Benjamin Hardy

I have set up home labs to create and test servers and services for personal use, as well as to assist friends and family. While working as an intern with a medical company, I spoke with many of the IT staff, mainly discussing the network infrastructure in place and the building layout. I gained insight into the thought process behind setting up a server room, including aspects such as cooling, power supply systems, and redundancy measures like backups and UPSs. I also learned about the VLANs in place, including guest, private, and secure VLANs for the servers. Additionally, I gained hands-on experience in moving and wiring switches and servers, learning useful tips to accomplish my tasks effectively.

Along with this, I have experience in troubleshooting networks, utilizing my knowledge of encapsulation and routing to understand the packet path and identify issues. I have used AD to create a user on my home domain, as well as in practical exams at university, where I achieved full marks for setting up a DC, DHCP, DNS, PXE, and WDS servers/services. At university, I have been told by my lecturers that I am one of the top students in the course, consistently achieving high B grades, or, in some of my more recent results, all A grades. I currently have my CCNA 1 and 2 certifications and have passed the practical exam for my CCNA 3. I love networking as a whole and really want to expand my knowledge in all areas of networking. One module I enjoyed at university was System Configuration and Management, where we set up and configured Windows servers. However, I also have experience using Linux, specifically Debian.

Issued Jun 2024 · Expires Jun 2027

CCNAv7: Switching, Routing, and Wireless Essentials

Cisco Networking Academy

Issued May 2024 · Expires May 2027

CCNAv7: Introduction to Networks

Cisco Networking Academy