Darren Gibbard's Email Addresses & Phone Numbers

Experience:

Experience:

* Working as a Linux Systems Administrator, Site Reliability Engineer, and more recently as a DevOps Engineer on a Cloud Computing based Security as a Service (SaaS) Platform within the Cisco Cloud Web Security (Cisco CWS) sector. More than 8k servers across over 30 geographic locations and growing. Providing a larger insight into Scalability and High Availability platforms; key focuses on automation/CI/CD and new projects/technologies.

* Working as a Unix Systems Administrator in a complex international Gambling organisation, with set standards and requirements (PCI DSS/ITIL). I work to very high standards, even with frequent high pressure from the business to meet required deadlines or requests. Loyal and dependable. Managing a highly financial based Web and Retail operation within a small team of Unix Admins.

* Management of a hardware and software audit of a bespoke embedded Unix system across 1700 national sites in the UK. Working towards widespread standardisation and completeness for a successful business operation.

* Senior service desk analyst, working to ITIL compliance, providing 1st to 3rd line support for remote retail sites and internal users. Working alongside internal and 3rd party colleagues to improve efficiency and systems.

* Training of peers in multiple subjects.

Specialties: * Linux/UNIX (Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, Red Hat Enterprise, AIX) [CompTIA Linux+ Certified]

* Automation (Puppet, Mcollective)

* Scalable, secure and highly available platforms (Apache, Tomcat, CouchDB, RIAK, OrientDB, MySQL etc)

* VMware and Citrix Xenserver platforms

* Monitoring Platforms - Nagios, Cacti, Check_MK, OMDistro, Graphite, AppDynamics

* PCI DSS and ITIL compliance (ITIL Certified)

* TCP/IP v4 + v6, DNS, setup and management etc.

* Build Systems (Cobbler / Kickstart / RHN /Spacewalk)DevOps Engineer @ DevOps Engineer for both the Security and Core Services teams within Cisco Cloud Web Security. Key focus on new projects and technologies along with continual integration/deployment (CI/CD). Linux focused. From November 2014 to Present (1 year 2 months) Director @ Started a Limited Company to enter the contractual IT services market as a Linux Administrator/Engineer/Consultant. From August 2012 to Present (3 years 5 months) Site Reliability Engineer @ * Working within the Cisco Cloud Web Security / Security Cloud Operations business segment at Cisco Systems.

* 4k+ Linux Servers across more than 25 datacenters globally. Dell + Cisco UCS hardware, XenServer, VMWare, Puppet, Cobbler, Apache, Tomcat, Java, Bash, Python, CouchDB, Nagios, RabbitMQ and more.

* Designing and implementing platform changes to proactively improve reliability and performance.

* Root cause analysis and resolution.

* Disaster recovery planning and management.

* Managing full system automation for rapid deployment and simple management/scaling.

* Providing SME level guidance to support tiers. From April 2014 to November 2014 (8 months) Linux Systems Administrator @ Contractual work on behalf of TEKsystems Inc for Cisco Cloud Web Security (was Scansafe) - operating as a Linux Systems Administrator/Engineer for the Security Cloud Operations Platform. From September 2012 to April 2014 (1 year 8 months) Linux Systems Administrator @ - Administration of Unix based systems across five international locations, totalling over 1000 servers of varying platforms, including Debian, Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise, CentOS, AIX and Slackware.

- Administration and support of both Physical (IBM+HP) and Virtualised (VMware vCentre/ESX) Servers.

- Setup, configuration and maintenance of server hardware and software.

- Technologies involved in day to day tasks include Nagios, Splunk, High Availability, Load balancing (F5 BIGIP LTM), Cacti monitoring, Kerberos, Apache, Chroots, Oracle and more.

- Responsible for management, tuning and maintenance of complex Unix environments- eg. Memcache, Apache, Python Applications, Java Applications.

- Hardware experience of HP Proliant systems, HP MSA storageworks units, IBM Z series, X series and Bladecentre systems and more. From May 2010 to September 2012 (2 years 5 months) Technical Project Analyst @ Secondment from my standard 1st/2nd line technical support role to support an estate-wide auditing project where I was required to provide a technical in-sight and resolution to a variety of issues surrounding a bespoke Linux betting system distributed throughout 1700 retail locations, in order to normalise the estate configuration. for easier management. From October 2009 to May 2010 (8 months) IT Analyst @ My primary role is as an IT Analyst for the GalaCoral Group, providing 1st and 2nd line technical support to Coral Racing Ltd licensed betting offices, Gala Bingo, Gala Casino and internal users.

This covers a very wide selection of hardware and software support including Citrix, Active Directory, MS Exchange and Cisco equipment. I am often looked toward for support from other members of the team, and also provide training on various systems within the business. From March 2008 to May 2010 (2 years 3 months) Customer Service Advisor @ I previously worked in PC World, where my primary role was as a sales advisor. I was fully trained to work across all departments, from merchandising, business to business, administration, and technical – including being drafted in as head technician on various occasions to manage the technical department. From October 2006 to February 2008 (1 year 5 months) Support Assistant @ A months worth of voluntary work with cougar technology to begin building my technological background, implementing and maintaining a variety of systems including IIS, Active Directory and Windows Server functionality within corporate and educational environments. From September 2006 to October 2006 (2 months) Sales Assistant @ I worked as a standard shop assistant but was given additional responsibilities including stock management. From October 2005 to July 2006 (10 months) A/AS-Level, Physics, Geography, ICT, Science for Public Understanding @ Chalvedon Sixth Form College From 2004 to 2006 Darren Gibbard is skilled in: Apache, Linux, Unix, Lighttpd, F5 BigIP, CentOS, Debian, Debian/Ubuntu, DNS, DNS management, DNS administration, Web Services, Load Balancing, Nagios, Cacti