Virgil
Cloud Engineer
Experienced Cloud Engineer well-versed in designing and delivering a wide range of infrastructure solutions.
Strategic and tactical planner with a decisive approach and analytical problem-solving skills. I bring a passion for automation and documentation.
Highly skilled in deploying, maintaining, and troubleshooting of applications hosted on cloud platforms.
My full legal name is a mononym.
Skills
Cloud Computing
Advanced
- AWS
- VMware
- DevOps
- distributed systems
- microservice
- IaaS
- PaaS
- SaaS
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Advanced
- AWS Command Line Interface (CLI)
- EC2
- VPC
- Auto-scaling groups
- Elastic Load Balancing
- EFS
- Route53
- S3
- SES
- SNS
- awscli
- ELB
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Intermediate
- IAM
- Lambda
- CodeCommit
- System Manager
- RDS
- EBS
- EBS snapshots
- CloudTrail
- CloudWatch
- CloudFormation
Technical Documentation
Master
- wiki
- Markdown
- GitHub-Flavoured Markdown
- gitbook
- pandoc
- Word
- Visio
- notepad
- vim
Software Development
Intermediate
- GitHub
- git
- CodeCommit
- vscode
- SDLC
- software development lifecycle
- software engineering
CI/CD
Intermediate
- Jenkins
- TravisCI
- Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery
- pipeline
- automation
- integration tests
Solution Architecture
Advanced
- IT Strategy
- ITIL
- Data Center technologies
- Disaster Recovery
- Service Delivery
- Integration
- System Automation
- System Deployment
- Server Architecture
Storage
Advanced
- SSD
- Network File Systems
- Storage Area Networks
- SAN
- DAS
- NAS
- direct attached storage
- network attached storage
- storage virtualisation
- NFS
VMware
Master
- vSphere
- vCenter
- vCloud
- Site Recovery Manager
- vRealize
- Horizon
- Horizon View
- ThinApp
- virtualization
- virtualisation
Vendor Management
Intermediate
- Cisco
- Dell
- EMC
- Veeam
- IBM
- HDS
- VMware
Operating Systems
Master
- Linux
- Debian
- Ubuntu
- Redhat
- CentOS
- Windows Server
- Windows 10
- Windows 7
- FreeBSD
- Windows
System Administration
Advanced
- Microsoft Exchange
- Active Directory
- LDAP
- nginx
- PHP
- openssh
- OpenPGP
- syslog
- systemd
- nodejs
Network
Advanced
- Administration
- Engineering
- Design
- Switches
- Routers
- Firewalls
- VPN
- Security
- Load balancers
Internetworking Protocols
Advanced
- OSI layers
- HTTP
- DNS
- SMTP
- SSH
- TCP
- IP
- BGP
- 802.3
Scripting
Advanced
- bash
- PowerShell
- Python
- Jinja
- awscli
- Perl
- Infrastructure as Code
- batch
What I'm learning
Beginner
- Kubernetes
- (advanced) Python
- Terraform
Work Experience (13)
Engag3d is a cloud-based startup providing an AI marketing platform that automates communication management and analysis.
Supporting AWS infrastructure across multiple regions, as a Cloud Systems Administrator utilising DevOps engineering principles.
This position was remote, as a multi-functional member of the global team.
- Installed, configured, tested and maintained operating systems, application software and system management tools.
- Performed administration and routine maintenance of cloud hosted solutions.
- Created monitoring and alerting of production and non-production environments using CloudWatch and other healthcheck services
- Implemented DevOps strategy for Linux servers inline with Amazon Web Services cloud strategies and reference architectures.
- Developed CloudFormation and System Manager Automation Documents for delivering Infrastructure-as-Code automation.
- Created AMIs of Amazon Linux and Ubuntu instances
- Created Elastic Load Balancers with Auto Scaling Groups
- Created S3 buckets for storage, with differing redundancy profiles and also static web applications.
- Experienced in creating multiple VPCs and public/private subnets with security groups in multiple availability zones.
- Access resources via VPNs; NAT gateways; bastion hosts; EC2 Connect and Systems Manager.
- Developed Event-driven and scheduled AWS Lambda functions to trigger various AWS resources.
- Practical exposure with Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery tools like CodePipeline; Jenkins and TravisCI.
Managed Services Provider (MSP)
- Generated operational and architectural documentation for multiple platforms and software.
