RAMESH BALRAJ

Qualification : B.E in Computer Science, Madras University, India 1998

Experience:
 Supported all mission critical UNIX production servers across 11 APAC site including major sites like
Singapore, HK and Tokyo over 3000 servers.
 Lead and done two Huge Datacenter Unix server Migrations that includes end to end server, network and
storage migrations.
 Achieved target & time oriented MAS Audit works such as fixing network resiliency, VMAX,HDS storage
migration, hardware migration and End of life OS upgradations.

 Lead to conduct Global datacenter activities like QMW, DR Test and Power down.

 Worked as Linux Technical Specialist for project “Environment provisioning” at ORANGE PCS Ltd, Bristol,
UK
 My expertise lies in Installation, configuration, administration and troubleshooting of UNIX server systems (
RedHat Enterprise Linux, SUSE, Solaris) and heterogeneous networks
 Experienced and supporting on High Availability solution – VERITAS cluster Server and File system
management products VxVM and SDS.

 My strengths include having a strong interpersonal and communication skills, good team player, good
mentor and I am a can-do kind of person, hardworking and dedicated.

Technical Experience:

 IBM X series, Blade center servers, HP ProLiant GL,DL Series, SUN SPARC
Hardware
Enterprise M and T series
 RedHat Enterprise Advanced Server V 5/6 & SuSE Linux V 10/11
OS  Solaris 8/9/10
 AIX 5.3, 6.1, 7.2
 VERITAS Cluster Server 4.0/5.0
 Storage: NetApp Filers(FAS 2xxx, FAS3xxx, FAS6xxx, FAS 8080), EMC
Symmetrix, Clarion,VMAX, 3 par and Hitachi SAN and NAS Technology
 SDS, VERITAS Volume manager 3.5/4.0 & Net backup 6.5
 Linux LVM
 LAMP – Linux Apache, MySQL, PHP Installation
Package/  Virtualization technology ESX, LDOMs, Solaris Zones
Tools/Technology
 EMC product powerpath
 IPstor 4.0 Storage networking infrastructure software suite
 Nessus – Remote security scanner tool
 Tomcat and WebSphere Administration
 SAMBA, NFS, and NIS
 powerbroker
Scripting  Shell, Perl script for automation
Remote management  PCAnywhere, VNC, Putty, citrix, Exceed and Humming bird
tool

Project Details:
Project: GT Production : Unix Support

Ramesh Balraj
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Client Deutsche Bank AG, Singapore ( Through PATH INFOTECH ltd)
Period: Aug 2013 – as on date
Description:  GT Production: UNIX Support, Providing Level 3 UNIX support on change management,
problem management and Incident management on Singapore regional servers.
 Diagnostics / Troubleshooting of Systems and Applications
Position: BAU Singapore L3 – UNIX Support
Contribution  As a Senior Administrator and L3 support, acting as last point of escalation for all technical
and process issues.

 Ensured proper communication and quick resolution to minimize the production impact.

 Part of L3 change management Rota and working on weekends to support all highly critical
changes including OS changes(NIS, NFS, Kernel tuning, security, DNS, Network bonding,
ssh / Kerberos authentication updates), hardware/firmware updates, server(s) patching,
volume management (VXVM,SDS) clustering (VCS and ORACLE RAC) and storage uplift
and SRDF failover/failback/split/suspend/resume) activities.

 As part of Problem management activity, performed RCA for major incidents and did Trend
Analysis, identified top incidents and worked with respective teams/individual to minimize
the incidents.

 Achieved to complete Critical and Time oriented project of remediating legacy DNS server
removal and updating newer server entries successfully on time for two major sites like
Singapore and Japan Unix servers comprising more than 3000+ servers including all types
like Solaris, AIX,RHEL,SUSE and OEL and updated DNS clients of 1000+ physical
consoles by zero level escalations.

 Part of project and Supported single point of contact to implement new security config
management tool to the bank environment called "tripwire" to install, test, verify, upgrade
and documenting on SUSE and RHEL servers from dev, UAT, prod and DR.

 Done Automation for build host initial checks, DR related server’s pre and post checks,
Storage uplift activities, and L1 specific software/package installation and configuration
automation.
 Done project and tool Knowledge acquisition and updated to related documents.
Team Size: 11
Environment: OS : RHEL 5,6 & 7, SuSE v 9,10 & 11, Solaris 8 & 10, AIX v 5.3, 6.1
High Availability : SHS( Solaris hosting services with Solaris zones) AHS (AIX hosting
services) configured on – VERITAS clustering, VXVM, EMC powerpath), DHS ( Database
Hosting services – Oracle Linux ,ORACLE RAC Clustering and multipathing)
Backup : IBM Tivoli netbackup, LAN FREE backup
Monitoring : Nimsoft and Tripwire ( security config management)
Automation: Patching via BladeLogic, software dist/config management via Mrun – perl script.
User logins and password mgt : Controlled by Powerbroker and CyberArk
Hardware Physical: HP proliant BL (enclosure based), DL (Rack based), Oracle M5K, M8K,
SUN FIRE T2000, SUN SPARC Enterprise T2000, T5xxx series.
Virtualization: VMware ESX, Vcenter server, Solaris zones, LDOMs

