2.5 Admins is a podcast featuring two sysadmins called Allan Jude and Jim Salter, and a producer/editor who can just about configure a Samba share called Joe Ressington. Every two weeks we get together, talk about recent tech news, and answer some of your admin-related questions.
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2.5 Admins 289: Hunter2
An exciting new cold storage technology seems to be getting closer, Nvidia seemingly wants a slice of the laptop hardware action, why you (and your users) should definitely not use LLMs to “generate” passwords , and whistleblowing when sensitive customer data isn’t being taken seriously. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes ARC and L2ARC Sizing on Proxmox News/discussion Data stored in glass could last over 10,000 years, Microsoft says Nvidia plans a Windows PC SoC, setting up direct competition with Qualcomm, Intel, and AMD Vibe Password Generation: Predictable by Design Free consulting We were asked about whistleblowing when sensitive customer data isn’t being taken seriously. Automox Turnkey Results Endpoint management tailored to your specific environment. Know the plan. Trust the result. Learn more at www.automox.com See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 288: HDD Tourism
Hardware scarcity and price hikes spread to hard drives, the Bcachefs dev thinks his AI is ‘fully conscious’, an agent might have gone after a FOSS maintainer, Jim is disappointed with an Ars author, and ZFS and VMs in the homelab. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Piss up at The Shipwrights Arms (just next to London Bridge station) on Saturday 27th June from 6pm until late Pool and VDEV Topology for Proxmox Workloads News/discussion AI blamed again as hard drives are sold out for this year Hard drive pricing in the UK is so high someone flew to the US to buy drives, saving money despite flight and hotel costs Bcachefs creator claims his custom LLM is ‘fully conscious’ An AI Agent Published a Hit Piece on Me An AI Agent Published a Hit Piece on Me – More Things Have Happened An AI Agent Published a Hit Piece on Me – Forensics and More Fallout An AI Agent Published a Hit Piece on Me – The Operator Came Forward Editor’s Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations Sorry all this is my fault Free consulting We were asked about ZFS and VMs in the homelab. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 287: Dual Arguators
Jim and Allan disagree on how new hard drive tech is likely to work, more on storage and compute in the same box, and how we set up disk encryption on laptops. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes OpenZFS Monitoring and Observability News/discussion Western Digital doubles the performance of hard drives with dual-actuator High-Bandwidth, with path to 8X performance increase — Power-Optimized HDDs will reduce power by 20 percent Free consulting We were asked about how we set up disk encryption on laptops. A quick-start guide to OpenZFS native encryption – Ars Technica Keeping Data Safe with OpenZFS: Security, Encryption, and Delegation See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 286: Windows Crashed
Notepad++ falls victim to a state-sponsored attacker, AI agents talk nonsense to each other on an insecure vibe coded social network, and backing up a laptop properly. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes ZFS vs Btrfs: Architecture, Features, and Stability News/discussion Notepad++ Hijacked by State-Sponsored Hackers AI agents now have their own Reddit-style social network, and it’s getting weird fas Hacking Moltbook: AI Social Network Reveals 1.5M API Keys Free consulting We were asked about backing up a laptop properly. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 285: example.com.oops
Outlook’s autodiscover feature is leaking data again, our thoughts on the cycle of cloud and on-prem (centralised and local computing), and why you probably shouldn’t use NMVe to SATA adapters. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes ZFS in Production: Real-World Deployment Patterns and Pitfalls Modern VDI on Proxmox: ZFS Reliability and GPU Acceleration at Lower Cost News/discussion Why has Microsoft been routing example.com traffic to a company in Japan? Free consulting We were asked about SATA to PCIe adapters. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 284: BooTooth
Why you might not want your Windows encryption keys to be backed up to Microsoft, some Bluetooth devices are vulnerable to snooping and tracking, a lesson in the need for backups, and the best practices and stack for setting up a mail server. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Klara’s Expert Perspective on OpenZFS in 2026 and What to Expect Next Modern VDI on Proxmox: ZFS Reliability and GPU Acceleration at Lower Cost News/discussion Microsoft Gave FBI Keys To Unlock Encrypted Data, Exposing Major Privacy Flaw How to encrypt your PC’s disk without giving the keys to Microsoft WhisperPair: Hijacking Bluetooth Accessories Using Google Fast Pair When two years of academic work vanished with a single click Free consulting We were asked about the best practices and stack for setting up a mail server. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 283: FSOD
The last method to activate Windows without the Internet has gone away, malware that tricks users with a fake blue screen of death, and recovering from bad RAM with ZFS. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Understanding ZFS Scrubs and Data Integrity News/discussion Windows activation by phone is seemingly dead How Fake BSODs and Trusted Build Tools Are Used to Construct a Malware Infection Free consulting We were asked about recovering from bad RAM with ZFS. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 282: Fragile DNS
