System Administrator

The System Administrator is responsible for deploying, monitoring and maintaining applications, servers and network infrastructure to support an international application service provider environment. Additionally, the administrator participates in systems/network design and policy related activities, and works with the research and development group on selected projects.
REQUIREMENTS
Responsibilities:
•Deploy, monitor, manage, and maintain both customer and internal network and systems elements.
•Deploy, monitor, and maintain applications relating to our service.
•Manage operating system and software patches and upgrades.
•Ensure backups and reporting are carried out as per policy.
•Administer security and access control policies.
•Maintain facilities, systems, and network documentation.
•Contribute to engineering, policy, and development projects.
•Handle network and systems failures and outages, escalations internal and external.
•Disaster recovery and business continuity planning and testing.
•Perform all duties with an emphasis on achieving maximum stability and security, while maintaining performance and customer satisfaction.
•Provide after-hours support as needed by on-call rotation, and 24x7 emergency support.
•Some travel to client locations as needed.


Technical Expertise:
•Mid-level systems administration skills with UNIX-like systems. (Linux, FreeBSD)
oSystem installation and configuration, backups, performance tuning, patching, software installation,
oSystem troubleshooting, understanding of kernel-level fundamentals, debug info collection
oProficient with systems scripting in shell script(C, K, Bourne), Perl, AWK/Sed, Python, etc. More advanced development skills a plus (C, C++, Java)
oGeneral database experience; SQL, Postgres, MySQL
oDirectories, centralized authentication, authorization, and accounting; LDAP (OpenLDAP), Radius, TACACS, PAM
oUnderstands setup, maintenance, and troubleshooting of internal and external storage systems (RAID), and file system fundamentals and tuning.


•Mid-level IP networking skills:
oFull understanding of the TCP/IP suite
oEthernet networking (VLANs, STP, Trunking)
oNetwork problem identification, isolation, and resolution.
oPacket sniffer operation and packet dissection (Sniffer, Ethereal, tcpdump, libpcap)
oOperating DHCP (isc-dhcpd, Cisco) and DNS (bind) services.
oUnderstanding of protocols generally used in WAN internetworking: PPP and multilink-PPP, HDLC, Frame-relay, MPLS
oWorking experience with Cisco routers and switches; other vendors a plus.
oAccess-lists, route-maps, IP routing and dynamic routing protocols (RIP, OSPF, ISIS, BGP)
oNAT, VPNs (IPSEC, SSL), remote VPN users

•Network and System Security Skills
oGeneral firewall knowledge, commercial (Cisco Pix, Checkpoint) or open-source (ipfilter, ipfw, pf, ipchains)
oSecurity policy and access controls for networks, systems, and users.
oCreating and maintaining network access controls via a firewall or router ACLs
oStrict adherence to security policies, proper handling of sensitive data

•Telco/Carrier networking skills:
oT-carrier and SONET transport system concepts
oTroubleshooting installation-related, down and degraded circuit problems.
oBasic understanding of MPLS, Layer3 VPNs from a customer perspective.

•Telephony skills:
oVOIP (SIP), IP PBX (Asterisk), IP Phones
oTDM voice circuits; T1 robbed-bit and PRI signaling
oBasic understanding of the PSTN, PBXs, call routing

•Network Management and Monitoring Systems.
oFamiliarity with operational management controls; change management policies and procedures, outage reporting, and job time accounting.
oSoftware NMS systems (Nagios), device dependencies, escalation
oKnowledge of network capacity planning, system load planning
oOutage handling, service provider interaction, trouble escalation

•Physical Hardware skills:
oFully capable with x86 server hardware. Full system disassembly and reassembly.
oCapable with the physical properties of fixed-config and modular network equipment.
oSwapping components (CPU, RAM, hard drives, interface cards, etc.)
oUnderstands basic troubleshooting of hardware problems.

•Physical Network and Systems Infrastructure:
oPhysically capable of working alone with equipment up to 80lbs. Shipping, moving, racking.
oFamiliar with the various aspects of equipment mounting in racks and cabinets.
oData network cabling, cat5+, cross-overs, connectorizing patch cables
oFamiliar with Telco cabling, T1, T3, coax, fiber
oExperience with managed cabling, patch panels, 110, 66 and wire-wrap terminations, cross-connects, tracing cabling, facility assignments, labeling
oUnderstands basic electrical and optical concepts, distance limitations of technologies, optical budgets, equipment power consumption and power circuit loading


Other Requirements / Preferences:
•A minimum of three years of related experience.
•Additional certifications are a plus
•BA / BS CIS or computer related field are a plus
•Travel up to 30% of time