Wesley Ferrell

Hi there! I’m Wes!

I am an accomplished IT professional with over 10 years of experience. I have a well-rounded background of infrastructure management and services including networking, system administration, server administration, virtualization, cloud technologies, and IT help desk. I am currently working at Blue Apron. If you have a gig that you think I would be a good fit for please do not hesitate to contact me. I am always looking for my next adventure!

Recent Projects
VMware Infrastructure

Designed and built out highly available VMware vSphere environments using VMware ESX. Environments were built to host industrial control systems and platforms responsible for day to day operations in fulfillment centers. Hardware included Dell PowerEdge R710 servers, Dell PowerVault MD1220i and MD3860i SAN’s, and Juniper EX4550 switches.

Internal DNS

Built out an internal DNS system for Blue Apron. Prior to the implementation Blue Apron did not have internal DNS and relied on IP addresses. I choose to use CentOS as the operating system, BIND as the DNS server, and Chef coupled with Chef Server for configuration management and deployment. Internal DNS is currently in use at all office locations with plans to setup another implementation to separate corporate servers from plant servers.

Splunk & Centralized Logging

With our growing infrastructure and systems we needed a central logging endpoint that facilitated easy searching, alerting, and scalability. Remote collectors were setup for network segments that do not have an internal route to the main indexer This ensures all devices can log to Splunk in a secure manner (SSL). All of our systems use Splunk for logging and with the use of simple keyword searches, regex statements, and metrics we can easily create dashboards and alerts.

Lemur SSL Management

With our growing list of domains and systems, SSL certificate management was non existent. This was a threat as we didn’t know what systems were using what certificate nor tracking expiration dates on those certificates which could cause outages. With Lemur I was able to import all certificates (including expired), setup expiration alerts, note the relationships between the system and the certificate. Having all the certificates stored in a central repository we could easily delegate access to the teams that needed access in order to secure their systems.

API Proxy

Some of the systems that we use do not allow for easy API integration due to technical limitations (OAuth, package dependencies, and language limitations). To overcome these limitations, I created a restful API using Python and Flask to act as a single API endpoint for all of the API’s we wish to interact with. Having a single API endpoint allows us to easily tie in new services with minimal workflow complexity. The tool has been adopted and being further developed by our DevOps team.

SSO Integration

Being a heavy consumer of SaaS services, we begin to face scaling issues with user management. I am currently in the process of tying our SaaS services into our identity management platforms for improved user exprience, easier user management, and greater secuirty.

Experience
2016-Present
Blue Apron 
Senior System Administrator

  • Infrastructure Planning & Procurement – Plan and forecast infrastructure needs and growth as the company scales. Maintain and retrofit existing systems and infrastructure to support day to day needs while new solutions are vetted and built out. Manage a budget of $500k to purchase new hardware, software, and SaaS application suites.

  • Infrastructure Management – Manage on premise and cloud infrastructure using Amazon Web Services and VMware vSphere. Services include internal IT tools, DNS, ticketing systems, human resource management systems, Splunk, JAMF Pro, digital asset management platforms, as well as the underlying VMware infrastructure. Chef is used for configuration management.

  • Network Administration – Manage, monitor, and troubleshoot interconnected office networks across seven locations. Setup and configure advanced networking technologies such as IPsec PTP tunnels to AWS infrastructure and RADIUS/NAP servers.


  • Client Management – Manage 2k+ end client workstations, 1.8k+ mobile devices, and 2.3k users using various directory systems and configuration management platforms such as JAMF Pro, LDAP, RADIUS, and Google Apps.

  • IT Development – Build, develop, and deploy internal tools using bash scripting, python, and ruby. Build integrations between applications and other tools using RESTful API’s.

  • SaaS & IaaS Management – Manage cloud applications and infrastructure services such as Google Apps, Box, Amazon Web Services, Jira, Confluence, JAMF Pro, and JumpCloud.

  • Mentorship – Mentor, train, and lead a team of 6 technicians. Encourage continued education and professional development. Offer career advice and guidance.

  • Technical Guidance – Advise and steer senior level leadership on technical solutions, infrastructure, and best practices to make educated business decisions.

  • Hiring and Recruiting – Responsible for interviewing and judging potential candidate’s technical competency and business acumen. Participate in round table feedback sessions and hiring strategy meetings.


  • ...

    2015-2016
    Rackspace Hosting 
    System Engineer I

  • Server Management – Manage and maintain servers that host business critical services such as Active Directory, DHCP, hypervisors, and client imaging systems. These services are built on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X infrastructure.

  • Virtualization – Virtualize in-house tools and systems using VMware ESX server, Hyper-V, KVM, and cloud technologies. Create virtualized development environments for software development teams who required high availability and ample resources.

  • Network Administration – Monitor and troubleshoot office wired and wireless networks and VLANs. Cisco and Aruba technologies. Utilize network monitoring suites such as Zenoss, Cacti, and Nagios.

  • Mac OS X Imaging & Management – Develop OS X images that are deployed across the company which include standardized security settings and default software offerings. Develop imaging scripts and tools to satisfy the company’s growing OS X needs and security concerns. Evaluate and implement Mac OS X management solutions to make client support more efficient and secure.

  • IT Development – Create web-based tools using LAMP and IIS technologies to assist help desk personal and engineers. Experience with Bash, PowerShell, and Python in creating scripts and tools for the automation of repetitive tasks.


  • ...

    2008-2015
    Rackspace Hosting 
    IT Technician I, II, III

  • Help Desk – Assist thousands of users in multiple remote office locations with various IT related requests. Experience with Spiceworks, LiveTime, and ServiceNow ticketing systems.

  • User Administration – Setup new user accounts and permissions for new employees and contractors.

  • Remote IT Support – Travel to remote offices to assess and address IT related needs and issues. This ranges from simple hardware tickets to infrastructure decommissioning and build out.

  • Process Management – Develop processes and procedures for handling various tasks and projects such as new hire on boarding, infrastructure decommissioning, inventory control practices, and user device policies.

  • Videoconferencing – Install codecs and related A/V hardware. Experience with LifeSize, Vidyo, Crestron, and Extron systems.

  • Vendor Management – Manage contracts and relationships with IT contractors and vendors.

  • Shipping and Receiving – Handle shipment and reception of IT hardware from vendors and remote offices.

  • ...

    2007-2008
    Rackspace Hosting 
    Software Developer I

  • Web Development – Implemented the Mail Migration Tool v2.0 utilizing PHP, MySQL, HTML, and CSS (LAMP).
  • Skills

    Certifications

  • Apple Certified Associate - Mac Integration 10.7, 10.8, 10.9, 10.10
  • Apple Certified Associate - Management Basics 10.8, 10.9, 10.10
  • Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC) 10.8
  • Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) 10.8
  • JAMF Certified Casper Technician (CCT)
  • VMware Certified Associate 6 – Data Center Virtualization (VCA6-DCV)
  • Recommendations
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