netnerds.net

About Us

Chrissy LeMaire

I'm an IT Pro, specializing in SQL Server, SharePoint and network security. I'm also a proud Cajun, who's living it up in Belgium, doing SQL stuff with NATO Special Ops.

HTP

Background

My addiction to computers started back in 1987 when my Mom purchased a Leading Edge Model D for her home office. She also bought Infocom's Wishbringer to encourage her three children to become familiar with MS-DOS and computers in general. It worked; all three of her children now work in IT.

This is where I started playing with computers - the heart of Cajun country.
Notice how far the heart is from New Orleans. Thanks!

I bought NetNerds.net back in 1997 after I created a company, NetNerds Networks. When not "work working", I spend my free time working on RealCajunRecipes.com with my mom and best friend. I looooove cooking, though I'm not nearly as good as my mom or grandma.

In 2007, I graduated from the University of San Francisco with a BSc. in Information Systems. I've been working in IT for 17 years now and have spent the last 14 working as a database administrator and programmer. Although I spend most of my time on Windows networks, I have several years of experience with Linux, BSD and OS X.

My Former Setup

I used to colocate 6Us of only-slightly-better-than-ghetto servers. My main server was an HP DL380 with 10GB RAM and I had a few other rock-solid HP DL360s and some not-so-rock-solid Rackable Systems 2U servers. My network had a variety of physical and virtual machines as well as a variety of operating systems. Okay, so Windows, SuSE Linux and ESX is not so varied, but hey.

yes, i've upgraded the firmware since ; )

I move around quite a bit and grew tired of moving my colocated servers with me. Now, after more than a decade of hosting my own servers, I moved my websites to BlueHost and some other place. My Linux servers are all up in the Amazon cloud.

My primary home machine is a blazing fast MacBook Pro that I got off of Craigslist. It has 16GB of RAM, 250GB SSD drive, 720GB SSD+HDD Hybrid secondary drive, two fast processors and that's all I really care about. This thing is so slick. I run a little SharePoint farm, complete with a domain controller, within Parallels and love the speed.
 
Oh, and I recently setup an vSphere lab on the ultra-quiet Shuttle SH67H3 w/32GB RAM and 2x1TB Velociraptor hard drives. The only complaint I have is that the RAID is "FakeRAID" which I don't trust and is likely incompatible with ESX. Otherwise, I've been super happy with a "server" that's so quiet, I can keep it in my living room.

My Music

I love everything from New Kids to NSync. But instead of going through a laundry list, I'll let my Last.FM account speak for me. Go look.

Nerdy things that make me lol

My friend Zach..
Zach:  I'm chillin at Cafe Barrone in Menlo Park
Zach:  right next to this fountain
Zach:  and there is a really hot blonde college girl with a tiny Vaio
Zach:  across from me
Zach:  I know, not your type
Zach:  not mine either except for the Vaio and the extended battery
Zach:  I'm watching her type right now.....

My friend Patrick..

Me: *Posts a link to one of my old web pages*
Patrick: omg classic asp...my hard drive just formatted itself

And the USF BSIS 07 class motto:

When a MF realizes that a MF is a MF, then that MF should MF be the best damn MF a MF can MF be.