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 324: Less Canadian
A bug in APT shines a light on a long-standing issue, backing up databases in containers, the pros and cons of using FreeBSD to host Linux VMs, network isolation for VMs, and using another backup technology in addition to ZFS. With guest host Sean from Hybrid Cloud Show. Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes News/discussion APT can merge two different package downloads after an HTTP redirect gives them the same URI Free Consulting A modern Proxmox Docker architecture with disposable VMs, VirtIO-FS, and ZFS See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 323: No /boot For You
Why you should be watching for SSL certificates that you didn’t issue, Let’s Encrypt is shortening the length of certs to 64 days, Ubuntu tightens up GRUB with secure boot, an Intel driver bug breaks IPv6 for major services, and running websites from a home Internet connection. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes FreeBSD Release Cycles and Enterprise Requirements: Why LTS Matters News/discussion Chrome’s Response to Recent ccTLD Registry Hijacks 64-Day Certificate Lifetimes Coming Feb 2027 – Let’s Encrypt Ubuntu 26.10 drops Btrfs, XFS & ZFS /boot with Secure Boot A preinstalled Intel driver is silently breaking IPv6, OneNote and Microsoft 365 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 322: Internet Defrigeration
Supermarkets found out why their fridges shouldn’t be on the Internet and Samsung smart fridges broke after a firmware update, why we don’t recommend MoCA, some tips for running ethernet cables in your house, and why it’s fine to use a short TTL with your domains. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Biggest ZFS Misconfigurations and How to Fix Them: Part 2 News/discussion Hackers heat French supermarket fridges, sparking fires and spoiling food The username is admin and the password changes every day automatically to.. the current date Freeze the Controller, Defrost the Food: Uncovering Vulnerabilities in Danfoss Refrigeration Controllers Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges Free consulting Example coax cable tester See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 321: Backup Strategy
Why batteries in homes could benefit everyone involved, why we didn’t bring up wake-on-LAN when someone asked about keeping a NAS powered on as little as possible, building a router vs buying one, and ways to manage ssh connections. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Biggest ZFS Misconfigurations and How to Fix Them: Part 1 News/discussion How I kept cool with NYC’s free battery program for window AC units See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 320: Dining on Goose
Google offers a few pennies to web publishers to make up for stealing their content and not sending them any traffic, the tech we’d try to use after the apocalypse, why Jim doesn’t virtualise his clients’ desktops, and setting up Volume Shadow Copy so your users can restore their own files. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes FreeBSD: The Hidden Cost of Upgrading in Production News/discussion Google’s early attempt to pay websites for AI answers is struggling See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 319: Funding Open Source
The challenges of funding open source software projects, how Netflix uses FreeBSD in a positive way, why you shouldn’t try to complicate your monitoring, and running servers in a small residence. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Why Is Everyone Stuck on FreeBSD 13? Discussion Netflix Case Study See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 318: End of Exchange
Microsoft really wants you to update your Exchange server, our thoughts on immutable distros, more on Jim’s approach to internet access for his kids, restricting access to servers on a corporate network, and cloning and backing up operating systems with ZFS. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes OpenZFS User and Developer Summit 2026: October 27-30 News Microsoft to bounce mail from outdated Exchange servers See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 317: Need Less
Some of the ways you can mitigate the ridiculous hardware prices, and designing a small business LAN. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes FreeBSD’s Release Cycle: What It Means for Your Upgrade Schedule Free consulting We were asked about designing a small business LAN. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 316: BGP Clipboard Hijack
A BGP hijack involved some basic errors, Microsoft teaches people to ignore warnings in Windows, Zoom appears to be reading the clipboard on X11, why a non-US open certificate authority is feasible in theory, and keeping a NAS powered on as little as possible. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Send us an email News/discussion BGP hijack infecting networks caused by a comedy of errors that’s not funny at all Windows bug incorrectly tells users that Microsoft Defender Antivirus is turned off I noticed today that an update to the #Linux #Zoom client has made it start proactively reading _everything_ written to the X11 clipboard Free consulting We were asked about keeping a NAS powered on as little as possible. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 315: Hot Bus Adapter
