// about
One engineer, the whole stack.
RedCyfer is Chris Woodall — a Linux administrator and infrastructure engineer with 25+ years across cloud, carrier networks, fiber, systems, and security. Everything on this site is built and run by the same person who'd answer your call.
01 — Who you're hiring
Every part, one person.
The reason the pieces fit together is that nobody hands them off.
I'm Chris Woodall — a Linux administrator and infrastructure engineer with 25+ years supporting production systems across wireless, fiber, cable, cloud, and healthcare environments. I've built a rural wireless ISP from bare steel, owned and operated a small-town cable system, built carrier fiber networks, run BGP peering with major transit providers, deployed GPON to tens of thousands of subscribers, kept hospital systems running, and I now manage hybrid AWS and on-premises infrastructure day to day. RedCyfer is how I bring that directly to small businesses.
Most small businesses can't justify a full IT team, so they end up stitching together a web designer, a hosting company, a network installer, and a payments consultant — none of whom talk to each other. I'm all of those in one person, which means the parts actually fit together and there's one number to call when they don't.
Direct
I'll give honest pushback when an idea isn't worth building.
Maintainable
Practical solutions over trendy ones — I have to support them for years.
Transparent
You get the reasoning, not just the invoice.
Owned
Self-hosted and standards-based where it counts, so you're not locked in.
02 — Core skills
What I'm fluent in.
Not a list of things I've read about — the platforms I run in production week to week.
Cloud & IaC
AWS — EC2, RDS, S3, VPC, IAM, ALB, CloudFront, ElastiCache — with infrastructure managed as code in Terraform.
Systems
Linux (Ubuntu, RHEL/CentOS), Windows, and macOS; virtualization, monitoring, backup/recovery, and performance tuning.
Networking
BGP, OSPF, MPLS, VPN / IPSec, and carrier peering on Juniper MX and ACX platforms — access layer to backbone.
Fiber & GPON
Design, deployment, and operation of fiber access systems on Nokia, Calix, and DZS — OLT to ONT, plus the splicing in between.
Security & firewalls
MikroTik, Palo Alto, Cisco, and WatchGuard, plus AWS Security Groups, WAF, and CloudFront.
Automation
Python and Bash scripting to make systems repeatable, self-healing, and boring — in the good way.
Web & load balancing
NGINX, Apache, OpenLiteSpeed, and HAProxy — the tier that keeps sites fast and available.
Voice & cameras
Business phone systems on FreePBX with Grandstream handsets, and IP camera installs — from the wiring to the config.
03 — Experience
Where the reps came from.
Roughly newest first. Every line of it is production work someone was paying to keep running.
Linux Administrator
managed hosting & IT services provider
Administer production Linux servers — installation, patching, security hardening, and performance tuning — with AWS-integrated infrastructure managed in Terraform and system automation in Python and Bash. Improved reliability and deployment consistency through automation and version-controlled configuration.
Network Engineer
regional fiber & wireless ISP
1.5M ft fiber · 100 Gb backbone
Led large-scale fiber buildouts exceeding 1.5 million feet. Configured Juniper core routers and established BGP peering with Hurricane Electric, Cogent, and the Equinix peering fabric; designed a redundant 100 Gb backbone with multiple 10 Gb transit links for uptime and fault tolerance. Deployed Nokia GPON and managed ISP infrastructure, including long-haul fiber backhaul to a major regional datacenter.
Fiber Network Engineer / Coax Operations Manager
rural electric cooperative's fiber utility
33,000 members
Deployed Calix and DZS fiber core equipment and completed a fiber network serving 33,000 members, converting legacy coax systems to fiber. Built the installation/construction/management curriculum and standardized troubleshooting metrics, response, and escalation.
Systems Administrator / Network Engineer
regional medical center
Administered Linux, AS/400, and Windows servers in a hospital environment — patching, hardening, and performance tuning — and automated tasks in Python and Bash. Replaced legacy network gear with Cisco switching, wireless controllers, and access points.
Owner / Operator
small-town cable television & internet system
two Missouri towns
Owned and operated the cable system serving two Missouri towns — head-end, line plant, and customer equipment, all of it mine to keep running. Retrofitted a return path onto a legacy Scientific Atlanta plant and deployed an Arris CMTS to bring cable-modem internet to towns that didn't have it. When you've been the entire ISP — including the bucket truck — "we'll have to wait on the vendor" stops being in your vocabulary.
Wireless Network Engineer
rural wireless ISP
27 towers · 600+ radios
Built a fixed-wireless network across Southeast Missouri from the ground up — directed the installation and deployment of 27 tower sites, managed 108 access points and routers, and kept a fleet of 600+ subscriber radios monitored and healthy. Running a large CPE fleet across rural terrain is exactly the discipline behind RedCyfer's managed-network service today.
Solutions Specialist
independent technology practice
14 years
Ran my own shop covering whatever the job needed: wired and wireless networks, fiber splicing, hardware repair and reconditioning, software and web development, Android and iOS apps, even automotive computer tuning. Fourteen years of being the one person responsible for the whole problem — which is still the RedCyfer model.
Detailed work history and references available on request.
04 — Field work
Handed a building, expected to leave it working.
Alongside the payroll jobs — twenty-five years of standalone installs and contracts.
Daycares
Complete wireless and phone systems across five daycare centers over the last five years — Ubiquiti access points, Grandstream handsets, and custom-built FreePBX servers. Cabling to dial tone, one vendor.
Municipal
Sole contracted IT vendor for a city in southeast Missouri for two years — installs, upgrades, and maintenance for every municipal facility in town.
University
Rebuilt a university's network closet — right-sized switching, retired the legacy gear — and linked their outpost campus ten miles away with a wireless point-to-point.
Campaign offices
Phones and wireless for a state political campaign's field offices across Southeast Missouri during the 2010 cycle — multiple sites, one deadline that doesn't move.
County jail
Designed and installed a 12-camera dome/bullet surveillance system in a county detention facility.
Where it started
My high school gave me an elective credit to be the school's computer technician all four years — running the Novell network, spending summers upgrading machines before each school year. Graduated Gideon High School in 2004 already the resident IT guy.
05 — Training & the rest of it
Still studying, still in the dirt.
Recent focus on AWS and infrastructure as code — plus the twelve-year hobby that turned into a platform.
On the certificates themselves: I put my time into the knowledge, not the exam voucher. I'd rather understand a system deeply and prove it in what I build than collect paper that says I passed a test — and the running platforms speak for themselves.
For the last twelve years I've also bred and trained working German Shepherds. That world is why DogSport USA exists — I built the platform because I was the customer.
Dogs, like production systems, don't care about your excuses — only your consistency.
06 — Selected work
Two things I built and still run.
Both are live platforms with real users — not portfolio mockups.
DogSport USA
An online community, pedigree registry, and live-events platform for dog sport enthusiasts — clubs, broadcasts, and cross-border payments, on infrastructure built and operated end to end.
Read the case study →In-house observability platform
A fully self-hosted monitoring platform replacing a third-party SaaS — metrics, logs, tracing, alerting, and backup assurance for a nationwide e-commerce operation, on infrastructure it owns.
Read the case study →