Hi, I’m Jordan.

I grew up in South Texas and have spent my career on the practical side of technology: keeping servers, networks and the people who rely on them running. Over the years that has meant everything from racking hardware and untangling cabling to designing virtualization platforms, writing automation, and sitting on a bridge call at 2 a.m. working out why something stopped talking to something else.

What keeps me interested is the whole stack. A slow application might turn out to be a storage problem, a DNS problem, a certificate that expired quietly, or a firewall rule nobody remembers adding. I enjoy following the thread until I understand the real cause, then fixing it in a way that stays fixed.

What I focus on

Virtualization

I’ve built and run environments on both VMware and Proxmox VE, from single hosts to small clusters with shared storage. I care about the unglamorous parts: sensible resource allocation, consistent templates, clean naming, and a patching routine that doesn’t depend on someone remembering.

Networking

Routing, switching, VLAN segmentation, firewalls, VPNs and DNS. I like networks that are segmented by purpose, documented well enough that someone else could take them over, and default-deny where it matters.

Self-hosting

I run a fair amount of my own infrastructure at home: Git, media, monitoring, password management and more. Self-hosting keeps my skills sharp and teaches lessons you only learn when you’re the one who gets paged.

Automation

If I do something twice, I start thinking about scripting it. I lean on Bash, PowerShell, Python and Ansible for configuration, provisioning and the repetitive checks that humans are bad at doing consistently.

Security and access

I’m a fan of zero-trust patterns: identity-aware access instead of open ports, least privilege, short-lived credentials, and logging that someone actually reads.

How I work

• Document as I go. If it isn’t written down, it doesn’t exist at 2 a.m.
• Test the restore, not just the backup. A backup you’ve never restored is a hope, not a plan.
• Prefer boring technology. Well-understood tools beat clever ones when something breaks.
• Change one thing at a time. And know how to roll it back before you start.
• Leave it better. Every ticket is a chance to fix a small thing nobody asked about.

Toolbox

Proxmox VE · VMware vSphere · Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, RHEL family) · Windows Server & Active Directory · pfSense · Cloudflare (DNS, Tunnel, Access) · Docker & Podman · nginx · Grafana & Prometheus · Ansible · Git · Bash, PowerShell & Python

Outside of work

When I’m not at a keyboard, I’m usually outdoors somewhere along the Texas coast, working on a project around the house, or reading about the next thing I want to try in the lab. The name Rocking JA is my brand, a nod to Texas ranch tradition and my initials.