Cloud Architect / DevOps / Automation / Monitoring / Operations

4/2020 – 10/2020

Worked as part of the SIEM team at VW Financial Services to develop new tooling and systems to integrate with the core SIEM system ( based on QRADAR ) as part of quality control and software improvement processes.

The core tasks were to :

- Create a CLI based tool to allow seamless querying, versioning, synchronisation and adjustment of QRADAR configuration items ( specifically Custom Event Properties and associated dependant types and subtypes ) within QRADAR using its JSON based RESTAPI interface.

- Allow extra arguments to be passed in to the CLI to toggle functionality in the CLI application ( eg. extract all Custom Event Properties from QRADAR / update specific entries in qradar / etc )

- Allow the queried/extracted configuration items from QRADAR to be versioned using a versioning system ( eg. as part of an externalised workflow with GITLAB etc ).

- Allow the extracted configuration items from a QRADAR instance to be stored in an external custom file format that would support within the file contents various features such as : support for user comments / multiline values / quoted literals / regex expressions / escaped values etc. without having to be specially treated.

- Investigate various configuration formats such as JSON / HJSON / YAML / HCL ( Hashicorp Config Language ) / etc to see which would provide the best support for the previously requested featureset.

- Ensure that the developed CLI is developed in GoLang.

As part of the development and implementation of the CLI, the following supporting activities were also performed :

- Setup of a simple QRADAR instance.

- Basic testing of the CLI protype against a number of different QRADAR instances in differing environments.

- Integration of the GoLang code with GITLAB for version control within a dedicated repository.

- Setup and configuration of the workflows within GITLAB with runners to trigger and invoke the CLI against a QRADAR instance.

Continuous Delivery, DevOps (allg.), Cyber Security, Go (Programmiersprache), Software Version Control, Json, Representational State Transfer (REST)

9/2019 – 12/2019

Architektur Design und Implementierung eines Proof-of-Concept Kundenspezifische Lösung zur Visualisierung der Echtzeit-Transaktionsverarbeitung und der entsprechenden Geschäftsbeziehung zu SLAs mit externen Partnern.

Anpassen des vorhandenen Anwendungsstapels und Erweitern des vorhandenen SCALA code-base, um Transaktionsüberwachung, Metrikextraktion, Analyse und Visualisierung in einer sicheren privaten Cloud-Umgebung hinzuzufügen. Die Lösung wurde in einer DOCKER-SWARM-Umgebung mit einer endgültigen Zielumgebung von OPENSHIFT entwickelt und getestet.

Die Lösung wurde mit skalierbaren Open Source-Komponenten entwickelt und wurde dem Kunden vorgeführt..

stichworter : SCALA, JAVA, DOCKER, DOCKER SWARM, OPENSHIFT, RHEL, PROMETHEUS, INFLUX-DB, TIMESCALE, POSTGRES, GRAFANA, GIT, GITLAB, JENKINS, BIG DATA, BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE, SLA.




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Architecture Design and Implementation of a Proof-of-Concept custom monitoring solution to enable visualisation of realtime transaction processing and their correspondance to defined Business SLA's with external partners.

Adapting the existing application stack and extending the existing SCALA code to add transaction monitoring, metric extraction, analytics and visulaisation within a secure private cloud environment. Solution developed and tested in DOCKER-SWARM environment with a final target environment of OPENSHIFT.

The solution was developed with scalable open source components in mind all of which are docker compliant.

A working proof of concept was developed ( utilising SCALA / JAVA / DOCKER / DOCKER SWARM / OPENSHIFT / RHEL / PROMETHEUS / INFLUX-DB / TIMESCALE / POSTGRES / GRAFANA / GIT / GITLAB / JENKINS / BIG DATA / BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE ) and has been demonstrated to the client.

E-Commerce, Java Database Connectivity, Postgresql, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Server-Monitoring, Docker, J2EE, Java (allg.), Scala, Openshift

9/2015 – 7/2019

Planung, Entwicklung, Implementierung und Produktion eines integrierten funktionalen und nicht funktionalen Überwachungssystems für eine große Echtzeit-E-Commerce-Anwendung einer großen internationalen Hotelgruppe in einer Private-Cloud-Umgebung und Erweiterung auf eine hybride Private-Public-Cloud-Umgebung.

Verwaltung und Entwicklung von Cloud-Diensten zur Unterstützung des Rollouts in verschiedenen Cloud-Umgebungen ( GCE, VIO, RedHat Cloud ).

Erstellen Sie BigData-Analyse-Dashboards, um Architekturen für Warnungen und Berichte zu überwachen.

Dokumentation und Übergabe an relevante Betriebs- und Support- Teams.

stichworter : CLOUD, DEV-OPS, SCALA, JAVA, GOLANG, PYTHON, PUPPET, DOCKER, OPENSTACK, OPENSHIFT, RHEL, PROMETHEUS, INFLUX-DB, GRAFANA, GIT, BITBUCKET, JIRA, CONFLUENCE, JENKINS, ELK, SPLUNK, MAPR, KAFKA, MONITORING, BIG DATA, BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE.