- Developed network and system architecture according to business needs.
- Engineered architecture and infrastructure for client multi-user systems.
- Improved business productivity for clients by 15% by re-engineering and designing infrastructures.
- Performed monitoring of client environments (production and non-production)
- Provided Tier 2 and Tier 3 technical support and troubleshooting to internal and external clients.
- Standardised job tasks and trained junior team members on industry best practices and standards.
- Developed automation to monitor and orchestrate client deployments
- Liaising with an external providers on support cases to ensure timely resolution
- Wrote automation scripts for scheduled backups and restorations (including reviews of back up logs) increasing staff efficiency.
- Established a feedback process for staff to contribute and enhance automation scripts
Contracted to a vSphere implementation project for a Dimension Data customer.
- Improved service delivery to internal stakeholders
- VMware vSphere deployment automation.
- Datacentre hardware bootstrapping
Production pilot of VDI environment
- Deploy a VMware Horizon View platform to support upto 500 concurrent users.
- Create application virtualisation/streaming environment using VMware ThinApp.
- VMware View detailed design including Visio diagrams for component architectures and networking integration
- Authour End User Computing Strategy document
- Deploy VDI production pilot environment with agentless AV
- Deploy VMware Horizon Suite infrastructure proof-of-concept.
Solution Architecture consulting
- Developed and implemented complex Internet and Intranet applications on multiple platforms.
- Developed network and system architecture according to business needs.
- Defined enterprise processes and best practices and tailored enterprise processes for applications.
- Organised system infrastructure documentation and operating procedures; strengthening controls and enhancing overall performance.
- Visited customer locations to evaluate requirements; demonstrate offerings and propose strategic solutions for diverse needs.
- Identified prospect needs and developed appropriate responses along with information on suitable products and services.
Corpnet was a Managed Service Provider (MSP). Acquired by Thomas Dureya.
- Architecture documentation for Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) public cloud platform.
- Detailed design for a cloud platform based on a VMware vCloud Director.
- Implement vCloud solution including infrastructure management - instrumentation for Service Level Agreement (SLA) metrics, monitoring, backups, workflow automation.
- Deliver application disaster recovery between datacentres with VMware Site Recovery Manager.
CITEC provides technology infrastructure, business solutions and support to state government departments.
- Planned; designed and delivered diverse IT solutions.
- Managed installation; upgrade and deployment projects.
- Wrote detailed architectural design plans; security requirements and specifications.
- Recommended architectural improvements; design solutions and integration solutions.
- Built and maintained network infrastructure consisting of Windows; Linux and virtual products.
- Worked closely with customers; internal staff and other stakeholders to determine planning; implementation and integration of system-oriented projects.
- Designed and implemented new server standards for core business services.
- Developed and implemented complex Internet and Intranet applications on multiple platforms.
- Proposed technical feasibility solutions for new infrastructure designs and suggested options for performance improvement of technical components.
- Decision influencer on whole-of-Government ICT tenders.
Queensland Government’s Service Delivery and Performance Commission recommended developing an optimal strategy for consolidating and managing infrastructure, networks and data centres.
- Conduct research and environmental scans to inform the development of the ICT infrastructure future state architecture in a consolidated environment.
- Define the high level ICT infrastructure future state architecture in a consolidated environment.
- Establish and implement consultation processes with internal and external stakeholders to identify the ICT infrastructure current state architecture in a consolidated environment.
- Develop strategies to transition agencies to the ICT infrastructure future state architecture in the first consolidation phase.
- Identify costs and benefits associated with transitioning agencies to the ICT infrastructure future state architecture in a phased consolidation.
- Influence agency ICT infrastructure convergence to support consolidation efforts
- Analysed and reported on government wide survey data regarding ICT infrastructure
- Developed future state technical architecture for whole-of-government ICT infrastructure
WebCentral was Australia’s largest web and application hosting provider, now part of the ARQ group.
This role was called Product Technology Specialist internally.
- Deep and wide knowledge of the technologies used by the business
- Champion innovation within the company and with partners.
- Vendor account management
- Conducted research to evaluate technologies for potential improvement of systems design and process efficiency.
- Worked with customers or prospective customers to develop integrated solutions and lead detailed architectural dialogues to facilitate the delivery of comprehensive solutions.
- Guided and influenced existing partners on recommended upgrades and enhancements to integrated solutions.
