[TriLUG] Position Available

jsweatte at nc.rr.com jsweatte at nc.rr.com
Wed Jun 25 00:36:20 EDT 2003


National Commerce Financial Corporation has a Unix Systems 
Administration position available.
Company: www.ncfcorp.com
Full Time - Exempt
Location: Durham, NC

NCFC is looking for an experienced Unix (HP-UX, Solaris, Linux) 
administrator. The majority of our legacy servers are HP-UX on L class 
machines, we also have a handful of Solaris servers. Our direction is to 
Linux (Red Hat, SuSE, Turbo) when we can, although the Financial 
vertical is still strongly legacy Unix so we will have HP-UX, Solaris, 
and maybe even some AIX (project under evaluation) for the foreseeable 
future. We run customer facing production applications on Linux and have 
been very successful with it. Through hard work, the strength of Open 
Source, and persistence we have carved a foothold but, as most of you 
can guess, there is little margin for failure regarding Open Source/Linux..
This position requires someone who can communicate with people of all 
levels of technical ability. We have an open door policy so shirt sleeve 
interrupts are the order of the day. You must be able to deal with 
multiple No. 1 priorities and casual or impromptu conversations with 
civility. I emphasize MUST be able to communicate civilly and in a 
polite, helpful, non condescending, manner with everyone. Our Unix 
people are seen as a valuable resource often called on to help with 
Networking, PC, and Security questions (although our charter is strictly 
Unix unless someone needs help with BSD on a firewall appliance, etc.). 
Meetings, while I try to keep them to a minimum, are a frequent fact of 
life. Meetings  have proven to be a valuable forum for establishing 
Linux/Open Source creditability. The successful candidate will be 
required to contribute and participate in a professional manner at 
meetings. Our Unix group is only a little over 2 years old so we are 
still establishing process and procedure. I mention this to point out 
that documentation is something  we are always working on as well as 
refining our standards and procedures , this position will be required 
to contribute.
NCFC is a conservative, financial institution. Change control, process 
and procedure are an absolute fact of life and must be adhered to. In 
spite of it we still manage to get alot done.
The Unix group is part of Technical Services as is the Mainframe group. 
We have a great working relationship and some lively discussions. The 
Mainframe holds all data of record for the organization and is a 
permanent part of the landscape. We are currently evaluating Linux on 
the Mainframe under zVM. Linux on the Mainframe is seen as being of 
extremely high potential value. Our Unix admins have been and will 
remain an integral part of this evaluation. This position will get the 
opportunity to help us explore this architecture.
The Unix group is responsible for our Storage Area Network. Right now it 
is comprised of 4 IBM 2109 (brocade) switches attached to an IBM SHARK, 
EMC Symmetrix 8830, and a trio of Xiotech magnitudes. We are migrating 
everything off of the SHARK to the Symmetrix between now and August of 
this year. We are also re-architecting our SAN to include a Brocade 
Silkworm 12000 director. Our direction is to put everything on the SAN 
so this technology will continue to grow. We, of course, share the SAN 
with the Windows crew and keep them involved in our SAN discussions. 
Again, our charter is strictly Unix so no Windows administration (well 
almost none, we introduced VMware to the organization and have a couple 
of Windows VM's on GSX/Linux) is required.
The Unix group is responsible for Websphere administration. We currently 
run version 4 and 5. We have Websphere/Linux servers in production so 
Websphere knowledge is highly desired.
We have the usual collection of backup software, Veritas, HP, and 
CA-Brightstore (ARCserv in weak disguise I am told). We have most of the 
mundane tape handling effort shifted to production services so 
administration and troubleshooting are the primary duties.
The Unix group is responsible for EMC Enterprise Control Center use and 
administration. We are new to this and have the most current version, 
5.1, installed. A candidate with prior EMC/ECC administration experience 
would be preferred. There will be a great deal of work required with 
this product near term.
ISM/Perfman. The Unix group is also responsible for administering the 
collection server for ISM's Perfman product (Only supported on Windows 
at present) as well as doing desktop install's of the ISM client. 
Perfman is a performance reporting product that supports Unix, Windows, 
and the Mainframe and, recently, includes a Network reporting function. 
A bevy of reports are generated by this system and the Unix group is 
responsible for seeing that the get generated and distributed.
We don't have a really strong script writer so good skills with 
scripting would be great. We use CA-Autosys for server start/stop 
automation. This requires some script writing. We have a few scripts in 
production but alot more is needed.
This is an On-call position. You will be called frequently. The Unix 
group is expected to assume ownership of problems, regardless of their 
nature, and follow up to completion.
To sum it up, NCFC needs a seasoned, technically balanced, Unix 
administrator. Key areas of strength required are: Linux, HP-UX, 
Solaris, SAN and Storage management, EMC Symmetrix and EMC ECC use, 
scripting, backup administration, and Websphere. We require an open 
minded professional who enjoys new challenges and is willing to explore 
and engage in new technologies while supporting a production retail 
banking environment. And most importantly a person who can, and will, 
communicate effectively with co-workers, customers, vendors, and 
management as required.

If interested please contact me at 919-382-5795 or 919-612-3548. Send 
your resume to joel.sweatte at ncfcorp.com.

Joel Sweatte
Mgr. Technical Services
National Commerce Financial Corporation
2323 Operations Dr.
Durham, NC. 27705






More information about the TriLUG mailing list