tracing route…
Chris Dering
Network & Infrastructure Engineer
13 years in IT. Infrastructure owned end to end.
Follow a packet from bare metal to the cloud — and the skills that move it at every layer.
scroll to follow the packet▾
01 / origin
Compute & Virtualization
- ▸Fluent in both Hyper-V and VMware — clusters, shared storage, and host configuration
- ▸Server hardware understood at the component level — CPU, memory, storage, and RAID tradeoffs
- ▸Multi-tenant session infrastructure (RDS/DaaS) and what keeps it responsive under load
- ▸Backup and DR treated as something you test, not assume — real restores, real recovery objectives
- ▸Capacity and resource contention accounted for before they become problems
02 / transport
Networking & Access Layer
- ▸Layer 2 and Layer 3 as one system — VLANs, routing, and switching
- ▸Access-layer segmentation scoped by role and risk
- ▸Wired and wireless handled as a single connected environment
- ▸Solid on the protocols underneath — DHCP, ARP, spanning tree, routing behavior
- ▸Physical-layer and cabling fundamentals respected as the foundation everything rides on
03 / inspection
Security
- ▸Identity enforced at the port — 802.1X, certificate-based auth, RADIUS, MFA
- ▸Firewall policy read as traffic flow and intent, not just vendor syntax
- ▸Experienced across major edge platforms — Cisco ASA, SonicWall, Meraki, FortiGate
- ▸Segmentation, least privilege, and defense in depth applied as standard practice
- ▸Secure remote access and VPN built for a distributed workforce
04 / destination
Cloud & Remote
- ▸Directory and identity federated across on-prem and cloud — SSO, sync, and access policy
- ▸Cloud and hybrid workloads weighed on their real tradeoffs
- ▸Remote desktop and virtual apps delivered at scale — RDP/RDS, gateways, brokers
- ▸On-prem, cloud, and hybrid measured on cost, control, and risk
- ▸At ease across the boundary where on-prem meets cloud
▸ Hypervisor tuning, host sizing, storage layout — the compute layer, top to bottom.
▸ Virtualized workloads provisioned and troubleshot with confidence.
▸ Compute, storage, and network aligned before anything ships.
▸ VLAN design, subnetting, inter-VLAN routing — transport handled end to end.
▸ Any topology read quickly and worked within — inherited or built from scratch.
▸ STP, VLAN trunking, and link aggregation — the fundamentals that keep a network quiet.
▸ Faults traced by protocol behavior, not trial and error.
▸ Firewall policy, NAT, and VPN across multiple vendor platforms.
▸ Access enforced at the edge — certificates, MFA, RADIUS.
▸ Firewalls migrated between platforms with intent preserved.
▸ Least privilege as the starting point, not the cleanup.
▸ Cloud tenancy managed — resources, access, and cost under control.
▸ On-prem trust relationships extended cleanly into the cloud.
▸ Encrypted tunnels, brokered sessions, a workforce anywhere.
▸ On-prem and cloud as one continuous environment, not two silos.
route complete
Chris Dering
From hardware to cloud, and every layer in between — comfortable across the whole stack.
keep scrolling for the tooling matrix ▾