HP-UX Experience

I've been administering HP-UX servers since HP-UX 8.0 (around 1995). In that time, I've helped many clients with HP-UX issues and problems. Along the way, I tested out on Hewlett Packards HP Certified IT Professional designation in HP-UX System Administration.

I like HP-UX because it is a solid performer. Not the fastest system for the money but HP makes up for it with rock solid reliability and excellent support.

HP-UX Work Experience

I've done many things with HP-UX. I've had some stunning successes saving my clients money and enabling services that really added value. Here's a list of some of my larger accomplishments:

• System Performance HP-UX uses read-ahead, write-on-demand disk buffering. Highly reliable but tends to be a performance choke point. I have tuned many HP-UX kernels to implement UNIX standard read-ahead, write-behind buffering. In one case, this enabled a client to avoid spending $200k on a new server!
• Installation Like many commercial UNIXs, HP-UX uses minimal disk space when installed with default settings. This creates problems with patches, upgrades, etc. that may result in system failures. I've been able to reconfigure many systems to get around these problems without doing a complete re-install.
• Back Up fbackup is a decent back up tool, if used properly. I've written back up scripts that perform verified nightly back ups. This includes alerts when things go wrong.
• Upgrade Avoidance Ask an HP sales rep what you can do about performance and they'll tell you to spend $$$ on a new system or hardware upgrade. In many cases, you can avoid this by simply balancing the system load across all available disks. I've done this many times. In some cases my clients were able to put off expensive upgrades for a year or more.
• Capacity Analysis Need to know if your machine can take an increased load? I should be able to give you an answer without a 30 day study! In many cases, solving capacity or performance issues is done by analyzing system performance statistics and identifying the choke point(s). In many cases, simple remediations such as reorganizing file systems, kernel tuning or developing more efficient procedures can solve your problems.
• Shell Script Programming It is usually the case that poorly written software it the chief contributor to system problems (speed, reliability, availability, etc.). I've fixed many such problems often rewriting software to finish in minutes instead of hours or days.
• Upgrade Assistance Need to upgrade? I can help you spend your money intelligently by determining which hardware upgrades will provide the most bang for the buck. Often a few hours or a day's worth of inspection can save tens of thousands of dollars in needless hardware upgrades.
• Disaster Planning I can provide help with disaster planning. I will help you document your system and prepare a disaster recovery plan that is thorough and effective. Don't wait unitl your system crashes to get this done.
• Disaster Recovery System down? I can help get it going again. I've helped recover dozens of HP-UX systems that have suffered hardware, administrative or security failures.
• Security Audits How secure is your production server. Do you take advantage of all the latest security features in HP-UX 11? Did you know that it includes a firewall and other anti-hacker tools? I can help assess and harden your system.
• Open Source There is a lot of excellent Open Source security tools available for HP-UX. I've used SAMBA to provide seamless integration between HP-UX and desktop systems. No more ftp'ing files to/from. Simply go to Network Neighborhood or My Network Places on Microsoft and move files to/from your HP systems with the click of a mouse. Best of all, the software is free and can be installed over the Internet (securely) within a few hours.

I have three HP-UX servers in my office so I can develop locally and ship you the finished result.

HP Certified IT Professional in HP-UX System Administration

I tested out on this certificate within the first month of it being available. All in all, I thought it to be a fair test that covered most aspects of HP-UX administration. It was especially challenging because you could not bring any materials into the exam (books, notes, etc.). Thank you to HP for the neat HP Certified jacket that followed a few weeks later in the mail.