Job Description
Job Title: Storage Specialist
Location: Dublin 8, Hybrid Minimum 2 days onsite and as required to participate in onsite meetings, workshops or to carry out tasks that cannot be done remotely
Contract / Permanent: FTC 12 Months, With further extension
Start date: 3rd June 2025
Role:
The Client´s Storage Service is primarily built on a number of SAN arrays made up of 3PAR, Primera and Alletra. All current SAN arrays total approx. 4.7 Petabytes. Overall, the estate comprises of VMware, with over 1000 VMs and 40+ hosts. There are approximately 100 standalone servers, as well as some legacy Hyper-V workloads, these are being reduced and will ultimately be phased out completely. The proposed resource' responsibilities will include ensuring the ongoing stability, health, and maintenance of the SAN Arrays environment, such as troubleshooting, monitoring, upgrades and patching. The proposed candidate must have experience in managing HPe storage devices, additionally have experience in working with Fiber Channel networks, and have some background in Server Administration.
Storage Layer:
SAN arrays (HPe) in DC1 –,1x3PAR7400,3x3PAR84x0,2xPrimeraA650, 3xAlletra 9060
SAN arrays (HPe) in DC2 –,2x3PAR84x0,1xPrimeraA650, 1xAlletra 9060
SAN Inter-site is currently connected with 2 pairs of dark fibre using SmartOptics M-1601 over two diverse routes. The clients infrastructure consists mainly of Windows servers (2012,2016, 2019 and 2022), with some Linux servers, Linux, KVM and OpenVMS 7.3.2, the proposed resource is expected to have a good working knowledge and experience in working with same.
The storage team currently consists of one full time permanent staff, the proposed resource will work with the team to ensure the smooth running of the service and will be required to take the lead on specified infrastructure projects. Responsibilities will also include the execution of runbooks and to deliver on service requests, assigning additional storage and compute, optimising SAN performance and resource utilisation as required.
The proposed resource will provide skills transfers, coaching and mentoring to CLIENT staff to enhance their technical skills and facilitate certification attainment. This includes knowledge sharing, hands-on training, and support for industry certifications.
The client is in the process of purchasing a new SAN array, upgrading the GEN6 to GEN7 switches and replacing the SAN Inter-site. The proposed resource will be also working on these projects and will work directly both with CLIENT and HP technical staff to deliver the project.
The client operates an ITIL based Service Management process. As part of the service improvement process, the resource will have direct involvement with an ongoing programme of security optimisation, and will be required to work closely with the SAN and Hosting teams to support this process.
Experience Level Required:
· It is a mandatory requirement that the Resource proposed for this role has not less than 7 years relevant experience. Any other experience levels less than this will not be accepted.
· It is a mandatory requirement, that the Resource proposed hold the following qualifications or equivalents:
- HP approved certification in Storage.
- MCSE Microsoft Professional Certification or equivalent MS approved certification in Server Administration
Note: Evidence (i.e. a copy of the relevant certification of these may be required prior to contract award.
Key Deliverable:
The following non-exhaustive list of Key Deliverables, are applicable to this Role.
1. Manages and supports HPe SAN solutions.
2. To work with client's technical and functional staff to analyse requirements and performance issues with the SAN arrays.
3. Perform firmware upgrades as required.
4. Provide technical support and troubleshooting for SAN related issues.
5. Manage dedicated SAN Fiber Channel network and inter site fibre links
6. Planning and supporting IT Projects
7. To ensure the ongoing stability and overall health of the SAN Arrays environment, including the physical hardware.
8. Evaluate and apply any necessary security patches, hotfixes, service packs and hardware updates.
9. Server administration on the following OS's
• Windows server 2012, 2016, 2019 and 2022
• Linux/Unix
10. Incident analysis and resolution
11. Developing custom reports as required.
12. Resource and Capacity Planning.
13. Documentation of critical tasks.
14. Operating within an ITIL environment
Requirements
Key Experience/Competencies/Skillsets:
The following Experience/Competencies/Skillsets are applicable to this Role.
1. Supporting, administering, and maintaining data centre infrastructure with hands-on production experience managing HPe storage devices, additionally have experience in working with Fiber Channel networks environments. This includes upgrading to newer versions and patch management. The candidate must demonstrate their experience in the following.
• Working with HPe storage devices
• Provisioning of LUNs and volumes
• Powershell and CLI
• SAN Fiber Channel network
• Provisioning virtual machines and automation of same
• inter site fibre links
• Capacity and Performance Management
• Troubleshooting
2. Windows Server Administration on current Windows OS versions (2012, 2016, 2019, 2022. This includes troubleshooting and root cause analysis.
3. Linux Server Administration on one or more enterprise Linux platforms (Redhat, Ubuntu etc.). This includes troubleshooting and root cause analysis.
Requirements
Key Experience/Competencies/Skillsets: The following Experience/Competencies/Skillsets are applicable to this Role. 1. Supporting, administering, and maintaining data centre infrastructure with hands-on production experience managing HPe storage devices, additionally have experience in working with Fiber Channel networks environments. This includes upgrading to newer versions and patch management. The candidate must demonstrate their experience in the following.
• Working with HPe storage devices
• Provisioning of LUNs and volumes
• Powershell and CLI
• SAN Fiber Channel network
• Provisioning virtual machines and automation of same
• inter site fibre links
• Capacity and Performance Management
• Troubleshooting 2. Windows Server Administration on current Windows OS versions (2012, 2016, 2019, 2022. This includes troubleshooting and root cause analysis. 3. Linux Server Administration on one or more enterprise Linux platforms (Redhat, Ubuntu etc.). This includes troubleshooting and root cause analysis.