Brian Kei Tanaka

btanaka@well.com

Critical Skills

Ten years of professional UNIX System Administrator experience in dynamic, fast-paced environments of major technology corporations. Several years of team leadership experience. Experience with IRIX, Solaris, SunOS, Linux, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, and Windows NT Server. Strong shell scripting and Perl programming skills. Extensive familiarity with the design and development of PHP and Perl CGI web-based applications. Experience with technical user support and staff training. Experience with TCP/IP networking, Cisco router configuration, and network and server security issues. Excellent communication and project management skills. Predilection for devising and developing tools.

Operating Systems To varying degrees: IRIX, Solaris, SunOS, MacOS X, Linux, Free BSD, Windows NT Server, Windows9x, Cisco IOS, BeOS, HP-UX
Programming Languages Solid working knowledge of PHP, Perl, sh, and HTML.
Limited experience with Tcl/tk, awk, sed, SQL, C, Modula-2, Pascal.
Platforms SGI, Sun, Mac, PC, HP
Tools and Applications A necessarily partial list:
Standard UNIX toolkit, MySQL, Netscape Communications Server, Netscape Enterprise Server, Apache Web Server, RealServer, assorted TCP/IP clients.
To a lesser degree: SQUID, Legato Networker, rpm/inst/apt-get, Tripwire, COPS, Resonate, BigIP, Showcase, Remedy Action Request System, zmail, swpkg, IIS, Entrust WebCA, wu-ftp, the Gimp, PageMaker, Photoshop, et cetera.
Protocols and Services POP3, SSH, DNS, DHCP, TCP/IP, SSL, HTTP, HTTPS, NFS, NIS, RAID

Career History

  • Martingale-Oak, LLC
    RBN
    Seattle, Washington
    June 2002 - present
    Owner
    Martingale-Oak is an Internet technologies consulting firm in Seattle, Washington. We specialize in custom web applications, reliable web hosting, and creating content-focused, standards-based websites for individuals, non-profit organizations, and businesses. I write PHP, do MySQL database administration, marketing and business development, accounts receivable and payable, project management, technical support, copy editing, Unix system administration, and much more.

  • RealNetworks
    RBN
    Seattle, Washington
    April 2001 - June 2002
    Manager of Systems Automation

    Provided leadership and advocacy for a team that included junior network and systems administrators as well as developers responsible for devising and implementing new automation tools and systems. Developed team from inception to maturity. Interviewed candidates, performed annual performance reviews, lead weekly team meetings. Facilitated and initiated intra- and inter-group communication. Provided technical and career-development mentorship to team members.

  • RealNetworks
    RBN
    Seattle, Washington
    July 1998 - April 2001
    Systems Administrator

    Member of a small team of system administrators responsible for a large (200+ servers), distributed (continental US with small European presence), installation of primarily Linux and Solaris servers in a rapidly changing, high-availability, high-profile (clients included ESPN, ABC News, etc) environment. Majority of servers provided services directly to the public. All standard services required (e.g. DNS, SMTP, HTTP, FTP, et cetera) but marked emphasis placed on RealServer and in-house developed content distribution and client redirection systems. Wrote Perl scripts. Developed web-applications (PHP, Oracle). Attended to diskspace and other resource management issues as well as security measures. Ad hoc team leader/manager for junior network and systems administrators. Primary responsibilities of senior systems adminstrators can be summarized as follows: maintain high levels of availability, develop infrastructure for new services, and develop enhancements for the in-house content distribution and client redirection systems.

  • Nintendo of America Inc.
    Redmond, Washington
    April 1998 - July 1998
    Network Integrator

    Performed system administration tasks for a network of 30 SGI workstations and servers. Wrote Perl and shell scripts to automate tasks. Administered backups and restorals. Installed software and hardware. Provided technical support to a user population of engineers and graphic designers. Helped design a company-wide data encryption infrastructure. Wrote CGI programs. Wrote documentation. Recommended software and hardware purchases. Performed system and network troubleshooting.