Project: TIS – APAC BAU Unix Support

Client Credit Suisse, Singapore ( Through Wipro technologies Pvt ltd)
Period: Sep 2008 to July 2013
Description:  CS – TIS BAU UNIX Support, Providing Level 2/3 UNIX support on change management,
problem management and Incident management on APAC regional servers.
 Diagnostics / Troubleshooting of Systems and Applications
 Vendor Management
 Services delivered from onsite –Singapore
Position: BAU APAC L3 – UNIX Support
Contribution  Prime role of L3 support where its aligned to business delivery and support

 SME and supported all mission critical UNIX production servers across 11 APAC site
including major sites like Singapore, HK and Tokyo over 3000 servers.

 Worked on UNIX related change management (OS, software installation and configuration),
Incident management and Problem management Activities.

Ramesh Balraj
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  Achieved to Lead and done huge Datacenter Migration activities that include end to
end server, network and storage migrations.

 Achieved target oriented Audit initiative works such as fixing network resiliency,
VMAX, HDS storage migration, hardware migration and End of life OS upgradations.

 Point of escalation in troubleshooting and resolving Unix/Linux related issues (availability,

performance, capacity, security) from Singapore

 Responsible for Performance Tuning, Capacity Planning, POC evaluations.

 Responsible for Engineering practices in close association with engineering team.

 Strong experience in drafting documentation, including standards & norms and procedures.

 Work closely with DBAs and application administrators to ensure all application/databases
are performing optimally.
 Controlling that operational documentation is up-to-date and insuring the knowledge transfer
between the L1 and L2 teams.
 Day to day Production support includes server OS, hardware and software Troubleshooting
and fixing persisting issues.
 All critical incidents are well managed and tracked via Problem tracking systems.

Project: TIS – RDO Production services Support

Client Credit Suisse, Singapore ( Through Wipro technologies Pvt ltd)
Period: Sep 2006 to Sep 2008
Description:  24x7 primary supports of UNIX servers( Solaris 10,SUSE and RH Linux) across the globe
 System Administration, Monitoring and Escalation
 Diagnostics / Troubleshooting of Systems and Applications
 Vendor Management & Services delivered from onsite –Singapore
Position: Team Lead
Contribution  Worked as Team lead for 16 member UNIX team who supported 24/7 and across the globe
for client Credit Suisse from Singapore
 Primarily worked and Supported on Incident tickets and escalation to next level as per SLA.
 Done day to day shift activities included attending Production Incident calls, fixing software,
hardware issues and OS related issues
 Supported day to day Datacenter Operations – disk, hardware replacement, network
resiliency, storage firmware upgrade across CS sites.
 Coordinated with Vendors like VERITAS, SUN, EMC, Novell and RedHat for fixing new
bugs and getting latest update in all regions.
 Done shift & Rota management and handled the conflicts.

Project: Environment Provisioning

Client ORANGE PCS ltd, Bristol, UK ( Through Wipro technologies Pvt ltd)
Period: Sep 2005 to Aug 2006
Description:  Wipro provision new infrastructure, system builds, database, 3rd party, and in-house
application builds and modifications to existing infrastructure of orange's CIS (common
infrastructure Services) team.
 Wipro acts on behalf of the Orange for managing vendors that deliver items such as the
servers and work with them on aspects such as system builds.
Position: Solaris/Linux Engineer
Contribution  Worked as Linux/Solaris System tech lead and done system builds including OS installation,
firmware up gradation, network configuration and troubleshooting.

 Installed and configured Redhat Enterprise servers on IBM based X series servers; OS
Installations are done through Kickstart (network based)
 Managed system firmware (server BIOS, DIAG, SMP and RSA-Remote supervisor Adaptor
card) upgrade of 300+ servers.
 Created DR guide and submitted for the real DR test.
 Prepared and submitted pre and post build configuration document on Linux and Solaris

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 based servers including Veritas volume manager configuration, network configuration,
hardware raid configuration, RSA IP configuration
Team Size 3
Environment: Red Hat Enterprise Linux V 3 U 6, V 4 Solaris 9,10 , IBM X series X346,X460,Blade center
servers, HP DL 380,Fujitsu-seimens P650,850,450 servers.

Project: QA Services for MaXXan Products and Technical Support to MaXXan’s Customers
Client MaXXan System Inc. (Currently CipherMax Inc.) ( Through Wipro Technologies Pvt ltd)
Period: May 2004 to August 2005
Description:  Wipro Technologies gives testing and support services for wide ranges of MaXXan Storage
products in addition to architecting the solutions for its Asia Pacific Clients.
 Wipro provides 24x7 primary supports to MaXXan clients, resellers, channel partner and
escalation from L0/L1 Support across the globe.

