Praxis Technology started in January 2003 and ends this month, four years later.
On paper I was the founder, president, and CTO. In practice I was the person somebody called when the network, server, security appliance, backup, or monitoring system needed to work.
Praxis provided systems and network consulting for organizations that wanted to outsource some or all of their IT environment. The equipment changed from client to client. Cisco, F5, and Juniper on the network and security side. Linux and Windows Active Directory on the server side. Router access lists, policy-based routing, load balancing, Layer 2 and Layer 3 networking, Exchange, backups, and the less exciting pieces between them that decide whether the whole thing is manageable.
When Praxis began, I was at the University of Colorado Boulder, where I had just been promoted into a senior systems and security role. Later I worked at SimAuthor on systems, networks, security, engineering labs, and an in-house data-center rebuild. In September 2006 I joined Beatport as a senior systems administrator. Praxis continued beside all of it.
That made for a lot of context switching. A university environment, an aviation software company, an online record store, and a consulting client can all use Linux, firewalls, directories, and monitoring. They do not use them for the same reasons. A consulting client also needed a system its own staff could operate after the project ended.
I learned to separate internal and external systems. Windows could provide the domain structure and Exchange capabilities people expected in an office, while Linux standardized the data-center edge and made it easier to manage and secure. I built server arrays, configured network appliances, and tried to give a client something more durable than the machine that happened to be in front of us.
The network work included Cisco, F5, and Juniper equipment. Depending on the client, I configured router access lists, policy-based routing, load balancing, and Layer 2 or Layer 3 networking. On the server side, I worked with Linux arrays, Windows Active Directory, and Exchange. Some jobs covered one part of that list. Others required me to connect most of it.
Monitoring was part of that. I used Zenoss, Zabbix, and Nagios to verify system and site health remotely. The alerts had to tell me when something was wrong and provide enough information to start working on it.
Backups and scripted installations were regular parts of the work. A central backup facility and a repeatable installation process made a new server faster to provision. They also reduced the amount of manual work required after a failure.
Consulting required a clear project scope. I had to understand the environment, explain the proposed work, estimate the schedule, do the installation, and hand the system back. That included proposals, budgets, client expectations, documentation, and invoices. I also remained available when a new system met its first unexpected problem.
At CU, SimAuthor, or Beatport, I could keep improving the same environment over time. Praxis projects were shorter. The work had to produce something the client could use and maintain. That changed how I documented configurations and explained why a design was worth the cost.
Most of the work happened around full-time jobs. I handled client calls, remote monitoring, maintenance, and invoices outside the normal workday. The schedule was manageable when the client systems were quiet. A failure could change it quickly, so I had to keep enough time available to respond and avoid promising more work than I could complete.
Beatport is growing quickly and taking more of my time. I am ending Praxis after four years. During that time I worked across university systems, aviation software, ecommerce, and outside client environments. I learned how to scope technical work, manage a small consulting relationship, and support systems that belonged to somebody else.
I still have client documentation and handoff work to finish. After that, my main focus will be Beatport. The consulting company is ending, but the systems work and the responsibility that came with it will continue in the full-time job.