Afzal Shaikh

• Responsible to Monitor performance of information technology systems to determine cost and productivity levels, and to make recommendations for improving the IT infrastructure within Ajit Khimji Group companies.
• Analyze business requirements by partnering with key stakeholders across the organization to develop solutions for IT needs
• Excellent project management skills and strong ability to prioritize
• Creation of IT Policy & procedures for Ajit Khimji Group companies by implementing proper measures for user policy rights enforcement, etc.
• Cyber security policy for Kitara Capital in order to meet Dubai DIFC requirement
• Installing & maintaining various software & hardware devices in networked environment
• Configuring, upgrading, troubleshooting Dell Servers running Active directory & DNS services, Desktops, Cisco Wired & Wireless Networking Devices
• Handling overall administration of LAN, WAN systems involving design of network layouts, configuration & maintenance of devices
• Providing technical support to every department, conducting meetings with management & users to discuss the status of systems and addressing queries regarding the Information System
• Advising organization on IT solutions that will best help them grow and perform more e
• Responsible for looking after the purchase of software and hardware systems and plan proper budget and quotations for the systems
• In charge of IT team responsible to ensure everyone is doing the right thing at the right time
• Working closely with every department to ensure IT projects are completed on time and
within budget.
• Great IT skills combined with a good head for business
• Manage IT staff by recruiting, training and coaching employees, communicating job expectations and appraising their performance
• Possesses strong interpersonal, communication, people management & client servicing skills
• Responsible for Audit of systems and assess their outcomes
• Responsible to Handle IT budget and ensure cost effectiveness
• Ensure security of data, network access and backup of Servers & critical systems using EMC2 & Code42 Crash Plan Cloud services
• Working Closely with major ISP providers in Oman like Ooredoo & Omantel to deliver connectivity requirements for our group companies
• Configuration of Secondary Domain Controller on "Windows Server 2012" for Active directory redundancy & failover
• Deployed MantisBT Ticketing & documenting tool on Ubuntu OS, which is helpful for the organization to lodge IT complaints & also use this tool for documentation purpose.
• Configuring, troubleshooting of user accounts in Office365 using Okta SSO services.
• Was responsible for migration of 4 departments IT infrastructure from Head office to different locations
• Deployed Ubiquity Enterprise UAP-Pro Dual Band Wifi Access points at most of the offices within AKGC environment
• Successfully completed Access control system deployments for different group’s within the company like IP CCTV Surveillance system, Finger print reader, etc. of WatchNET product
• Configuring & troubleshooting of Vonage device which provides calling services based on Voice over IP (VoIP)
• Hands on experience & troubleshooting on Apple products, which include iMac, iPhone, Apple Airport Extreme Wi-Fi device, etc.
• Working with Tata Communications Ltd. (TCL) team for troubleshooting of IPSec Site-to-Site VPN between Mumbai-Oman and Mumbai-Dubai office of Kitara Capital (Halcyon). Monitoring DR site of the company in TCL Data Centre Mahalaxmi-Mumbai ensuring Virtualization services are working fine.
• Having Good Leadership skills.

• Site Reliability - Retaining optimum service availability over a global network of sites/servers through coordinated design, implementation, and maintenance. Deploying service improvements for product delivery enhancement based on evaluations of service/network analysis.
• Data Center Management - Servicing (ex. upgrades, maintenance, troubleshooting, etc.) and documenting all equipment across our US, Europe & Asia data centers. Performing site expansions at US, Europe & Asia locations through planning and building of new cabinets for product infrastructure, while also coordinating with multiple personnel/teams during the process.
• Network Support - Monitoring, management, and troubleshooting of CDN processes on servers, routers, and load balancers across a global Tier 1 infrastructure.
• Logistics - Assisting with the deployment/provisioning, tracking, and reception of hardware to sites, both internationally and domestically.
• Monitoring and troubleshooting network environment, including routing equipment, UNIX based operating systems (Linux, Free BSD) and proprietary software
• BGP implementations as an external Routing protocol for connecting to the Internet Cloud through upstream providers.
• Installation & Configuration of Servertech 32 Port Switched CDU.
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• Configuring the Cisco Switches with VLAN worked on both Managed & Unmanaged switches.
• Network setup, which include configuration and troubleshooting of Cisco Router’s and Cisco 3560 (L3 switches).
• Performed traffic security analysis through Linux utilities like TCPDUMP, IPTABLES etc.
• Responsible for maintaining the availability of the MPLS Network, its
various elements and services riding on the network.
• Handling various network incidents, mitigating and restoring the same.
Investigate, troubleshoot to identify, isolate, and resolve routine to very
complex network issues.
• Supporting various IP, VPN and other MPLS enabled services Customer
issues identified to be related to the network fault.
• Communications with technical staff (NOC) to ensure issues are resolved
in a timely and efficient manner.
• Working with NOC related tools and monitoring applications.
• Tracking and documenting daily work tasks and issues and communicating them with the rest of the team. Train & mentor T1 engineer
• Managing the Data Center Infrastructure.
• Good understanding of upcoming IPv6 based Networks.
• TACACS setup in all Brocade hardware for Central control.
• Good experience with Network documentation, monitoring tools like Nagios, Cacti, NfSen & Ntop.

