James Donnell in front of John Lennon Wall in Prague, Czech Republic.

About Me

Hello, my name is James Donnell! I am a -year old Computer Scientist from New Jersey in the United States. I am a graduate from Rowan University where I studied Computer Science with a specialization in Cyber Security. I dabble in almost everything I come across in regards to technology be it Software Development, various hardware/IT fields or anything I can get my hands on. Apart from technology I enjoy the outdoors, traveling and exploring new places.

Next
Picture by James Donnell of canal in Venice, Italy.

Adventures

I always find myself wishing for more adventure. Whether it be a simple walk in the park or hiking a mountain or traveling to a new country. In the past, I have had the privilege to travel to many places and countries to see some truly amazing things. From Philadelphia to Honolulu from Rome to Venice to Prague, I have never encountered a situation that would prevent me from doing it again. I am grateful to have a wife (named Ana) who shares the same desire to travel. To check out our adventures together please, check out A & J Adventures at AJdventures.com by clicking the button below.

Next
Logo of Rowan University, New Jersey, USA.

Education

Rowan University

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, 2017
Specialization in Cyber Security
Summa Cum Laude

Next
Picture by Anonymous of Philadelphia, PA.

Work

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions
Greater Philadelphia Area

Network Engineer 3
October, 2022 - Present
  • More information to come!

Singing River Health System
Jackson County, Mississippi

Technical Supervisor
March, 2021 - October, 2022
  • Continued all tasks related to previous Network Administrator role
  • Functioned as team lead for Technical, Cyber Security, Epic Client Systems and Epic Server Systems teams, totaling 11 team members
  • Designed and implemented the following projects, and continues to maintain:
    • Wireless upgrade from Aruba 6000 active/passive controllers with Aruba AP 105s to Aruba 7210 active/active controllers with Aruba AP 515s across two hospitals and all clinics managed by central Mobility Conductor
    • Firewall upgrade from Cisco ASA 5525 to Cisco Firepower 2120 at two hospitals managed by central Firepower Management Center

Singing River Health System
Jackson County, Mississippi

Network Administrator
December, 2018 - March, 2021
  • Designed, configured and maintained 24/7/365 end-to-end system infrastructure
  • Worked in joint role as a member of the Technical team and as a member of the Cyber Security team
  • Installed and maintained the network equipment in the data centers, data closets and campus buildings across three hospitals using Cisco Nexus 7k, Nexus 5k and Catalyst 3850 equipment
  • Installed and maintained the network equipment across 25 clinics frequently using AT&T ASE / Ethernet-on-Demand circuits
  • Configured and maintained two Cisco ASA 5525 firewalls, including all ACLs between four zones and all site-to-site VPNs
  • Designed and implemented the following projects, and continues to maintain:
    • VMware upgrade on two vCenter environments from 5.5 to 6.5U3, comprised of 30 ESXi hosts and over 800 VMs
    • Compute upgrade from Dell M1000e chassis to Dell MX7000 chassis at two hospitals. Included blade/server upgrades, ESXi install and VM vMotions
    • SAN storage upgrade from DellEMC Unity 400F to Pure FlashArray //X50 at two hospitals
    • NAS storage upgrade from DellEMC Isilon to Pure FlashBlade at two hospitals
    • Replaced three Active Directory 2008R2 servers with four 2016 servers and raised the forest functional level to 2012R2
    • Introduced BGP dynamic routing to the network cores where previously it was only static routing
    • Heavily involved with integrating network and server infrastructure during purchase of third hospital. Required constant coordination with Singing River and previous owner, HCA, teams to ensure seamless cutovers. Involved VRF network configuration for Singing River routing, Firepower 1010 firewall setup between Singing River and HCA networks, new Dell MX7000 chassis and server blades setup and new Pure FlashArray //X20 SAN storage setup
  • Maintained three Dell XtremIO SAN storage appliances primarily used for Epic EHR
  • Maintained Active Directory domain infrastructure including users, groups, GPOs, DNS, DHCP and related file share servers

Philadelphia Police Department
(Office of Innovation and Technology)
City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Systems Engineer
September, 2018 - November, 2018
Associate Systems Engineer
January, 2017 - September, 2018
  • Designed, configured and maintained 24/7/365 end-to-end system infrastructure providing police and civilian personnel access to over 250 servers
  • Continued day-to-day network tasks from previous role ensuring network quality, equipment health and FBI CJIS compliance across 50 remote sites
  • Maintained server storage across Fiber Channel networks to DellEMC Unity SAN and IP networks to DellEMC Isilon NAS
  • Configured and maintained VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V environments utilizing network and storage infrastructure for Virtual Machine management
  • Managed Active Directory, Group Policy and Windows File Servers for over 8000 users and 3000 workstations
  • Provided Pulse Secure VPN server support for Panasonic Toughbook devices, including Windows OS and application support, for over 1200 police vehicle MDT units
  • Introduced Juniper SRX High-Availability firewall cluster and implemented policies to better monitor and protect PPD resources by segmenting from the City of Philadelphia network as a whole
  • Integrated Zabbix for enterprise monitoring and Graylog for enterprise logging, where previously there was none

Office of Innovation and Technology
City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Network Engineer (Intern)
March, 2016 - December, 2016
  • Designed, configured and maintained numerous interconnected networks across the City of Philadelphia
  • Installed and configured Juniper MX, SRX, QFX and EX series network equipment in redundant environments
  • Installed Juniper switches and routers in various environments and sites, often working with Comcast ENS and Verizon EVPL circuits for network connectivity and sometimes with City-owned fiber for critical infrastructure
  • Configured routers utilizing OSPF and BGP dynamic routing protocols
  • Managed network upgrade projects for network infrastructure utilizing Nortel network equipment
  • Responded and resolved day-to-day problems that arose apart from long-term projects

Philadelphia Fire Department
City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Management Information Services Tech (Intern)
March, 2015 - March, 2016
  • Managed all incoming technology requests within a four-person team
  • Managed and repaired servers, computers, printers, scanners
  • Managed Active Directory and Windows File Servers for all PFD personnel
  • Maintained internal and external websites stored on Microsoft SharePoint servers
Next

Certifications

  • Cisco Certified
    • Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
  • CompTIA Secure Infrastructure Specialist
    • A+
    • Network+
    • Security+
  • Microsoft Certified Professional
    • Microsoft Technology Associate
      • Software Development Fundamentals
      • Windows Server Administration Fundamentals
      • Database Administration Fundamentals
      • Windows Operating System Fundamentals
  • Adobe Certified Associate
    • Web Communication using Adobe Dreamweaver CS3
  • Internet and Core Computing Certification (IC3)
Next