TOM BALLINGER

6213 Manchester Way § Elkridge, MD 21075 § Phone: (410) 419-1529 § tcballinger@verizon.net

SYSTEMS AND NETWORK ANALYST

A dependable, self-starter with extensive technical, project management, leadership and troubleshooting

skills. Provides a strong focus on customer service and quality with an ability to understand business

requirements, analyze systems and processes then deliver innovative solutions meeting technical, security.

performance and business needs.

Expertise Highlights

§ UNIX, Linux and Windows system administration

§ Network design and management

§ Strategic technology planning

§ IT infrastructure design/improvement

§ Problem solving

§ Major software/systems implementations

§ Systems security & disaster recovery planning

§ Testing/scripting/documentation

§ Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)

§ Data center operations

Professional Experience

COMPUTER SCIENCE CORPPORATION / CSRA – LINTHICUM, MD

Senior Systems Administrator

2012 to Present

2012 to Present

Provide security and system administration of US DoD web site consisting of 100 Linux servers, firewalls and

web application firewalls. Ensure system security, reliability and integrity of systems, applications and data.

Key Results:

• Provided Linux systems administration, supporting web based LMS & CMS applications for

approximately 12,000 users. Environment included Oracle, MySQL, Apache and Tomcat

• Implemented system wide security management, backup and monitoring applications providing system

and network monitoring, alerting and incident response. Environment included Asigra Cloud Backup,

Zabbix system monitoring, Alien Vault USM SIEM, network and host intrusion detection and Splunk log

correlation engine

• Implemented VMware vSphere clustering, including 11 ESXi (4, 5.5, 6.0) servers and shared storage

• Implemented pilot project migrating web site presence to Amazon Web Services

ZIMMERMAN ASSOCIATES, INC – HANOVER, MD

Senior System Administrator

2003 to 2012

2003 to 2012

Provided system, storage and network administration, technical lead and engineering services supporting a

government E-Commerce web site in a mixed Sun, Linux and Windows environment of over 250 servers.

Key Results:

§ Team lead for administration of over 250 servers, including 14 VMware ESX and ESXi (4.0 & 4.1),

vCenter servers with shared 150TB SAN storage utilizing vMotion, DRS, and VCB supporting 150+ VM

images

§ Designed, configured and maintained Solaris and Linux clusters for Apache web servers, IBM

WebSphere Commerce Suite application and Oracle servers

§ Increased website availability from less than 90% availability to over 99.9%

§ Installed and maintained EMC Clariion and Celerra storage arrays, including SAN and NAS infrastructure

§ Implemented open source systems monitoring and management infrastructure, saving over $150K in

licensing costs and improving overall systems and network management and availability

§ Developed a product management application providing tracking of digital mapping products trough

receipt, QA and promotion to production phases

§ Automated CD burning and labeling process, managing 10 CD burning robots and creating over 5,000

unique discs per month

Information Systems Security Officer (ISSO)

2004 to 2011

Designated Information System Security Officer for FEMA Map Service Center by Department of Homeland

Security, reporting to the FEMA CISO to ensure the security posture of three Certified & Accredited systems

(two Major Applications & one General Support System).

Key Results:

§ Delivered the first Certified & Accredited system with Authority to Operate (ATO) in FEMA in 2004

§ Met and maintained government security requirements according to FISMA, DHS 4300a & NIST

requirements and guidelines

§ Developed, wrote and tested IT Contingency Plan for disaster recovery, Risk Assessment and System

Security Plans and other required documentation

§ Designated Information System Security Officer for FEMA MSC and MIP by Department of Homeland

Security

§ Provided annual Security Awareness Training for staff of 250+

SENTORI , INC – LAUREL, MD

2001 to 2003

Senior System Administrator

Provided UNIX system administration and engineering services supporting Oracle development group.

Key Results:

§ Configured and installed Oracle servers running Solaris 9 on Sun Fire V880 servers

§ Created backup and recovery scripts for customer use providing both hot and cold backup capabilities of

Oracle Billing application

§ Installed Samba providing mixed server environment of W2K and Sun file sharing

CORVIS – COLUMBIA, MD

1999 to 2001

Senior System Administrator

Responsible for administration of mission critical Sun E3500 servers running Oracle Applications, Sun

workstations, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 servers and IT support functions for software development team

and manufacturing division consisting of over 300 engineers, assemblers, and test technicians.