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Planning, development, implementation and production of an integrated functional and non-functional monitoring system for a large real-time e-commerce application of a large international hotel group in a private cloud environment and extension to a hybrid private-public-cloud environment.

Management and development of cloud services to support rollout in various cloud environments (GCE, VIO, RedHat Cloud).

Build BigData analytics dashboards to monitor alerts and reporting architectures.

Documentation and handover to relevant Operations and Support teams.

keywords : CLOUD, DEV-OPS, SCALA, JAVA, GOLANG, PYTHON, PUPPET, DOCKER, OPENSTACK, OPENSHIFT, RHEL, PROMETHEUS, INFLUX-DB, GRAFANA, GIT, BITBUCKET, JIRA, CONFLUENCE, JENKINS, ELK, SPLUNK, MAPR, KAFKA, MONITORING, BIG DATA, BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE.

Apache Hadoop, DevOps (allg.), Apache Spark, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Confluence, Docker, Git, Go (Programmiersprache), Java (allg.), Jira, Python, Scala, Google Cloud, Infrastrukturarchitektur, VMware Horizon, Kubernetes, Openshift

1/2013 – 9/2014

Technical Team Lead for the SEPAHUB Project at Vodafone :

- Review and sign off of the proposed Architecture framework documentation from in-house Architecture teams as well as the System Integrator to ensure Architecture compliance to requirements from the Business Owner as well as all Operational Non Functional Requirement pre-requisites.

- Review and sign off of Hardware / Software components for the various system environments for the project, e.g. Test ( TST/FSIT/OAT/UAT/L&P ) and Prod ( STG/PSP/PRD ).

- Setup & deployment of the core software components in all environments ( Apache / WebLogic / Oracle DB / NAS / Axway clients etc )

- Creation of custom deployment scripts and automatic smoke test runs and validation at each layer for regular deployments of core java EARs and WARs delivered from the System Integrator.

- Creation of agreed Package Specification with System Integrator ( Documentation and software delivery check scripts ).

- Integration of the project within the central Software Repository Portal for automation of software packages from the System Integrator and back end SRP synchronisation with the GA-Online package repository.

- Specification / Implementation / Execution and tracking of the OAT tests in conjunction with the System Integrator within HP Quality Center.

- Design and Implementation of the Operational Runbook for the delivered application and platform to final Prod Ops team.

- Setup of the initial data collection framework and associated Graphite dashboards for system monitoring view.

- Setup of Monitoring & Alarming Framework within HPOVO and integration into Remedy ticketing system.

- Setup of the Service Availability monitoring for the application and platform in accordance with the agreed SLA framework.

- Provision of on-going 3rd Level Support to the Production Ops team in case of Production issues with the application and the platform.

SEPA, Oracle Database, Firewalls, Solaris, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Projektleitung / Teamleitung (IT), Active Directory, Apache HTTP Server, BEA WebLogic Server, Load Balancing, Server-Monitoring, Enterprise Architect (EA), Subversion, Bash Shell, Docker, Git, Java (allg.), Python, Puppet, FTAM (File Transfer Access and Management), SSH (Secure Shell), Vmware

2/2012 – 12/2012

Deployment Architect, eCommerce Platform :

- Analysis of the current deployment process within the project and to define a vision and roadmap for a Continuous Integration / Continuous Delivery approach based on a fully automated environment setup, installation and active application and system monitoring across multiple diverse environments (System Integration ; Pre-Production and Production environments etc)

- Defining a vision and roadmap for virtualisation of the current Online Shop project within the pre-production environments in order to cater for more teams to create newer features independently of each other resulting in more extensive and earlier testing and faster time to market.

- Assisting where required to troubleshoot performance and stability related application and system issues during the Acceptance Testing phases in order to meet the timetables for Product Launch for the R26, R27d1 and R27d2 releases of the project.

- Working closely with and supporting the current Deployment Team, situated in Germany and in multiple locations in India, with issues relating to application support for ATG Commerce, Oracle RDBMS, Weblogic, Solaris, Apache, etc where necessary.

- Architectural Design support for the proposed SEPA pan-european bank integration in 2014 of the Vodafone Germany Online Shop project ( to be incorporated into a future release of the project ).

SEPA, Continuous Delivery, Continuous Integration, Solaris, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Agile Methodologie, Scrum, Apache HTTP Server, Enterprise Architect (EA), Bash Shell, J2EE, SSH (Secure Shell), Oracle Atg

10/2010 – 4/2011

Application Specialist within the Core Enablers team providing configuration, deployment, integration and debugging support for the production and pre-production E.R. systems (Vodafone Global billing and mediation systems) for all supported Vodafone Op-Co's across Europe.