 Supporting through WebEx tool (remote web management tool), E-mail, Call tracking tool,
and Out-bound voice calls.
Position: Linux/Storage Appliance administrator
Contribution  Provided technical support for the MaXXan Appliances.

 Bug fixes of SAN and NAS resources (QA Services - on Linux embedded Appliance) with
test plans.
 Installation and testing of FalconStor software like IPStor Server and IPStor Virtual Tape
Library.

 By using EMC navisphere 6.0 to create and manage the LUNs on storage cx400, cx600.
 Using LSI management tool, configured the LSI storage, LUN creation/deletion, host
management.
 Troubleshoot the problems like unable to see the LUNs in the Ipstor console, Mirroring is not
synchronizing, Failover/failback is not working, Ipstor server load performance.
Team Size 5
Environment: RHES 2.1, RH Linux 7.3, Solaris 8, Veritas NetBackup, StorEdge 6320, T3, Virtual Tape Library,
FalconStor, SAN Appliances : Brocade and MaXXan MXV 320 Fiber Switches, SA100/SG110,
Storage: NetApp (FAS 2xxx, FAS3xxx, FAS6xxx, FAS 8080)

Project: Remote Management – Microland Ltd

Client: GE – JAPAN
Period: February 2003 to March 2004
Description: The project provided 24x7 remote support to client GE-JAPAN Data center Critical Mission
servers from Microland’s OMC, Bangalore. Providing Level 2 and Level 3 Support on Operating
systems like Enterprise Linux server, Solaris and Japanese version NT and 2K.
Position: Senior Technical Support Engineer
Contribution:  Day-to-Day Administration and Operational support such as User Management & Password
management, system backup, OS installation/ upgrade, performance monitoring/tuning, file
system space management.

 Patch & package Management, installing the cluster patches and kernel level patches.
 Samba configuration for cross platform connectivity.
 Webmin configuration for centralized administration
 Squid Proxy configuration using Squid package.
 Installed and configured Veritas NetBackup, remotely managing the backup activities.
 Security audit done via Nessus to scan and manage subsequent vulnerabilities.
Team Size: 5
Environment: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.x, Red Hat Linux 6.x, 7.x, 8.0, 9 ISO, Enterprise 220R, 420R, Sun
Fire 280R, other Mid-range servers

Project: Infrastructure and system administration

Client: SERANOVA India Pvt ltd, Bangalore & Hyderabad
Period: June 2000 to Oct 2002
Description: This project based on provisioning IT infrastructure, system administration and troubleshooting
of the Red Hat Linux Servers, Solaris and Free BSD servers
Position: System Administrator
Contribution:  Part of Four-member team that was instrumental in setting up the network from scratch at
SeraNova Bangalore branch office.

Ramesh Balraj
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  Installed, Configured and done Troubleshooting & Maintaining Enterprise Solaris Servers.
 Installed and configured the monitoring software like Big Brother, Nagios and MRTG to
check the servers’ health like CPU performance, Disk I/O performance, Memory Utilization
and to check the services availability.

 Setup Linux/ Solaris NIS/NFS/Auto mount Configured.

 Installed and configured Tomcat App Server and Apache Web Server for Java team.
 Installed and configured CVS - Version control software on Linux m/c for mobile practicing
team.
Team Size: 4
Environment: Intel Based Servers, Dell 8450, Dell 1650, Compaq ProLiant, IBM Netfinity 1000, HP 9000
Series, Sun E250 and E450 servers
Project: Service Delivery
Client: Cosmat Technologies, Chennai
Period: June 1998 to Mar 2000
Description: This project was a maintenance support project to sustain the IT hardware under the
maintenance contract of Cosmat Technologies
Position: Customer Support Executive
Contribution:  Assuring uptime of the customers desktops and peripherals
 Installation and maintenance of Local Area Networks for various training institutions and
educational institutions
 Trouble shooting of Windows NT and Linux operating systems
Team Size: 15
Environment: Heterogeneous environment of various makes of desktops and printers.

Professional certifications:

 Sun Certified System Administrator for Solaris 10.

Training:

 VERITAS Cluster Server 5.1 @ SYMANTEC- Ingram Micro Learning center @ Singapore
 Solaris 10 Advanced System Administration – 4 days @ Sun Micro systems, Singapore
 Solaris LDOM – 2 days @ ORACLE – Singapore
 VERITAS Volume manager & File systems, 4 days @ Sun Micro systems, Bangalore.
 Japanese Language scripts (Katakana, Hiragana), 8 days, Microland, Bangalore
 CROSS CULTURE & Behavioral Skills and Various Wipro in-house personal and professional help trainings attended in
Bangalore and Singapore.

Ramesh Balraj
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