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 296: Beware of the Leopard
Microsoft locks devs out of important accounts, the foreign router ban exemptions make even less sense, Backblaze shows that “unlimited” never means that, and attempting to avoid software that’s written with AI. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Do More with Less: Cost-Efficient Storage on the New TrueNAS with Enhanced Fast Dedup The Hidden Value of CPU-Intensive Compression on Modern Hardware News/discussion Microsoft locks out VeraCrypt and WireGuard devs, blames verification process Action Required: Account Verification for Windows Hardware Program Begins October 16, 2025 FCC exempts Netgear from ban on foreign routers, doesn’t explain why Backblaze has quietly stopped backing up your data Free consulting We were asked about avoiding software that’s written with AI. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 295: Orbital Meltdown
Why putting data center satellites in orbit is a terrible idea, Google might show people a made-up version of your website, and ZFS on really old Dell servers. Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes News/discussion Orbital data centers, part 1: There’s no way this is economically viable, right? 11 mins edited Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea Google Just Patented The End Of Your Website Free consulting We were asked about ZFS on really old Dell servers. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 294: Oh, R2
Arm announces its first CPU, Anthropic accidentally leaks the source for Claude Code and it’s terrible, and setting up a backup for a friend’s photos. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes FreeBSD and OpenZFS in the Quest for Technical Independence: A Storage Architect’s View News/discussion Arm expands compute platform to silicon products in historic company first Anthropic exposes Claude Code source by accident Free consulting We were asked about setting up a backup for a friend’s photos. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 293: Reduced Flicker
Microsoft says Windows 11 is getting less rubbish but we are skeptical, vehicles with alcohol interlocks won’t start because the manufacturer’s server is down, and whether you should virtualise a router or a NAS. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Five‑Year Storage Design with OpenZFS: Media Refresh, Rebalancing, and Hardware Independence News/discussion Our commitment to Windows quality Microsoft fixes broken Windows update days after vowing fewer broken updates Cyberattack on vehicle breathalyzer company leaves drivers stranded across the US Free consulting We were asked about whether you should virtualise a router or a NAS. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
2.5 Admins 292: Trivyally Infected
The US government is drumming up fear about foreign routers, a pretty serious supply chain attack might be state-sponsored, and the safety of filesystems inside VMs. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes The Real Cost of Technology Dependence: Building Independence with Open-Source Storage News/discussion US bans any new consumer-grade routers not made in America National Security Determination on the Threat Posed by Routers Produced by Foreign Countries (pdf) 1K+ cloud environments infected following Trivy supply chain attack Self-propagating malware poisons open source software and wipes Iran-based machines Free consulting We were asked about the safety of filesystems inside VMs. 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 291: UPS for LiFePO4
Why passkeys aren’t the right solution to everything, Allan tells us why he loves his new Lithium Iron Phosphate UPS, Btrfs vs ZFS on root, and restricting Internet access for IoT devices on your network. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Designing OpenZFS Storage for Independence News/discussion Please, please, please stop using passkeys for encrypting user data Allan’s new Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2 Portable Power Station Free consulting We were asked about restricting Internet access for IoT devices on your network. 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 290: Tired of Tracking
Microsoft Authenticator will delete Entra credentials on phones that aren’t running stock ROMs, Jim’s nightmare experience trying to get a user back into their MS account, tracking vehicles via tire pressure monitors, using a ZFS pool in a degraded state, and keeping cold ZFS storage dataset snapshots in sync. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes ZFS Fast Dedup for Proxmox News/discussion Microsoft Authenticator to nuke Entra creds on rooted and jailbroken phones Jailbreak/root detection in Microsoft Authenticator Jim Microsoft MFA rant Vehicle Tire Pressure Sensors Enable Silent Tracking Free consulting We were asked about purposely using a ZFS pool in a degraded state, and keeping cold ZFS storage dataset snapshots in sync. 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 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.