- Promote and drive all aspects of virtualisation technology (network; server and storage)
- Supervised deployments and provided troubleshooting and user support.
- Offered pricing and feature recommendations to management and cross-functional teams.
- Offered data-driven recommendations aligned with customer satisfaction and prioritised process improvement initiatives.
- Collaborated with team to define business requirements for organizational processes; achieve productivity standards and adhere to accuracy standards.
- Improved server procurement processes and automated provisioning systems
WebCentral was Australia’s largest web and application hosting provider, now part of the ARQ group.
- Architected and built network infrastructure improvements.
- Established deployment best practices and proper security protocols in network management.
- Optimised existing network systems and procedures resulting in 60% reduction in provisioning time.
- Wrote networking policies and technical standards for operations.
- Championed writing technical documentation
- Achieved 25% reduction in network hardware budget after analysing vendor purchasing and support contracts.
- Spearheaded troubleshooting complex technical issues to ensure rapid problem resolution.
WebCentral was Australia’s largest web and application hosting provider, now part of the ARQ group.
- Provided complete end-to-end engineering and installation of route-based IP network solutions.
- Acquired and maintained advanced knowledge of networking protocols including VLANs and BGP traffic engineering.
- Demonstrated success in design and implementation of firewalls; IDS/IPS; SEIM; access control and load-balancing.
- Designed and implemented network monitoring systems.
- Conducted security assessments and made recommendations for disaster recovery; remote access; network appliances; servers and directory services.
- Diagnosed complex network problems involving a combination of hardware; software; and communications issues.
- Survived IOS Roulette.
Global Info-Links was an Internet Service Provider focussed on the Ipswich community.
- Manage system administration and software development teams.
- Identify and prioritise risks in operations and develop contingency measures.
- Vendor liaison.
- Procurement.
- Hands-on system administration.
Global Info-links project
- Management of ISP infrastructure
- Deployment of digital modems providing 56K dialup
- Maintain corporate infrastructure
Projects (3)
AWS Infrastructure DevOps - Automated application deployment
Nov 2018 - Nov 2019
- Elastic Loadbalancing
- elb
- Route53
- SES
- SNS
- Lambda
- DynamoDb
- SSM Parameter Store
- CodeCommit
- Jenkins
- EC2
- AWS
- AutoScaling Group
- nginx
- systemd
- PHP
- ElastiCache
- redis
- EFS
- RDS
- EC2 System Manager
- Ubuntu
- AMI
- git
- jq
- lastversion
- Amazon Web Services
Deploying a stateful application to a load-balanced AWS EC2 cluster in an AutoScaling Group.
Provide supporting documentation on software and deployment process.
* orchestrating AWS services via API and CLI
* robust scripting methodologies with error control
- function specifications documented inline with code
- Linux system automation
- bash
- python
- awscli
VDI Pilot and Application Delivery
Sep 2013 - Dec 2013
- VMware
- Horizon View
- VDI
- ThinApp
Deploy a VMware Horizon View platform
* support up to 500 concurrent users
* utilise application virtualisation/streaming (VMware ThinApp).
* pilot agentless AV solution for VDI desktop virtual machines
Deliverables:
* write a detailed design document
* create Visio diagrams
* component architectures
* networking integration
* deploy the solution as described in the architecture
- application virtualisation
- agentless AV
- storage friendly linked clones
- thin clients
vCloud Deployments
Jan 2010 - Jun 2013
Sample diagrams from my vCloud architecture kit
Volunteer
Jul 2010 - Dec 2012
Non-Executive Director
VMware User Group (VMUG)
The global, independent VMUG organization launched in 2010.
The Board of Directors was primarily comprised of volunteers from VMUG communities around the world.
- Inaugural member of the Board of Directors.
Sep 2006 - Dec 2013
Brisbane Community Leader
VMware User Group (VMUG)
Brisbane VMUG community.
- We started meetings in September 2006.
- Brisbane was the first VMUG chapter in the Asia Pacific region.
Education (1)
1992 - 1993
Bachelors of Information Technology
Information Systems
Queensland University of Technology
Awards
2012
VMware vExpert 2012
VMware
The annual VMware vExpert title is given to individuals who have significantly contributed to the community of VMware users over the past year. The title is awarded to individuals (not employers) for their commitment to sharing their knowledge and passion for VMware technology above and beyond their job requirements.
