Hi, I'm Darryl đź‘‹
Senior System Administrator, System Engineer, and Entrepreneur. I am passionate about building things and helping people.
DD

About

I am a highly skilled System Engineer with over 15 years of experience in IT infrastructure, cloud computing, networking, and cybersecurity. My expertise includes Azure, VMware, Linux, Windows Server, and enterprise networking, enabling me to design, deploy, and maintain robust IT environments. I have a strong background in cloud migrations, security policies, automation, and system optimization. I excel in fast-paced environments where I can utilize my problem-solving skills, automation expertise, and deep technical knowledge to enhance operational efficiency. I am a collaborative team player who enjoys working with cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality solutions that meet business needs.

Work Experience

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Lexitas

December 2022 - Current
Senior System Administrator
As a Senior System Administrator at Lexitas Legal, you manage a large infrastructure consisting of 100 Dell physical servers, 300 virtual machines, 80 Azure cloud servers, and 50 AWS cloud servers. Your responsibilities include Linux server patching, updating firmware for Dell equipment, and patching ESXi servers. You have played a key role in setting up a data center in Las Vegas, configuring a vCenter cluster with an iSCSI SAN, and building and deploying database servers. Additionally, you maintain the Azure VDI environment and Azure Virtual Desktop, ensuring seamless remote access. Your role also involves deploying and setting up remote servers across the United States to support the company's remote offices.
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Red Trident

September 2021 - November 2022
CyberSecurity System Engineer
I manage and optimize cloud environments for our clients, particularly focusing on Azure services. I’ve worked on creating and maintaining Azure resources, such as VPNs, VMs, and user accounts in Azure Active Directory, along with implementing robust security measures like MFA, compliance reporting, and Just-in-Time Access. I also specialize in network security, provisioning server and network devices using Ansible, and managing ESXI hosts, VPN tunnels, and Fortigate firewalls for clients. In addition to this, I developed an application called Cyber-ECP, which allows users to securely connect to OT devices at remote locations across the United States. My role at Red Trident has allowed me to leverage my expertise in cloud infrastructure and network security to deliver secure, scalable solutions for our clients.
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Ochsner Health Systems

November 2017 - September 2021
IS System Administrator (NOC)
I was responsible for managing network monitoring tools, creating and maintaining alerts, and ensuring system availability. I upgraded and maintained SolarWinds NPM CMS and SAM servers, designed network maps with real-time dashboards, and created automated alerts to reduce downtime and support call-outs. I developed a Hurricane Response Plan for the NOC team and implemented SolarWinds outage maps for major incident response. As a member of the Change Advisory Board (CAB), I helped teams plan upgrades with minimal downtime. Additionally, I managed VPN connections on Palo Alto and Cisco ASA devices, troubleshot issues with Cisco ISE, and maintained network security. My role also involved automating alerts to restart services, facilitating major incident response calls, and collaborating with teams to ensure smooth system operation..
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mumms® Software

January 2015 - November 2017
IS Support Analyst
I automated system processes to reduce late-night call-outs and created server process watch daemons to detect and alert when a process was stuck. I managed Cisco network equipment, including firewalls and switches, and upgraded the network topology, increasing the backbone speed from 1GB to 10GB. My responsibilities included maintaining Windows Server backups, deploying patches, and managing Active Directory. I also handled Jira Server, including project management, workflows, and enterprise mail handling. Additionally, I monitored VMware ESXI backups using Veeam, deployed Docker containers to replace legacy systems, migrated physical servers to virtual machines, and established an IPsec VPN from Google Compute Engine to the main office using pfSense firewalls. I also collaborated with the development team on new software development for our core application.
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Marathon Petroleum Company, LP

November 2009 - January 2015
DCS IT System Administrator
My role involved managing Windows servers across two data centers, ensuring compliance through detailed reporting, and maintaining backup systems, including Symantec Backup Exec Server and tape libraries. I was responsible for deploying and maintaining VMware ESXI hosts, migrating critical servers from physical to virtual environments, and applying security patches to over 200 Windows servers. I also scheduled system reboots, deployed and maintained Symantec Endpoint Protection, and upgraded Solaris and Windows systems. Additionally, I played a key role in network security, monitoring VPN connections, deploying Checkpoint firewalls, and ensuring system-wide security compliance
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Department of Energy

February 2009 - November 2009
Deployment Technician
In this role, I deployed and replaced over 5,000 machines across the organization, troubleshooting issues with Novell and leading the hardware deployment team. I also developed an application called Tech123, which helped with asset tracking, backup/restore of user data, and remote installation of applications. The application was built using MySQL, PHP, and Apache, and it streamlined many of the processes for IT management, making it easier to track assets and deploy software remotely.

Skills

React
Next.js
Typescript
Node.js
Python
MaraiaDB
Postgres
MongoDB
Redis
Docker
Kubernetes
Java
C#
Go
Ruby
PHP
Linux
Windows
MacOS
AWS
GCP
Azure
OAuth2
Swagger
Nginx
Apache
IIS
Jenkins
Git
Jira
RabbitMQ
VMware ESXi & vCenter
Ansible
Terraform
Puppet
Chef
SaltStack
Contact

Get in Touch

Want to chat? Just shoot me an email at ddavis@serverguys.us or connect with me on LinkedIn