sysadmin
Linux & Unix Administration
Production RHEL/CentOS/Debian fleets — provisioning, hardening, monitoring, patch cycles, and on-call runbooks. RHCSA-certified.
Texas-rooted · Remote-first
A working engineer.
Not a sales pitch.
Texas-rooted infrastructure engineer available for remote contract work. Linux, Windows, virtualization, networking, SIEM, backup/DR, web development, and access control.
Hands-on experience
About
Lone Star Specialist is a Texas-based IT contracting practice, run by Kevin Kirk. It's where I take on focused contract work for teams that need a senior hand for a set window — bounded engagements I can scope, own, and close out cleanly.
I'm hands-on with the stack most mid-market IT shops actually run. Four years across RHEL and Windows servers, VMware and Nutanix clusters (nutanix.com), Cisco switching (cisco.com) and firewalls, Rubrik backup, NetApp storage, and Splunk SIEM (splunk.com). I also run Software House C·CURE 9000 for access control and Axis IP video (axis.com) for surveillance. I've logged 4,000+ engineering hours in production environments. That work includes DoD STIG hardening for federal and regulated systems, per disa.mil and NIST 800-53 mappings. I hold 7 active certs across systems, networking, virtualization, and security.
On the web side, I ship modern marketing sites and small web apps. The stack is Astro, Tailwind, and TypeScript — deployed to cloudflare.com Pages and Workers, with KV or D1 for storage and the source kept in github.com repos. This site and its admin console were both built that way.
What you get: someone who can drop into a runbook, ship a migration, harden a fleet, stand up SIEM coverage, build the marketing site, or cover an admin gap — without a six-week ramp-up.
Capabilities
Twelve ways I ship outcomes
in a single engagement.
Pick one, pick three. I scope to the window and bring the runbook.
sysadmin
Windows Server & Active Directory
AD design and cleanup, GPO management, file/print services, DNS/DHCP, server lifecycle from build to decom.
infra
Virtualization
VMware vSphere and Nutanix AHV — sizing, deployment, cluster operations, P2V migrations, and storage integration.
network
Networking & Firewalls
Cisco IOS / Catalyst switching and Firepower firewall operations — VLAN design, ACLs, site-to-site VPN, segmentation reviews.
observability
SIEM Integration — Splunk
Splunk deployment, index design, source onboarding, parsing/CIM normalization, and dashboard/alert engineering. Forwarder fleets, syslog pipelines, and detection content tuning for security operations.
resilience
Backup, DR & Continuity
Rubrik backup architecture, restore drills, DR runbooks, and recovery-time validation. NetApp storage for backup tier.
security
Endpoint Security & Hardening
Trellix endpoint deployment and tuning, baseline hardening, vulnerability triage, and remediation workflows.
compliance
DoD STIG Hardening
Apply and validate DISA Security Technical Implementation Guides across Windows, RHEL, and network systems. SCAP scans, finding remediation, and compliance reporting for federal and regulated environments.
security
Physical Security & Surveillance Systems
Software House C·CURE 9000 administration — iSTAR controllers, personnel and badge data, clearance/door schedule design, event monitoring. Axis IP camera install and lifecycle — site survey, lens selection, PoE and storage sizing, AXIS Camera Station / Device Manager. Unified with victor video and AD/HR feeds.
platform
Web Design & Development
Modern marketing sites and internal web apps — Astro and Cloudflare Pages, Tailwind, TypeScript, Pages Functions with KV/D1 persistence. SEO and structured data baked in. From a one-page brochure to an authenticated admin console.
projects
Migrations & Cutover Work
On-prem to on-prem, on-prem to cloud, version upgrades. I plan the runbook, run the cutover, and own the rollback.
platform
Automation & Scripting
Bash, PowerShell, Python. Replacing repetitive manual work with monitored, reviewable scripts that survive after I leave.
Endpoint security
Physical security
Compute
My process
How I work.
STEP 01
Scoping call
A 30-minute call to walk the environment, goals, constraints, and timeline. I come back same-day with a written fit assessment and either a quote or a referral. No retainer or NDA required to start.
STEP 02
Runbook and rollback plan
Before any change touches production, I write the runbook: ordered steps, validation gates, a rollback procedure, and a risk register. Hardening work follows DISA STIG and NIST 800-53 mappings. SIEM and detection work follows the deployed framework — Splunk Common Information Model and MITRE ATT&CK.
STEP 03
Cutover and handoff
I run the change inside a defined window, validate against the runbook gates, and own the rollback if anything misses. Deliverables stay with you: scripts, runbooks, dashboards, and decision logs are committed to your repo with comments that survive after I leave.
Source frameworks & citations
Hardening, compliance, and detection-engineering work on this framework cites authoritative sources rather than vendor marketing. According to the published guidance from these bodies, our method is:
Frequently asked
Questions clients usually ask.
How do you bill for work?
Hourly or fixed-bid by project. Hourly is typical for runbooks, incident response, and admin gap-coverage. Fixed-bid is typical for migrations, hardening sprints, or marketing-site builds where the scope is defined upfront.
How fast can you start?
Same-week kickoff is common. I drop into existing runbooks without a long ramp because the stack — RHEL, Windows Server, VMware, Nutanix, Cisco, Splunk, Rubrik — is what I run day-to-day.
Do you work on-site?
Remote-first. I will travel on-site for kickoffs, cutovers, or physical-security installs (C·CURE 9000 controller commissioning, Axis camera surveys) when the work genuinely requires it.
Do you handle compliance work (STIG, audit prep)?
Yes. DoD STIG hardening across Windows, RHEL, and network systems using DISA Security Technical Implementation Guides. SCAP scans, finding remediation, and compliance reporting following NIST 800-53 control mappings.
Can you build the marketing site too?
Yes. Modern stack — Astro, Tailwind, TypeScript, Cloudflare Pages and Workers with KV or D1 for persistence. This site and its admin console are both shipped that way.
Contact
Tell me about the engagement.
A few sentences about the work, the timeline, and your constraints. I'll come back the same day with a fit assessment and either a quote or a referral.
kevin.kirk@lonestarspec.com
Texas, USA