Digitale Kunst, Oracle Database, Solaris, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Apache HTTP Server, Oracle WebLogic Server, Subversion, Bash Shell, Java (allg.), IT-Support (allg.), Billing / Rating (Telekommunikation), SSH (Secure Shell)

10/2007 – 9/2010

This role involved leading a team of specialists and solution architects initially for the Vodafone Live! and MyWeb ( web and wap ) portals across all Vodafone Operating Companies across Europe to cover :

Analysis and implemention of performance and stability enhancements for all components within the application stacks of the portal architectures.

Deployment, Configuration, Maintenance & Troubleshooting of the production and pre-production platforms and providing 24x7 support for the application stack.

Managing the client interface with the relevant opco’s for each country portal.

Digitale Kunst, Mysql, Oracle Database, ITIL, Solaris, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Agile Methodologie, Projektleitung / Teamleitung (IT), Scrum, Apache HTTP Server, ApplicationServer, Oracle WebLogic Server, Server-Monitoring, Enterprise Architect (EA), Enterprise Service Bus, Subversion, Bash Shell, XML, Java Message Service, SSH (Secure Shell), TCP / IP

7/2005 – 3/2006

On-Site Deployment Specialist.

Architecting, deploying, configuring, integrating, profiling and debugging client solutions with the ATG Dynamo Application Server as well as other elements of the ATG Product Suite such as : ATG Search (Primus Knowledge Solutions), ATG Portal, ATG Publishing, ATG Commerce, etc across EMEA for clients such as the DGI (French Tax Office), MAIF, Groupama, AGF, Orange, France Telecom, Masterfoods / Mars, Premier Farnell, DNB Bank, Louis Vuitton, etc

Oracle Database, Solaris, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Enterprise Architect (EA), Java (allg.), SSH (Secure Shell), Oracle Atg

1/2005 – 6/2005

Analysis of the Vodafone Intranet System ( VISTA ) based in Ratingen, Germany, in order to improve system stability, performance and scalability via a series of workshops, code & architectural reviews with the Core Intranet Software Development Team for Vodafone Group Services based in Malaga.

Content Management, Oracle Database, Firewalls, Solaris, Active Directory, Apache HTTP Server, Oracle WebLogic Server, Storyserver (Vignette), Bash Shell, Sonic MQ, SSH (Secure Shell), TCP / IP

1/2003 – 7/2003

Integration and Implementation of various key technologies ( Vignette StoryServer CMS, Epicentric Portal Server, BEA Weblogic, Volantis, SUN LDAP, ORACLE DB, and Sun Solaris ) to successfully implement all parts of the first version of the Vodafone Intranet System Portal ( VISTA ).

Oracle Database, Firewalls, Solaris, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Active Directory, Apache HTTP Server, Storyserver (Vignette), Enterprise Architect (EA), Bash Shell, Intranet, SSH (Secure Shell), Internet / Intranet- Integration (eBusiness)

9/1998 – 4/2002

On Site Performance Specialist delivering performance workshops to troubleshoot and resolve business critical system and software related problems; Analysing and presenting reports to client management, proposing solutions and workarounds and implementing system related tuning recommendations; Investigating and resolving performance and scalability related issues for high profile customers; The role also involved key product technical knowledge and close liaison with the engineering teams. Clients that I have performed work for across EMEA and the Americas have included :

Switzerland : Credit-Suisse, SBB (Swiss Railways), Blue-Win (part of SwissCom), Zuricher Kantonal Bank ; UK : Barclays Bank, Egg Bank, NTL, BT OpenWorld, Diageo(Guinness / Johnny Walker), News International (The Times Newspaper & The Sun Newspaper) ; Germany : Daimler-Chrysler, Bild Newspapers (Axel Springer), Siemens, Allianz, Egemis ; Finland : Nokia, Sonera ; France : Hewlett Packard, Cityvox, Athos-Origin, Business and Decision ; Greece : Hewlett Packard / ANT1 (tv) ; Italy : Telecom Italia Networks, BCI / Bank Intesa, Telecom Italia Mobile, FastWeb, Iper-Coop, Matrix / Virgilio, Vivacity, Kataweb, L’Espresso ; Spain : Airtel (Vodafone), Banco Santander Central Hispano, Telefonica (Spain, Brazil, Chile, Peru Argentina, Mexico) ; Austria : Jet2Web / AON (Austrian Telecom) ; Turkey : Hurriyet Newspaper ; Portugal : Telecel, Sonae ; Israel : DealTime.

E-Commerce, Oracle Database, Sybase, Firewalls, IBM Aix, Solaris, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), Storyserver (Vignette), Bash Shell, Tool Command Language, Billing / Rating (Telekommunikation), SSH (Secure Shell), TCP / IP, Telekommunikation / Netzwerke (allg.)