Brian Engel
About Brian Engel
Brian Engel is a Solutions Engineer IV at The Kansas City Southern Railway Company, where he has worked since 2016. He has extensive experience managing a large number of servers and ensuring system health in virtualized environments.
Work at Kansas City Southern
Brian Engel has been employed at The Kansas City Southern Railway Company as a Solutions Engineer IV since 2016. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing the operational health of a significant number of servers within a highly virtualized environment. His work involves ensuring the stability and performance of the IT infrastructure that supports the company's operations.
Previous Employment Experience
Prior to his current position, Engel worked at several organizations in various technical roles. He served as a Systems Administrator at JMA Information Technology from 2013 to 2016, supporting the USDA/NITC/OCIO Windows System Branch. Before that, he was a Server Administrator at Equity Staffing Group from 2011 to 2013, providing support for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Engel also held positions at Glacier Technologies and Johnson Controls, where he gained valuable experience in systems administration and network technology.
Education and Expertise
Brian Engel studied Computer Information Systems at Kansas State University, where he earned an Associate of Science degree from 1996 to 1998. His educational background laid the foundation for his extensive career in IT, where he has developed expertise in managing and automating server environments. Engel is proficient in using various tools for systems management and automation, including IBM Director, SCOM, and BMC BladeLogic.
Technical Skills and Responsibilities
Engel is responsible for the operational health of over 1,500 Windows servers and nearly 200 Linux servers in a 99% virtualized environment. He has managed over 2,000 servers using tools such as Solarwinds, BigFix, and Tivoli Provisioning Manager. Additionally, he oversees over 500 RedHat systems and utilizes tools like Satellite and Ansible for management. Engel has also led initiatives to reduce system vulnerabilities using security tools like Shavlik and Rapid7's Nexpose.
Systems Automation Experience
Brian Engel has significant experience in systems automation, utilizing BMC tools such as BladeLogic and Orchestrator. He is also familiar with Automation Anywhere's RPA products. His expertise in automation contributes to efficient server management and operational effectiveness within the organizations he has worked for.