Welcome

Hi and thanks for visiting. You are looking at the personal on-line resume of Larry Karnis. I am a 25+ year VMware/UNIX/Linux technical consultant-for-hire based near Toronto Canada.

Below is a brief outline of the skills and experience I have developed. You can find out more by using the links to the left or by e-mailing me directly.

Technical Abilities

I have expert level skill in VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3 (ESX 3.5 and VirtualCenter 2.5) along with expertise in UNIX and Linux operating systems. I have earned many vendor certifications usually by just sitting the exam.

I enjoy the trust and loyalty of my many consulting clients by constantly delivering quality results, on time and under budget. I am also an expert C programmer. I have delivered two commercially successful programming projects (for sale) and have worked on many company internal projects. I have:

• Worked with VMware ESX since ESX 1.5 and VirtualCenter since VC 1.0. My VCP number is 993 (issued before VMware changed their VCP numbering scheme). I have over 5 years working with VMware virtual infrastrucutre. My work assignments include helping clients architect, design, implement, administer, and monitor VMware Virtual Infrastructure deployments.

  Typically, I would help size a VI deployment, perform capacity analysis and planning, help ensure performance and reliability targets are met, assist with the design and implementation of back up and disaster recovery procedures, etc. In a nutshell, I ensure customers extract every penny of value they can out of their Virtual Infrastructure investments.

• Been certified as an expert witness in general computer knowledge before three different courts of law.
• Practiced and refined my UNIX skills continuously since 1981!
• Worked on UNIX systems from all major manufacturers including SUN, HP, IBM, SCO, SGI and others.
• Used Linux in production environments since RedHat 4.0 (approximately 1997) and experimentally since 1992.
• Helped clients save money by helping them migrate off of expensive platforms (proprietary UNIX and Windows) onto Linux.
• Provided disaster recovery services to clients facing IT catastrophies, including publically traded companies.
• Performed security audits on many systems. In the past, I have helped to uncover logic bombs, security breaches, back doors and other mis-uses of computer systems.
• Helped my clients recover from and repair security issues and helped them harden their systems.
• Provided consulting services to Internet Service Providers to help them rationalize their systems (take-overs and server consolidations).
• Travelled extensively throughout North America to work with my various clients and professional development partners.

Content Delivery

I have over 15 years experience working as an occasional contract high-tech mentor/facilitator. I have worked as a contract resource for the University of Toronto, Learning Tree and Global Knowledge as well as a number of regional professional development companies throughout North America. I have:

• Successfully delivered dozens of course events for numerous clients
• Earned a long term average score over 3.75+ out of 4.0
• Successfully completed exhaustive instructor qualification and Train the Trainer sessions for both Global Knowledge and Learning Tree.
• Earned instructor qualifications to teach all Global Knowledge's and Learning Tree's UNIX and Linux related content.

Publications & Professional Development Products and Services

I have helped many publishing partners develop and improve their content. I:

• Built remote access VMware Lab kits so that organizations and individuals can access a ready-to-go VMware environment for testing, practice, etc.
• Developed a five day VMware planning and implementation course that is available for purchase through ITCourseware.
• Developed a four day hands on class on the Apache Web Server for Learning Tree.
• Authored Global Knowledge's five day class in Advanced Solaris 8 and 9 Administration.
• Tech. edited an RedHat Certified Engineer level Linux class.
• Provided feedback to various course authors to help improve the accuracy, relevance and examples in their content.
• Co-authored Syngress Publishing's RedHat Certified Engineer Study Guide (2nd Edition).
• Tech. edited Syngress Publishing's HackProof Linux book.