Royal Holloway University

Systems Administrator – Department of Mathematics and Information Security Group

11/09/2006 – Current

Tristan is a member of a team of four, (two part-time, two full-time), who manage the IT infrastructure for the Mathematics Department of Royal Holloway University. This includes the Information Security Group, which for all intents and purposes is a separate department. The team consists of the Network Manager, the Systems Administrator (Tristan), and two Computer Technicians. Tristan reports to the Network Manager, and while is not directly responsible for the computer technicians, does help manage the work-load of one.

Job Description

Summary of Responsibilities

1. Work within the department IT support team providing day-to-day management and support of all the departments IT resources.
2. Research, evaluate and implement new services in consultation with the Network and Systems Manager.
3. Document procedures and technical documentation in line with department policy.

Tristan’s Primary responsibilities at Royal Holloway is to manage and maintain the  department IT infrastructure for over 150 Undergraduates, 200 MSc Students (including Distance Learning students), 50 PhD Student and 50 Staff (including Academic, Admin and Technical staff). In addition to this, Tristan frequently liaises with the central computer services of the university to deliver larger projects to the Mathematics department, or to the University as a whole (over 20,000 students and 5000 staff).

The department’s client-side infrastructure consists of over 130 desktop computers, 35 thin clients and 40 laptops, while the server-side infrastructure contains over 15 servers (both physical and virtual), 6 network appliances and 10 network switches. This infrastructure is split between five racks in three buildings, across two physical campuses. Communication between the different areas are handled through 10GB and 1GB Multimode Fibre links

Tristan’s responsibilities includes supporting the department in its day-to-day IT requirements, server and network maintenance, equipment deployment and recycling, documentation and the creation of new services. His role includes various decision making requirements, along with the creation of policies & procedures, procurement of new hardware, software and services, client computer deployment and planning, server life-cycle management and deployment, software deployment, fulfilment of  specialist IT requirements, project management, and virtual server provisioning, management and maintenance.

During his time at Royal Holloway, Tristan has supervised the deployment of new streamlined machine installs, assisted in the teaching of various practical units, handled staff training, taught part of the Symantec SGS (Symantec Gateway Security) Appliance Course to the MSc students over 4 days, and setup (including continued management) of the department’s new Security laboratory. I have also created streamlined Lab Environment installs for use during the externally taught courses by KPMG and Foundstone (Mcafee).

Tristan has attended a large portion of the MSc Information Security course (including the Computer Law modules) to help develop his security skills, and to better support the students and the infrastructure for the needs of the course. He has completed the Foundstone ‘Ultimate Web Hacking’ course, the KPMG ‘Hacker Bootcamp’ course, and the Symantec ‘Firewall Appliance’ course, all three of which he annually assist with the teaching of.

While at Royal Holloway, Tristan began a support contract for VOME , A year before its close, the group was integrated into the scope of the departments IT support policy.

In addition to his role as an IT Professional, Tristan have handled the department photography which has been published in multiple department works including, creation of the new ISG Website, the new ISG Blog and two printed publications. Tristan’s company ‘Alopex Productions‘ also holds a stock photo library of over 300 digital images for exclusive use by Royal Holloway and its associates.

Notable Achievements and Projects

• ETISS (European Trusted Infrastructure Summer School) 2010 technical setup, support and logistics
• Creation and ongoing management of the System Management & Imaging infrastructure
• Implementation of a Server Health / Monitoring solution
• Implementation of a CCTV Security monitoring solution
• Creation of high stream-lined OS’ installs which allowed an extra two years of use from existing hardware.
• Various work-flow streamlining innovations such as central server change tracking
• Creation and management of the graduate Penetration Testing Laboratory
• Regular implementation of specialist lab software to external companies specifications for specialist courses.
• Management of refurbishment for two rooms including Full Audio Visual Specification & Replacement (Projectors)
• Management of the VOME Group IT Infrastructure , including re-integration into the departments IT infrastructure
• Teaching of Induction labs, course material, and specialist labs (including Symantec Firewall course, KPMG Hacker Bootcamp, and Foundstone Security course).
• Identification and implementation of new technologies, platforms and systems; including desktops, laptops, servers, components, software etc.
• Constant monitoring and research into the latest security threats and technologies, including implementing preventative measures.
• Migration from Windows XP to Windows 7 Clients, including server compatibility, integration and migration testing.
• Testing, Creation and Deployment of WordPress Networks (MU) to augment the Departments web-presence by replacing the personal sites of all staff members, and allow for the creation of project and group sites in a scalable and manageable platform.
• Implementation and Integration of Apple laptops into a previously windows-centric environment
• Deployment of iPhone / iPad / iPod (iOS) in a corporate / education environment, including device configuration, management and integration
• Implementation and Testing of Distributed UPS Redundancy system with inter-server communication and UPS Sharing through Network UPS Tools (NUT) over Windows, Linux and Appliances
• Co-Creator and moderator of Unix discussion forums, designed to aid users of Unix, Linux and MacOS
• Experience with deploying large numbers of workstations to replace older hardware – Full Workstation life-cycle management experience.
• Design and implementation of the new building network infrastructure with considerations for future expansion and integration with other departments located in the same building.