  • Taos Mountain
    May 1995 - March 1998

    Taos Mountain is a System Administration consulting firm in the Silicon Valley. My three field assignments while in the employ of Taos Moutain were as follows:

    • April 1997 - March 1998
      System Administrator
      Intuit Inc.
      Mountain View, California

      Performed system administration tasks for three groups: Online Financial Exchange (online banking) server quality assurance, Information Services and Technology (IS&T), and Quicken.com. Set up and maintained seven Windows NT Server 4.0 SP3 servers with multiple virtual web servers on each. Set up and maintained approximately 25 Sun servers and workstations running both Solaris and SunOS. Provided guidance to other groups. Trained users. Participated in project planning. Gathered requirements from participating groups. Recommended hardware and software purchases. Performed DNS updates. Wrote documentation. Compiled and installed software. Set up and removed user accounts. Administered backups and restorals. Performed server and network trouble shooting. Configured SSL-enabled servers and adminstered in-house Certificate Authority. Wrote shell scripts and CGI programs to automate tasks.

    • January 1997 - March 1997
      System Administrator
      Micronics Computers, Inc.
      Fremont, California

      Sole system administrator for five UNIX servers and two Windows NT servers. Services provided by these servers included WWW, FTP, SMTP, and DHCP. Migrated FTP server and DHCP server from Linux and HP-UX respectively to Windows NT. Monitored system performance. Performed system backups and file restorals. Created site-specific technical documentation. Created and modified web pages and wrote cgi scripts. Planned web site maintenance streamlining. Trained other employees in technical matters. Monitored diskspace usage. Created and removed user accounts. Configured and performed troubleshooting on POP3 accounts. Installed software. Administered DHCP server. Configured VirtualHost Web servers. Wrote scripts to automate administration tasks.

    • May 1995 - December 1996
      System Administrator
      SGI (nee "Silicon Graphics, Inc.")
      Mountain View, California

      Designed and developed shell and web-based (CGI) tools for the IS Assistance Center staff using Perl, sh, and ARSPerl. Developed OnLineISAC, a web-based tool that allows SGI employees to initiate and review service request tickets stored in an Oracle database via Remedy Action Request System. Supplied system and application support for SGI employees via phone, email, and pager. Installed software. Performed system administration tasks on department systems and user systems.

  • The WELL
    Sausalito, California
    October 1994 - April 1995
    UNIX System Administrator

    Administered small site network of Sun SPARCstations running Solaris and SunOS, along with midsized site network of Macs and PCs. Provided technical support for 30 staff users and 10,000 paying users. Monitored system security (using COPS and Tripwire). Monitored system conditions (load averages, disk usage). Backed up and restored filesystems (using both Legato Networker and ufsdump/ufsrestore). Wrote technical documentation. Installed software. Wrote shell scripts to automate administrative tasks. Removed inactive user accounts. Provided system usage data for accounting. Cleaned tape drives. Ordered supplies.

  • The WELL
    Sausalito, California
    March 1993 - September 1994
    UNIX System Support

    Designed, developed and implemented new billing and accounting database in Revolutionary Software's /rdb (relational database), using shell scripts, Perl, sed, awk, and /rdb's family of commands and functions. Automated office procedures using shell scripts and Filemaker Pro databases. Assisted customers on phone and via email. Printed bills, submitted batched credit card transactions, provided technical support for accounting, and generated reports on demand from R:Base database. Processed new registrations.

  • Wildwood Computer Consulting
    San Francisco, California
    June 1992 - February 1993
    dBaseIII+ Developer, Owner

    Designed and developed tools and applications in dBaseIII+ Developer's Languarge. Conducted technical writing, technical support, computer training, and project management. Designed, developed, maintained and administered inventory control system for two retail companies and accounts receivable system for commercial printing shop. Advised clients on software purchases, installing software, and training.

Publications

  • "Acquiring and Installing Server Certificates" - April 1998, Sys Admin Magazine.
  • "Writing Maintainable Perl Programs and Shell Scripts" - December 1998, Sys Admin Magazine.
  • Technical Editor, "Practical Firewalls", Terry William Ogletree; Que Education & Training; ISBN: 0789724162; June 2000.
  • "Counting With Uniq" - January 2005, Linux Journal.
  • "Oddmuse" - March 2005, Linux Journal.
  • "Monitoring Virtual Memory with vmstat" - December 2005, Linux Journal.

Publications, Books

  • "Take Control of Permissions in Mac OS X"; Take Control; ISBN: 1-933671-00-9.

Education

  • B.A. in English Literature / Creative Writing, San Francisco State University
  • Solaris 2.X System Administration Essentials course, SunService
  • Assorted tutorials, LISA'96
  • Cisco: Introduction to Cisco Router Configuration
  • Cisco: Installation and Maintenance of Cisco Routers

Other Skills

  • Technical writing
  • Graphic layout and design

Professional Organizations

  • Member, Usenix
  • Member, System Administrator's Guild (SAGE)

References Available Upon Request