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IT & Infrastructure

On-Premises Infrastructure Build

Specced, built and operated on-premises server and network infrastructure from the ground up — switching, structured cabling, storage and monitoring — that cut internet downtime by 50% and eliminated recurring ISP support calls.

Personal Infrastructure2024 – 2025Tags: Networking, Servers, TrueNAS
Context

What was happening.

Taking an institution from loose desktops and repeated network failures to a deliberate, monitored, high-availability environment — built from the ground up.

The problem

What needed to change.

  • Network interruptions and internet downtime disrupted operations, with repeated calls to the ISP instead of real fixes.
  • Storage was scattered and unreplicated, putting institutional data at risk.
  • No monitoring meant failures were discovered by users, not by systems.
  • Printers and devices caused recurring support load that could be prevented.
The approach

How it was done.

Network foundation

Deliberate switching, structured cabling and routing design replaced the ad-hoc setup — with failover paths that kept the institution online when the primary link degraded.

Deliberate switching, structured cabling and failover paths
Storage & backups

A high-availability TrueNAS storage architecture supported 10TB+ of institutional data with redundancy and failover patterns.

Redundant storage with real backups — 10TB+ institutional data
Monitoring & operations

Proactive monitoring and scheduled maintenance replaced firefighting. Incident response with root-cause analysis stopped recurring problems at the source.

Proactive monitoring replaced firefighting
Device operations

Printers and endpoint issues traced to their causes and fixed structurally, cutting recurring support tickets.

Structural fixes on recurring device faults
Measured results

The numbers that came out.

50% lower
Internet downtime

Failover and root-cause network fixes.

90%
ISP support reduction

Recurring external-support calls eliminated.

40%
Printer issue reduction

Structural fixes on recurring device faults.

10TB+
Storage

On redundant TrueNAS architecture.

Outcomes

Where it landed.

  • The institution stays online through link failure — failover instead of a support call.
  • Institutional data lives on redundant storage with real backups.
  • Problems are caught by monitoring before users notice.
Stack & tools
NetworkingStructured CablingTrueNASDebian / LinuxDockerMonitoringBackupsFailover
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