What to read into a study of long-term Backblaze hard drive failure data, why the difference between TB and TiB matters, and what to do about an overheating host bus adapter. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes ZFS vs Ceph: Choosing the Right Storage Architecture News/discussion Peer-reviewed study of 443,000 Backblaze hard drives ranks HGST most reliable and Toshiba the least — Analysis of 1.66 million drive-years finds Seagate and Toshiba HDDs fail at roughly twice the rate of WD and HGST Changing Language for Storage Capacity Free consulting We were asked about an overheating host bus adapter. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 314: 50 PBS TBS
A TV station struggles to retrieve its data from the data centre company that a defunct intermediary used, why we don’t want AI to manage our networks (even if Microsoft thinks we should), and understanding vdevs, and datasets in ZFS. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes OpenZFS User and Developer Summit 2026 CfP is open until September 11 FreeBSD Security in Production: Vulnerability Response and Operational Best Practices News/discussion Nine PBS sues Iron Mountain over blocked access to archival data Judge sets framework for Nine PBS to retrieve archival data The patch window is collapsing: Why security needs a new control plane Free consulting We were asked about pools, vdevs, and datasets in ZFS. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 313: Cooking with NVMe
Microsoft claims that Windows 11 will work well with 8GB of RAM, some of the innovations coming to high end SSDs, the arguments for TP-Link Omada over UniFi Ubiquiti. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes FreeBSD Support: Greatest Hits Discussion Microsoft says 8 GB of RAM should be enough for anyone running Windows 11 Windows quality: an update on the commitment we made in March Free consulting We were asked about the arguments for TP-Link Omada over UniFi Ubiquiti. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 312: Bus Factor
In a world where photos can no longer be trusted, Jim argues that we should move to a default distrust model where images are signed at every stage of the process of creation. We get into some of the potential issues. Plus how to ensure continuity for your clients in the event of your demise, and setting up a system to demonstrate ZFS replication capabilities. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Piss up at The Shipwrights Arms (just next to London Bridge station) on Saturday 5th September from 5pm until late Discussion Google Earth risked ruin with retracted AI tool for making fake satellite pics Apple is working on a way to authenticate that a photo came from an iPhone camera Free consulting We were asked about how to ensure continuity for your clients in the event of your demise, and setting up a system to demonstrate ZFS replication capabilities. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 311: Couch Cushions
Microsoft restored an account including files that it initially claimed wasn’t possible, Apple might lock down phones if people don’t keep up their lease payments, ZFS scrubs shouldn’t be painful, and accessing another network from a locked-down work machine. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes ZFS vs Ceph: Do You Actually Need Ceph? News/discussion Microsoft restores player’s 25-year-old account following widespread backlash iOS 27 code suggests Apple could restrict leased devices after missed payments If Scrubs Hurt, Your ZFS Design Is Broken Free consulting We were asked about accessing another network from a locked-down work machine. Teleport Community Apache Guacamole® Linux After Dark – Episode 120 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 310: GPLFreeBSD
Google wants you to use a selfie video for account recovery, LG will stop apps turning their smart TVs into residential proxy nodes, we disagree about how serious OpenAI’s agent hacking Hugging Face is, FreeBSD removes the last bits of GPL software and suffers an embarrassing git flub , and backing up to an encrypted NAS without ZFS. Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes News/discussion Introducing selfie for sign-in: a new, easy way to access your Google Account LG to Ban Residential Proxies from Smart TV Apps OpenAI says its AI agent broke out of testing sandbox to hack Hugging Face FreeBSD 16 Retires The Last Of Its GPL Code From Its Base System Ports Repository Freeze Free consulting We were asked about backing up to an encrypted NAS without ZFS. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.