear, D-Link, Linksys, 3Com, Intel
  • Firewalls: Linux IPChains / IPTables / EBTables / ARPTables, Cisco router ACL / PIX, Windows Firewall, AVG Firewall, Jetico Personal Firewall
  • Tape Drives: Exabyte, AIT, DLT, DAT, QIC, tape libraries / auto loader
  • RAID Technology: Hardware, Software, Firmware, RAID 0 / 1 / 5 / 6 / 10 / 50, ZFS
  • SAN: Fibre Channel, iSCSI
  • NAS: SMB / CIFS, NFS, NCP, FTP, WebDAV
  • Partitioning: Basic, Dynamic, Linux LVM / Clustered LVM, FreeBSD disk label / slices
  • File systems: FAT 12 / 16 / 32 / VFAT, NTFS, Ext2 / Ext3 / Ext4, ReiserFS, XFS, UFS, ZFS, JFS, JFS2
  • Disk Imaging: Acronis TrueImage, Symantec Ghost, PartImage, dd
  • Physical network technologies: 802.3 ethernet, 802.5 token ring, 802.11 wireless
  • Wiring: House Wire, Cat 3, Cat 5, Cat 5e, Cat 6, 12-pair Cat 3, 25-pair Cat 3, 25-pair Cat 5, RG-6, RG-11, RG-58, RG-59
  • Fiber: Single Mode, Multi Mode, design, installation, field termination with Panduit OptiCam and Leviton FastCAM pre-terminated, factory-polished connectors
  • Phones: Analog (POTS), VoIP, ISDN Primary Rate Interface, Nortel Norstar 6x16 / 8x12 / Compact ICS / Modular ICS / Option 11 / Option 61, Nortel DR software 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 7 XC, other legacy phone system moves, design, installation, maintenance of inside wiring plant for 3 - 100 phone systems, call routing, call restriction
Experience:
Systems Administrator III
Google; Thornton, CO August 2015 - Present

I am part of a global team that operates Google's CDN. I routinely interact with partner ISPs to identify and resolve problems adversely effecting end user experience. This includes but is not limited to knowledge of how Google's software stack interacts with the Internet at large. The size and diversity of Google's network exposes one-in-a-million type problems yearly. This requires having a strong understanding of how things are supposed to work, how Google's software stack behaves, how ISP's networks behave, and cross interactions therein to locate and resolve subtle incompatibilities. I routinely participated in process development and enhancement to streamline and automate future deployments.

RFS Subject Matter Expert / Architect
IBM; Columbia, MO October 2014 - July 2015

I was responsible for assisting other colleagues with projects and making sure they understood what they were working on. I like to see the speed bumps that will slow projects down, and do my best to have an answer (if not multiple) before we get to them so that the projects can continue at speed to finish on time and under budget.

Some of my time was spent teaching other SAs to give them a better understanding of what they were working on. Because we, as a team, were better than the sum of all individuals. The better I can make each piece helps make the team even better.

When I'm wasn't navigating project landscape or teaching colleagues, I spend time trying to find ways that we could work smarter, not harder. This includes automation and other forms of defect prevention. After all, even if it takes us a little bit longer to do something correct, that is still faster than doing something wrong and having to redo it again.

RFS Subject Matter Expert
IBM; Columbia, MO February 2014 - September 2014

Transitioning to the RFS Subject Matter Expert position allowed me to refocus on the technical aspects that I enjoy.

As the RFS SME, I was directly involved in most projects that pass through the RFS pool. Doing this allowed me to get an understanding of what various projects will ask of team members and gave me the opportunity to put solutions in place before they are needed. Frequently I would spend time training junior admins on what they would be working with in the coming months.

I did my best to get an understanding of what a project would entail to make sure that all of the technical issues were addressed ahead of time if not doing the actual planning myself. Once the plan had been developed or vetted, I would stay abreast of the project's progress to help avoid any problems or provide a helping hand during particularly complex tasks.

Unix Team Lead
IBM; Columbia, MO October 2013 - January 2014

I stepped into the Team Lead role to help fill a gap in the unix team structure. As a Team Lead I helped with more managerial responsibilities while continuing existing SME responsibilities.

One of the primary functions I performed as the Team Lead was to help manage the team internally to free the manager and allow him to deal with more business oriented tasks outside of the pool.

Unix Subject Matter Expert
IBM; Columbia, MO April 2012 - September 2013

As a Unix Subject Matter Expert I was an escalation point for any and all technical problems that team members ran into. I was also integrally involved with assessing team member skill levels and developing individual training plans. I frequently spent time in small group discussions explaining concepts to fellow team members and otherwise encouraging their skill development.

I frequently worked with other teams and management assisting on larger projects that were Unix centric.

Unix Technical Support Specialist
IBM; Columbia, MO October 2011 - March 2012

Support problem and change tickets for client server support operations including problem determination and implementation of changes to hardware, software, applications, or network systems. Work consists primarily of routine and standardized sets of tasks. The work may involve a series of repeatable tasks and steps that are followed when addressing service needs or situations for a particular account.

