CTChris Thompson
Server & Infrastructure · El Dorado County, CA

Chris Thompson

IT Analyst II – Server Design and Administration, County of El Dorado

On the County's IT Infrastructure Team, I help run two VMware server clusters that host about 200 virtual servers, plus just under 25 physical servers and the Active Directory and Microsoft 365 accounts County staff use. At Cal.net I ran a hybrid Active Directory domain for four regional offices, moved 10+ physical servers onto virtual servers across two data centers, and rebuilt the company's Veeam backups. Off hours I produced skills.christhompson.us, a free certification study site for peers and coworkers, and I build, secure and monitor the three Linux web servers that run my sites.

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Career log 2001 – present

  1. Jan 2023 – Present

    IT Analyst II – Server Design and Administration · County of El Dorado

    Information Technologies, Placerville, CA. I work as part of the County's IT Infrastructure Team. With the team, I:

    • Run two VMware ESXi 8 server clusters on Dell VxRail hardware that host about 200 virtual servers, including the live and SQL database servers behind County Fiscal systems and department applications.
    • Plan and apply Broadcom software and Dell firmware updates across both clusters.
    • Manage just under 25 physical servers at the main County offices and remote sites, using Dell OpenManage Enterprise.
    • Schedule server patching with the County Security Team.
    • Administer Active Directory and the Microsoft 365 / Azure portal: access, onboarding and offboarding, distribution lists, calendars and mailboxes.
    • Help maintain the County's Group Policy objects.
    • Approve new certificate requests in Active Directory Certificate Services (ADCS).
    • Use PowerShell to simplify day-to-day tasks from the command line.
    • Run the vendor servers and platforms behind Tyler Technologies Munis ERP and Cascade WinCAMS, and work with both vendors to resolve problems.
    • Maintain IIS web servers day to day, and wrote the operating procedure staff use to troubleshoot them.
    • Back up and restore County data and VMs, and work with County staff to restore files and folders to their original locations using Rubrik.
    • Monitor server performance, logs and health with VMware Aria Operations.
    • Support the IT Supervisor on VMware NSX, the County's virtual network and firewall platform.
  2. Mar 2021 – Jan 2023

    IT Administrator · Cal.net Inc.

    Architecture Division.

    • Took over most system administration from the Engineering Architect Manager.
    • Ran hybrid Azure AD and on-premises Active Directory for four regional offices across California.
    • Traced slow backups to a storage caching problem, rebalanced the server cluster to fix it, then redesigned the Veeam backups for the virtual servers and Microsoft 365.
    • Managed 130+ computers, laptops and servers across four offices and two data centers, and moved them all to a new remote management tool (NinjaRMM).
    • Coordinated the integration of Winters Broadband after the acquisition, working across the Operations, Fiscal and Engineering departments of both companies.
    • Planned and delivered VoIP platform upgrades: server purchases, process changes and vendor-managed software upgrades.
    • Built the IT department budget with the Chief Technical Officer.
    • Maintained and repaired five Synology network storage units.
  3. Mar 2018 – Feb 2021

    Network Engineer · Cal.net Inc.

    • Helped design and deploy a multi-site Azure AD / Active Directory domain.
    • Helped move 10+ physical servers onto VMware virtual servers in a cluster spanning two data centers: NTT Sacramento and Corporate HQ in Shingle Springs.
    • Replaced the company shared drive with Synology network storage and a Windows file server, and helped move the company from Slack to Teams and Exchange.
    • Configured and troubleshot Cisco and MikroTik routers and switches for the Network Architect.
    • Set up the switches, network segments and IP addresses for new wireless links.
    • Bought, built, deployed and repaired 86+ desktops, laptops and tablets across four offices.
  4. Jan 2010 – Mar 2018

    Technical Support · Sierra Advantage / Cal.net Inc.

    • Handled escalated billing and support cases for the Technical Support manager, and supported wireless internet customers on internet, phone and email service.
    • Worked with Engineering to monitor and maintain the wireless network.
  5. Sep 2001 – Dec 2009

    Customer Success Specialist · Websoft Developers / California Networking

    • Sold and supported business and home internet service (DSL, T1 and dial-up), Dish Network service, and server hosting.
    • Taught resident computer training courses at University Retirement at Davis.

Personal server lab Off hours · Aug 2026 – present

Free study site for coworkers

skills.christhompson.us · a free, self-paced learning site for peers and coworkers preparing for Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco and Linux certifications, with study sprints, a study calendar, resource lists and a downloadable study kit. An automated job checks its sources every 6 hours and, when they change, runs tests, rebuilds and publishes the site, and confirms 12 live files match the new build.

Server hardening

Three Linux web servers · built from a setup script that is safe to rerun. Each accepts key-based sign-in only (no passwords), blocks all traffic except web and remote access, bans an address for an hour after 5 failed sign-ins, and installs security updates daily.

Websites

HTTPS everywhere · certificates that renew on their own, browser security settings that block common attacks, and access logs for each site.

Automated updates

GitHub Actions · each website change publishes itself. The upload account can only write to its one website folder, and each run confirms it reached the right server before uploading and checks the live site after.

Scheduled jobs

Unattended daily jobs · pull outside data, reject stale results and email a summary.

Migration and containers

Shared hosting to my own server · moved a website and switched its DNS. The same server runs a Next.js web app in Docker.

Identity

Microsoft Entra ID · a personal tenant with Azure, Microsoft 365 and three domains, with two Dell PCs joined to it. I manage the policies for my personal and lab devices and use PowerShell for day-to-day lab tasks.

Skills

Windows Server & identity

Windows Server 2016 – 2025, IIS, Active Directory, Group Policy, ADCS, hybrid Azure AD / Entra ID, Microsoft 365, Exchange, Teams

Virtualization

VMware ESXi 6.5 – 8, vSphere, Dell VxRail, VMware NSX

Hardware & monitoring

Dell OpenManage Enterprise, Aria Operations, Aria Operations for Logs, NinjaRMM

Backup & storage

Rubrik, Veeam (vSphere and Microsoft 365), Synology NAS, Windows Server file servers

Security & automation

PowerShell, server patching with a security team, Linux server security, HTTPS certificates, Docker, GitHub Actions automation

Networking

Cisco and MikroTik routers and switches, network segments (VLANs), troubleshooting

Line of business

Tyler Munis ERP, Cascade WinCAMS, VoIP platforms, vendor coordination

Certifications

Earned3

  • CompTIA A+July 2001
    Lifetime
  • CompTIA Network+March 2001
    Lifetime
  • FCC Amateur Radio, TechnicianCallsign K3CJT
    Licensed

In progress4

  • Microsoft AZ-802Windows Server Hybrid Administrator
    Studying
  • Microsoft AZ-104Azure Administrator
    Studying
  • CompTIA Security+ · Cloud+
    Studying

Education

Education

A.S. Computer Networking Management

American River College · 2016 – 2022

Cisco Networking Academy coursework, including Linux Systems Operation and Cisco Network Management.