Jan-Patrick Bauer
DE

DevOps Engineer

Network as code

I build multi-site network and firewall infrastructure and run it with Terraform and Ansible, versioned in Git and rolled out through GitLab CI/CD pipelines.

Network Automation · Platform Provisioning · Security

Portrait of Jan-Patrick Bauer
Currently
SENEC GmbH
Location
Regensburg
In IT since
2012

Selected projects

Four initiatives from running a distributed network and security infrastructure.

01 · Infrastructure as Code

FortiGate with Terraform

Starting point
Office firewalls were maintained by hand, and changes were hard to trace.
Approach
Declarative management with the FortiOS provider, import of existing devices, rollout through GitLab CI/CD.
Result
All firewalls version-controlled, reviewable and reproducibly configured.

Terraform · FortiOS · GitLab CI/CD

02 · Access

Business VPN with zero trust

Approach
OpenVPN gateway as the company's central VPN solution, configured with a dedicated Ansible role.
Security
Two-factor authentication with device certificate and AD password, route-based access control per device and user.
Operations
Automated rollout of VPN configurations through an Azure Function.

OpenVPN · Ansible · Azure Functions

03 · Services

Redundant DNS resolvers

Goal
Resolve public and private zones across sites and providers.
Approach
Redundant BIND9 resolvers, configured with a dedicated Ansible role.
Coverage
Zones in Azure Private DNS, Route53 and Cloudflare, resolved through recursive resolvers.

BIND9 · Ansible · Multi-Cloud DNS

04 · Site connectivity

Hub and spoke across multiple sites

Redesigned the hub-and-spoke topology for several office sites with SD-WAN and BGP over IPsec. The offices connect to a central hub, which links to the distributed datacenters through a heterogeneous BGP over IPsec mesh.

Network topology of the site connectivity Four offices connect via SD-WAN to a central hub, each with a primary and a backup link; the hub is attached to a fully meshed, heterogeneous BGP over IPsec mesh of two datacenters and one cloud region. Mesh, heterogeneous BGP over IPsecBGP/IPsec Hub and spoke SD-WAN with BGP over IPsecSD-WAN/BGP Datacenter ADC ADatacenter BDC BCloud regionCloudCentral hubHubOffice 1Office 1Office 2Office 2Office 3Office 3Office 4Office 4

Office 1 → Hub → Datacenter A via primary link

  • Primary link
  • Backup link
  • Active path

SD-WAN · BGP · IPsec · FortiGate

Skills

Automation & DevOps

Terraform, Ansible, Git workflows and GitLab CI/CD, network automation, multi-cloud provisioning, NetBox, Bash, Python

Networking & Security

BGP, policy-based and static routing, SD-WAN, IPsec, OpenVPN, WireGuard, FortiGate, OPNsense, IPS/IDS, DDoS protection, Wi-Fi (site survey with Ekahau, WPA2/WPA3-Enterprise, 802.1X, RADIUS/NPS)

Compliance & Hardening

Hardened and optimized managed services against NIS2, KRITIS, ISO 27001, GDPR and CRA requirements: access control, MFA, vulnerability and patch management, backup and recovery

Cloud & Hosting

AWS, Microsoft Azure, Hetzner; design and operation of own colocation infrastructure with dedicated hardware

Infrastructure

Linux (Ubuntu), Proxmox, OpenNebula, VMware, Docker, Kubernetes, Storage, Backup (rConfig)

Monitoring

Prometheus, Icinga, Zabbix, Checkmk, OpenSearch, SNMP, Qualys, Wazuh

Experience

  1. 2024 - present

    Network Automation Engineer

    SENEC GmbH, Leipzig (remote)

  2. 2023 - 2024

    Traveling around the world

    Sabbatical

  3. 2015 - 2023

    IT-Systems Engineer

    Pegasus IT GmbH (now ITventive AG), Regenstauf

  4. 2012 - 2015

    Apprenticeship as IT Specialist for System Integration

    Pegasus IT GmbH, Regenstauf

Certifications

  • 2026Fortinet NSE 4 and NSE 5
  • 2026HashiCorp Terraform Associate
  • 2021MikroTik MTCRE and MTCTCE
  • 2018Veeam Certified Engineer (VMCE)
  • 2017MikroTik MTCNA
  • 2016Aerohive ACWA and ACWP

Just ping me.

I work remotely from Regensburg, Germany, and I'm happy to hear from you about networking, security and automation.

E-Mail LinkedIn