The Evangelist Path includes book authors, bloggers, tool builders, public speakers, and other IT professionals who share their knowledge and passion with others with the leverage of a personal public platform to reach many people.
2011
VMware vExpert 2011
VMware
The annual VMware vExpert title
2010
VMware vExpert 2010
VMware
The annual VMware vExpert title
2009
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware
The annual VMware vExpert title
Publications
Credential ID: 28757.
Credential ID: 28757.
VMware Certified Professional 3 (VCP3) in VMware
Credential ID: 28757.
Credential ID: 110-641-552.
Credential ID: 110-641-552.
MCSE 4.0 in Microsoft
Credential ID: 438073.
Credential ID: TBA.
Credential ID: TBA.
Languages
English
Native Speaker
Interests
Open Source
- awscli
- vscode
- Mautic
Technology
- Smart Home automation
- gadgets
- cloud-scale technology
Reading
- science fiction
- political thrillers
- design theory
References
“Virgil is a very talented and smart Engineer who loves a challenge. Virgil is never afraid of looking at something from a new perspective or challenging existing methods or design decisions”Glenn Gore (Lead Architect, AWS Solutions Architecture)
“Virgil has demonstrated continued excellence in his innovative and practical implementation of technology. His capability in infrastructure and supporting systems is well ahead of the pack and he continually delivers results based on this asset. I have enjoyed working with Virgil and find him extremely personable and willing to participate and improve himself. He would be a credit to any organisation with the insight to recognise his unique value.”Brian Kealey (Passionate Tech Executive, General Manager and Board Director. Transformational leader. Cloud, Digital and Innovation first.)
“A very smart and driven employee. Highly recommended. Always keeps up with latest technologies, deployment methods, etc. Always worked to achieve highest reliability.”Brent Paddon (Director, Over The Wire Holdings Limited)
“Virgil is an excellent ICT Technical Architect and is able to cover a broad spectrum of ICT Infrastructure topic areas, particularly in x86 Virtualisation, SAN Storage and Networking. Virgil has keen insights in what does and does not work with in an ICT solution and has excellent communication skills in dealing with all levels of management.”Gary Whitelaw (Executive Director, Digital Technologies (Chief Information Officer))
“Virgil's encyclopaedic knowledge of network equipment is an incredibly useful resource. He always seems to have time to help and it was a genuine pleasure working with him.”Bernard Gardner (Systems Architect with a focus on Internet solutions)
“Virgil continues to impress me with his zeal in getting the job done, and the speed at which he gained a detailed understanding of our complex environment from both an operational and technical perspective. A little unnerving at times with his ability to remember obscure VMware CLI, and passion for appropriate apostrophus.”Steve Ryles (Global Solutions Architect at NetApp)
“Virgil has a wealth of knowledge and expertise that he willingly shares. He has great ability to see both the detail and the big picture which is rare. This is valuable in every environment.”Rob Champion (A/Qld Government Chief Information Security Officer & A/Qld Government Chief Information Technology Officer)
“Virgil is a details person with both wide and deep knowledge base.”Mark Oberman (Specialist - Global Partner Development at Telstra)
“Virgil is a seasoned IT Professional who possesses breadth of knowledge and experience across many technologies enabling him to design complex solutions, and his willingness to share this fosters a knowledge sharing environment. The combination of these enable him to make objective, reliable and trustworthy decisions.”Ben Fletcher (Solution Area Lead - Queensland and NT Public Sector for Modern Workplace (Office 365, Security, Mobility and Windows))
“I have known Virgil for several years, and have found him to be a very knowledgeable in the field of Virtualisation with an excellent skill set. Virgil contributed to the design and organisation of the VMUG User summits in Australia. This involved venue negotiations, international speakers, sponsors, and was able to help draw a crowd of 300 peers. His skills and abilities are matched by his friendly and helpful personality. Virgil has a broad range of skills in many different areas of virtualisation. He is a very confident public speaker. He works well on his own or in a team environment and freely passes on his knowledge when the opportunity arises. He has a great ability to see both the detail and the big picture which is rare. Virgil is a pleasure to work with and I would highly recommend him.”Aaron Whittaker (Helping organizations digitally transform, innovate, turning insights into outcomes in order to achieve more.)
“Virgil has excellent skills in a wide range of disciplines, and is always willing to share his knoweledge.”Rob Flux (Property Developer, Educator & Mentor)