Cisco network gear fell over when it shouldn’t have, yet another security flaw is found in Microsoft Copilot, the US military is letting Grok into all its networks, and managing LVM snapshots. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Unwrapping ZFS: Gifts from the Open Source Community A New Year, A New ZFS: What 2.4 Brings to the Table News Cisco routers knocked out due to Cloudflare DNS change Reprompt: The Single-Click Microsoft Copilot Attack that Silently Steals Your Personal Data Musk’s AI tool Grok will be integrated into Pentagon networks, Hegseth says Free consulting We were asked about managing LVM snapshots. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 281: Lead The Target
The many reasons why email shouldn’t be trusted. Plus how to stop your kids accessing inappropriate content online, and why the answer probably isn’t a technical one. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes What We Built: Top ZFS Capabilities Delivered by Klara in 2025 Discussion Please STOP trusting email Free consulting We were asked about blocking adult content at the network level. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 280: Bad Parking
Why you should probably keep paying for your old domains, the perpetual problem of typo squatting, a machine learning expert’s take on BS from LLMs, and whether to separate compute and storage in a home setup. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Can You Have Too Many VDEVs? A Practical Guide to ZFS Scaling News/discussion Digital Trust in Danger: When Authorities Forget Their Old Domains Most Parked Domains Now Serving Malicious Content LLMs are bullshitters. But that doesn’t mean they’re not useful Free consulting We were asked about whether to separate compute and storage in a home setup. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 279: Short One
The one bit of advice we’d give to someone wanting to become a professional sysadmin. This is a short episode because Joe is having a break for the Christmas period. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 278: XXXfil
Apple deletes a person’s entire digital life, PornHub Premium user data is leaked, Mozilla’s new CEO wants to ruin Firefox, Tech Force in the USA is alarming, and fine tuning storage for databases. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Is DWPD Still a Useful SSD Spec? News/discussion 20 Years of Digital Life, Gone in an Instant, thanks to Apple PornHub extorted after hackers steal Premium member activity data Mozilla’s next chapter: Building the world’s most trusted software company Rest assured, Firefox will always remain a browser built around user control Tech Force Trump administration launches Tech Force hiring push Free consulting We were asked about fine tuning storage for databases. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 277: Battering RAM
The Crucial brand of consumer SSDs and RAM is going away, AMD and Intel memory encryption can be bypassed with cheap hardware, more AI buffoonery, and monitoring users’ usage on a network. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes When RAID Isn’t Enough: ZFS Redundancy Done Right News/discussion Micron Announces Exit from Crucial Consumer Business Cheap Hardware Module Bypasses AMD, Intel Memory Encryption Google’s vibe coding platform deletes entire drive One day, AI might be better than you at surfing the web. That day isn’t today Free consulting We were asked about monitoring users’ usage on a network. Tailscale Tailscale is an easy to deploy, zero-config, no-fuss VPN that allows you to build simple networks across complex infrastructure. Go to tailscale.com/25a and try Tailscale out for free for up to 100 devices and 3 users, with no credit card required. Use code LATENIGHTLINUX for three free months of any Tailscale paid plan. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 276: Very Prudish Network
What a government crackdown on VPNs would look like, malware groups play the long game with browser extensions, a new major version of FreeBSD is released, and using a single database vs one DB per application or VM. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes ZFS Enabled Disaster Recovery for Virtualization News/discussion The VPN panic is only getting started Stealthy browser extensions waited years before infecting 4.3M Chrome, Edge users with backdoors and spyware FreeBSD 15.0-RELEASE Announcement Free consulting We were asked about using a single database vs one DB per application or VM. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 275: G-word
Google kept collecting sensor data even after bricking Nest thermostats, FreeBSD’s container support gets serious, and where to find cheap (or even dirt cheap) used hardware. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes How to Set Up a Highly Available ZFS Pool Using Mirroring and iSCSI December Webinar: The 12 Days of ZFS: Tips, Tricks, and Treats News/discussion Google is collecting troves of data from downgraded Nest thermostats FreeBSD Officially Supported in OCI Runtime Specification v1.3 Free consulting We were asked about where to find cheap (or even dirt cheap) used hardware. Tailscale Tailscale is an easy to deploy, zero-config, no-fuss VPN that allows you to build simple networks across complex infrastructure. Go to tailscale.com/25a and try Tailscale out for free for up to 100 devices and 3 users, with no credit card required. Use code LATENIGHTLINUX for three free months of any Tailscale paid plan. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.