Key Results:

§ Designed and deployed factory automation system and led team in developing a manufacturing

execution system to standardize and automate manufacturing processes and testing. System included

barcode scanning, RFID and wireless terminals for product tracking from inventory to shipment. System

increased efficiency and reduced necessary product rework by 40%

§ Designed and implemented five data centers including air handling, premise wiring, power management,

and physical layout to allow for more reliable, secure operations and effective operations and saving

$100K annually in support costs

§ Developed standard configurations and build procedures for Sun E450 and E3500 servers for shipment

to customers, resulting in decreased installation and warranty costs for new shipments by 30%

JOHNS HOPKINS, APPLIED PHYSICS LAB – LAUREL, MD

Senior System Administrator

1998 to 1999

Provided system and network administration to several engineering groups in the Air Defense Systems

Department (ADSD), including system engineering, network design, administration and troubleshooting

services for network of Sun, and MAC workstations and servers.

Key Results:

§ Supported engineering group, managing several Sun servers and custom software applications.

§ Developed and implemented standardized disaster recovery procedures including automated backup of

workstations and servers, collection of system configuration, inventory and maintenance history

PEAK TECHNOLOGIES – COLUMBIA, MD

1982 to 1998

System and Network Operations Manager

Provided strategic technical direction and managed IT operations including system and network

management as well as systems administration for mixed UNIX (HP-UX/Solaris), Netware, and NT

environment.

Key Results:

§ Designed international frame relay WAN and implemented migration of 26 sites and 23 NetWare and NT

servers, in US and Canada from leased line to frame network providing increased efficiency, improved

management, fault tolerance and performance while reducing costs by over $250K annually

§ Designed, developed and implemented an RF data collection system, interfacing to corporate ERP

system and automating warehouse functions, reducing average time of warehouse activities by 83% and

inventory errors by 60%

§ Developed procedures for enterprise-wide help desk operations and implemented a call tracking

application reducing number of support calls to help desk and decreasing time necessary to resolve

support issues by 75%, which resulted in increased user satisfaction

Professional Development

Education:

Course Work:

Certifications:

Security Clearance:

Control Data Institute, 1982, Computer Systems, GPA 3.8

NetScreen Security Gateways & firewalls, Juniper Junos, Solaris System

Administration, DHS ISSO, Windows NT, C, Java, SAN Architecture & Design,

NetIQ AppManager, Net+, CISSP, Linux System Administration, ITIL

AWS Technical Professional, CISSP, Net+, Certified Network Defender (CND),

ITIL Foundation v3

Top Secret

Technology Summary

Applications/Software: Apache, NetBackup, MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle, Zabbix, NetIQ AppManager,

VMware vSphere/ESXi/vCenter Server, VMware Workstation & Fusion, EMC

Navisphere/Powerpath, Ganglia, Nagios, SAMBA, WireShark, Exchange, Lyris

List Manager, Tenable Nessus/Security Center, HP Web Inspect, AlienVault

USM/OSSIM, Snort, Nmap, Tomcat, AWstats, CVS, SVN, SELinux, Asigra,

Splunk, LDAP, SIEM, OSSEC, WebSphere MQ, Postfix, Apache ModSecurity,

Red Hat Identity Manager, Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Operating Systems:

Languages:

Networking:

Hardware:

Solaris, Linux (Red Hat, CentOS, Ubuntu), Windows Server 2003/2008/2012,

Windows XP/7/10

PERL, shell (sh, ksh, bash, sed, awk…), Junos, ScreenOS, SQL

TCP/IP, HTTP/S, DNS, DHCP, VPN, VLAN, firewalls, switches (Ethernet/fiber),

SSL/TLS, iptables, ssh, iSCSI, FC

Juniper/Netscreen switches, firewalls, VPN and IDP systems, Cisco ASA, EMC

Clariion & Celerra storage, Brocade fiber switches, Foundry system load

balancers, Barracuda web application firewalls, Quantum Scalar tape libraries,

Kohler diesel generators, APC Symmetra UPS, OCE large format printers, MF

Digital Director CD/DVD burners, Dell servers, Sun servers

Miscellaneous:

NIST SP 800-53/53A, DHS 4300A, COOP (Continuity of Operations Plan), ITIL

Foundation