DRDuncan
Robertson My CV

Cape Town, South Africa

DuncanRobertson

SERVER SPECIALIST

8+ years in web hosting and technical support, with hands-on experience in Linux and WordPress infrastructure.

I handle website migrations, troubleshoot client sites, and develop repeatable maintenance and offsite backup workflows across Cloudways and WP Engine.

Cape Town, South Africa · +27 72 325 9091 · duncan@kilgourit.co.za
linkedin.com/in/duncan-robertson-699049185

Get in touch Explore my experience
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The platforms
I work with
ubuntuCloudwaysWP EngineWordPress>_ WP-CLI

01 Experience

Professional
experience.

Web hosting, technical support and server operations, backed by practical troubleshooting and clear documentation.

Thrive Internet Marketing Agency

Server Specialist
Technical Support Professional
  • Support WordPress hosting and server operations across Cloudways and WP Engine using SSH, WP-CLI and hosting control panels.
  • Keep WordPress core, plugins and themes up to date across multisite installations of varying sizes, including one with over 2,500 sites. Investigate compatibility issues.
  • Troubleshoot PHP, database, caching, DNS and email delivery issues affecting client sites. Support website migrations and redirects.
  • Develop repeatable maintenance and backup procedures, including command line workflows, access checks and operator documentation.

Padroni Hosting

Support Engineer

January 2018 – January 2023

Altron Bytes Systems Integration

Student Intern

June 2017 – December 2017

02 Selected technical work

A closer look at the work.

Practical projects in offsite backups, WordPress multisite maintenance and transfer diagnostics.

Cloudways Offsite Backup Workflow

An Ubuntu relay, interactive workflows and verified backup payloads.

Implemented and tested a backup relay on an Ubuntu DigitalOcean droplet to back up Cloudways application files and databases to Google Drive using rclone.

  • Developed an interactive workflow for server profiles and application selection, with SSH host key verification, source identity checks and database engine preflight checks.
  • Validated completed backup payloads using file size and MD5 comparisons, with SHA256 manifests and completion markers. Documented direct operator access through a dedicated non-root account.
UbuntuDigitalOceanrcloneSSHGoogle Drive

WordPress Multisite Operations

Update batches and troubleshooting across networks of different sizes.
  • Carry out maintenance across multiple WordPress multisite installations, including a 38-site network and one with over 2,500 sites, using plugin update batches, backup archives and checksums.
  • Investigated plugin database errors, configuration issues and front-end publishing issues using WP-CLI, SQL and application level checks.
WordPress MultisiteWP-CLISQLChecksums

SSH File Transfer Diagnostics

Investigating slow uploads between Windows and a remote Linux server.
  • Investigated slow archive uploads from a Windows workstation to a remote Linux server, comparing transfers through Windows OpenSSH and Git Bash.
  • Used latency, throughput and server CPU and I/O observations to narrow the investigation and document evidence for further testing.
OpenSSHWindowsLinuxGit Bash

03 Technical skills

Tools I work with.

The platforms and tools I use for remote access, hosting, troubleshooting and backups.

Showing all 6 categories

Linux and remote access

  • Ubuntu Linux
  • SSH and SCP
  • OpenSSH keys
  • File permissions
  • Service and log troubleshooting

Hosting and WordPress

  • Cloudways and WP Engine
  • cPanel and WHM
  • WordPress Multisite
  • WP-CLI
  • Website migrations and updates

Applications and databases

  • PHP
  • MySQL and MariaDB
  • Redis
  • SQL troubleshooting
  • Database exports

Networking and email

  • DNS and Cloudflare
  • SSL and TLS
  • Redirects
  • SMTP troubleshooting

Automation and backups

  • Bash and PowerShell
  • rclone and mysqldump
  • tar and ZIP archives
  • Checksum verification

Working tools

  • Windows Terminal
  • VS Code Remote SSH
  • REST APIs
  • Google Drive backup storage

Education

Hoërskool Goudrif

Matric

2013 – 2015

Previous certifications

EXPIRED

Previously held certifications, all now expired.

  • cPanel Professional Certification
  • WHM Administration Certification
  • cPanel WordPress Toolkit
  • LiteSpeed Certification
  • cPanel and WHM Sales Professional (CPSP)

Professional development

Ongoing development in Linux systems administration, cloud infrastructure and DevOps, including foundational work on Terraform and infrastructure as code.

04 Contact

Let’s talk.

For hosting, WordPress infrastructure and technical support opportunities.

+27 72 325 9091

Keep a copy

My resume is available in PDF format. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn.

PDF resume
Connect on LinkedIn