Team members participate daily in cadence discussion on team performance. They discuss issues or challenges, and receive troubleshooting input/advice from other team members. They may also discuss team performance trends. Team members may also separately interact and exchange information with members of cross-competency teams.

Systems Administrator / Consultant
Riverview Technologies Inc.; Columbia, MO September 2002 - September 2011

Install, upgrade, maintain, and repair workstations and servers, including supporting disk sub-systems. Install and configure modems, routers, switches, and firewalls in accordance with client needs. Install and configure network services such as Microsoft Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL, DNS, DHCP, WINS, and file / print services. Install, configure, maintain, and monitor backups for both Riverview and clients. Install, configure, troubleshoot, and maintain phone systems. Design, install, and maintain industry standard structured wiring to support current and future client needs. Install, configure, and maintain web / email servers, including Apache and Sendmail. Install and maintain industry specific software for clients. Install, configure, and manage network based virus scanners. Configure and maintain network printers. Assist clients in choosing appropriate technology and software to support their current and future business needs.

Help Desk Supervisor
City of Columbia; Columbia, MO April 2001 - August 2002

Evaluation of current and future technologies for applicability to the City, assisting departments in selection of appropriate technology to order, delegation of support activities to other help desk personnel, inventory, end user support, application support, workstation deployment, AS/400 support, installing new computers and performing maintenance on existing systems. Overseeing efficient and timely resolution to support requests.

Systems Operator
City of Columbia; Columbia, MO December 2000 - March 2001

Assist with inventory, end user support, application support, assist with deployment, AS/400 support, phone system support, phone moves, voice mail support, installing new computers and performing maintenance on existing systems.

Temporary Help Desk Technician
City of Columbia; Columbia, MO August 2000 - November 2000

Assist with inventory, end user support, application support, assist with deployment, installing new computers and performing maintenance on existing systems.

Computer Technician
Danta Technologies Inc.; Columbia, MO April 2000 - June 2000

Peripheral installation, virus removal, hardware, and software diagnostics, warranty hardware repair, hardware upgrades, system installation, integration with existing network, transferring user files from old computer to new computer.

Computer Technician
CompUSA; Kansas City, KS August 1999 - February 2000

Peripheral installation, virus removal, hardware, and software diagnostics, warranty hardware repair, hardware upgrades, system installation.
Education: Devry Technical Institute, Kansas City, MO
August 1999 - February 2000
Other:

These are some other points of interest.

  • I successfully completed all three parts of IBM's Master the Mainframe in 2019.
  • I have the ability to speak the following protocols and manually interact with servers to assist in problem determination and resolution: SMTP, POP3, IMAP, HTTP
  • I have a very good working understanding of how many technologies and their associated protocols interact with each other to provide a higher layer of service, like how DNS, LDAP, and Kerberos combine to facilitate Active Directory. This working knowledge extends to how it is possible to go beyond the rules of convention to achieve the desired result, i.e. AD replication through double NAT with conflicting IP address space and using apex overrides to facilitate DNS solutions for Disaster Recovery.
  • I consider myself to be comfortable working in any combination of the following: multi-platform, multi-vendor, in-production, mission-critical doing anything from day to day administration through planning and implementing forklift upgrades.
  • I am comfortable working with limited resources and coming up with the best solution for the situation at hand to allow time for proper planning of and implementation of a more complete resolution.
  • I consider myself very familiar with SMTP and many things related to email infrastructure, including spam and virus filtering, email routing, smart hosting, fall back. This knowledge has assisted many times in troubleshooting extremely rare email problems. (Recent examples available upon request.) I have written multiple SMTP state engines for different purposes in both PHP and Perl.
  • Whenever possible I contribute back to the local community by participating in local forums like Sec-Comm or consulting with teachers at the Career Center or even hiring aspiring networking professionals and giving them insight that can only be gained in the real world.
  • I routinely contribute to the larger internet community via newsgroups / mailing lists / direct emailed questions on many of the topics above.
  • I currently hold a technicians class Amateur Radio license.
  • Samba - I developed an Active Directory Integration solution for Unix for the main account that I supported. My solution involved minimal process changes, reused existing account configuration where possible, did not require any AD schema modifications and was cross platform (Linux and Solaris).
  • I have personally recovered an AD install from tape backups onto a fresh install of 2003 following Microsoft's best practices at the time to reintegrate AD data. Once the recovery was completed, none of the client systems noticed any problems. (Zero user or machine trust accounts were lost.)
  • I developed a proof of concept allowing two AD DCs to properly replicate on opposing sides of a NAT boundary altering both the source and destination addresses where each server thought the other was at a different address. - This is an example of what I mean by having a good understanding of applications and how they interact with each other to achieve larger solutions.
  • I am familiar with multiple forms of network load balancing; RR DNS / Hardware Load Balancing / Linux Virtual Server / Microsoft Network Load Balancing / Apache HTTPD / Squid
  • I believe in and encourage people to use SELinux.
  • I believe in and encourage people to use host based firewalls.
Referrals:

References available upon request.