METRIQ Inc. - Project Profile #1

Tech Briefs
	Computer lab showing UNIX and database servers

	Sybase SQL Monitor tool tracking database performance

	Sun SPARCserver 20MP running Solaris and Sybase

	Network multiplexers, controllers and messy patch panel

PROFILE #1: UNIX Systems Administration
for a National Canadian Retailer:

THE CLIENT:
The financial services division of a mid-sized Canadian retailer, operating 600 stores nationally. Corporate head office is located in Toronto, with a data centre in Brampton, and the financial arm located in the Niagara region. At this location, the company operates several national call centres and conducts credit card operations and financial services.

THE ENVIRONMENT:
A multi-server, networked environment consisting of Sun SPARCserver models 5, 10 and 20MP, running the Solaris UNIX operating system, versions 1.1.4, 2.3 and 2.4. Custom call centre application and Platinum general ledger running under Sybase SQL Server versions 4.9.2 and 10, and using the Sybase SQL Monitor tool.

A Metropolitan-Area Network linking three buildings, the Brampton data centre and Toronto head office. A mixture of token ring and ethernet LAN's supported by Proteon DNX 600 routers with fibre optic links between buildings.

THE ROLE:
Duncan McAllister was contracted as a UNIX Systems Administrator; a member of the team responsible for migrating a national call centre from Toronto to the Niagara region and to roll out several new UNIX applications.

We maintained several Sun SPARCservers supporting Sybase SQL Server in both development and production environments. Working closely with the company's Database Administrators, we were able to successfully migrate their existing Novell call centre application to a Sybase SQL Server platform.

Installed and configured Sybase SQL monitor, a graphical tool for running performance analysis on production databases. Also provided technical support for the Metropolitan-Area network, including the installation of a Proteon Oneview SNMP network management platform.