Overview
Creating a professional, reliable online foundation
I designed and deployed this personal portfolio infrastructure to establish a consistent, professional online presence for IT support, networking, cloud, and infrastructure-focused opportunities. The environment brings together a custom domain, managed DNS, custom-domain email, static site hosting, HTTPS, and an accessible landing page.
The result is one professional destination for my resume, LinkedIn profile, certifications, contact information, and future technical project documentation.
Objectives
What I set out to build
- Establish a personal custom domain for portfolio and professional email use.
- Deploy a lightweight, responsive portfolio through Cloudflare Pages with a custom domain and HTTPS.
- Configure custom-domain email for professional correspondence.
- Validate public web access, HTTPS, navigation links, and email delivery.
- Document the project clearly without exposing sensitive configuration data.
- Create a reusable foundation for future Linux, networking, cloud, and IT support projects.
Architecture
High-level architecture
Simplified architecture diagram. Record contents, verification values, account details, and provider-specific identifiers are intentionally excluded.
Implementation
How the environment was configured
Configured custom domain and DNS
Configured brandonbratcher.com within Cloudflare and used Cloudflare DNS as the central platform for managing web and email-related DNS configuration. Website routing and mail records were kept logically separate to avoid disruptions to either service.
Set up custom-domain email
Connected the domain to Proton Mail for professional correspondence. The configuration included domain verification, inbound mail routing, and mail authentication record categories for SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.
Built the portfolio landing page
Created a responsive static landing page using HTML and CSS. The site provides clear access to a resume, LinkedIn profile, professional contact information, certifications, technical skills, and project documentation.
Deployed with Cloudflare Pages
Uploaded the static site to Cloudflare Pages, validated the initial deployment through the assigned Pages URL, then attached the custom domain and confirmed HTTPS access.
Created consistent professional touchpoints
Added a Cloud-Route BB monogram, custom-domain email, portfolio links, and a QR-enabled business card that directs interviewers and professional contacts back to the portfolio.
Validation
How I confirmed the deployment worked
Website delivery
Confirmed successful Pages deployment and public access through the custom domain.
HTTPS access
Verified the portfolio loaded over HTTPS without a browser certificate warning.
Portfolio navigation
Tested resume, LinkedIn, and email links from the live site.
Responsive layout
Reviewed the page on desktop and mobile browsers for readability and usability.
Email delivery
Confirmed custom-domain Proton Mail could send and receive professional messages.
QR destination
Tested the business-card QR destination on mobile devices to confirm portfolio access.
Security considerations
Protecting sensitive configuration data
- Excluded passwords, recovery data, verification tokens, account identifiers, private keys, and DNS record values from public documentation.
- Preserved Proton Mail routing and authentication records while configuring website hosting.
- Published only intentional professional contact information on the public portfolio.
- Used a custom-domain email configuration designed to support sender authentication and anti-spoofing controls.
- Planned future project documentation around sanitized screenshots, test environments, least-privilege access, and non-sensitive sample data.
Results and next steps
A platform built to grow with my technical experience
The completed environment provides a professional custom domain, branded email, static portfolio hosting, HTTPS, resume access, LinkedIn access, and a QR-enabled networking card. It also provides a repeatable place to document future hands-on work in networking, Linux administration, IT support, cloud infrastructure, and data-center technologies.
The deployment is now used as my primary professional web presence and is linked from my resume, LinkedIn profile, and QR-enabled interview networking card. This allows recruiters and professional contacts to access my current background, credentials, contact information, and technical project work from one consistent URL.
Explore the portfolio