• 24/7 monitoring and maintaining of servers & Firewall’s (Linux & Netasq) with 99.9% uptime, which provides services for electronic payment transactions.
• System Admin Support for high-end Dell Power Edge servers acting as NAC (Network Access Control).
• Configuring & Handling IPsec VPN related issues on NETASQ Firewall (F50, U70)
• Solving issues related to Lyra extranet by analyzing SQL & Jboss Logs.
• Providing remote assistance to clients for GPRS transaction issue’s at merchant location by checking logs on NAC & Linux Proxy Server.
• Managing & Monitoring Linux Hard disks by extending, reducing & resizing Logical Volumes (LV) online depending on business requirements.
• Troubleshooting & resolving ISDN & Leased Line related problems on Cisco & Techroute Routers.
• Experience in designing, documenting & writing deliverable plans & Visio diagramming.
• Pro-actively visualize, monitor and manage our network using SNMPc Tool, which is a secure distributed network management system, that monitor’s entire network infrastructure.
• Working independently, reporting to Technical Director Lyra Network global.
• Distinguishing between application, operating system and hardware problems.
• Administering the W2003/Linux server following policy and guidelines issued from Lyra France, in particular full responsibility for client and server uptime.
• Administering Microsoft Windows 2003 environment with secured Network Access Controllers or Packet Assembler Disassembler called LyraNAC software.
• Administering EFT/POS (Point of Sale) PSTN, CDMA & GPRS transactions in India & providing support to resolve any Network/systems/software related issue.
• Monitoring/ troubleshooting any LAN/WAN/MPLS connectivity problems.
• Coordination with Vendors for Purchasing/Installation/Commissioning of IT equipment, Internet Links.
• Using helpdesk software (Mantis) to log and track problems until solved.
• Providing a high level of customer service, keeping customers informed of problem progress.
• Carry-on feasibility study on-site for execution of projects & find resolution to resolve issues.
• Vendor co-ordination and follow-up.
• Also solving issues remotely of Servers through OpenVPN.
• Analyzing logs for payment transactions and resolving them.
• Managing and configuring Cisco 2811 router’s for multiple clients remotely.
• Managing and configuring ISDN and Leased Lines.
• Installed NAC (Network Access Control) software on Power-edge servers having Linux OS (Centos 6.2).
• Attended special Networking training in France (Toulouse) that included handling of multiple servers remotely using Token card, installation of NAC software on servers having windows and Linux OS, configuring and monitoring NETASQ firewall and Linux firewall.
• Actively involved in creating project plan for MPLS technology & new Data Recovery Centre to be launched in Bangalore.
• Visited various Datacenters in Bangalore to analyze their networking structure and make selection as per our requirements for payment gateway.
• Being a team player
• Living the LYRA values and being responsible

• Admin support to SUN Solaris desktops and servers
• Remote support for clients and servers using RBAC access
• Administration of Network related issues
• Trouble shooting User login issues
• User Account Creation, Home Directory allocation, Assigning Mail Store and Mail Server information
• Transfer of User Accounts and home directories across GEOs
• Remote Monitoring of processes and file systems of servers
• File Restoration from Backups using NW recovery tools
• Setting File ACLs and Resolving File Access problems on NFS
• Remote Printing Administration Support
• Set-up cron jobs for users depending on their requirement.
• Assigning Quota for users through RBAC access.
• Remote administration of user Edge-mail accounts
• Handling issues related to migration of mails account from SOMS to Edge Mail
• Trouble shooting issues related to OS migration from Solaris 9 to 10