2.5 Admins - podcast cover

2.5 Admins

The Late Night Linux Family2.5admins.com
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 week we get together, talk about recent tech news, and answer some of your admin-related questions.

Episodes

2.5 Admins 177: Don’t Pay the Dane

Why the problems with open source licenses aren’t quite as easy to fix as some people think, the reasons you should never pay ransomware gangs, and running a Nagios distro on a Raspberry Pi. Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes News/discussion What comes after […]

Jan 11, 202429 min

2.5 Admins 176: Sudo Cognito

What does “incognito mode” in Chrome actually mean and whether documenting browser standards in code is a good idea, the serious implications of a fun story about messing with a ChatGPT instance, and maximizing performance when using mixed disk types on ZFS mirrored vdevs. Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS […]

Jan 04, 202430 min

2.5 Admins 175: Guess Who’s Listening

Twitch pulls out of Korea thanks to the opposite of Net Neutrality, it’s not clear to what extent smart devices are listening to your conversations, more on water usage in data centers, and our thoughts on mandatory access controls. Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes […]

Dec 28, 202329 min

2.5 Admins 174: Guess Who’s Watching

What you need to know about the recent SSH vulnerability, yet another privacy issue with cloud-connected security cameras, why it’s difficult to get to the bottom of an obscure ZFS encryption bug, and more. Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes News SSH protects the […]

Dec 21, 202332 min

2.5 Admins 173: Ghost Files

Google Drive client users lost months of files, a feature of UEFI that has left millions of computers potentially vulnerable to persistent malware, and why you probably shouldn’t buy cheap resold volume Windows licenses. Plugs Support us on patreon to get ad-free episodes that are sometimes a day or so early. News/discussion Google […]

Dec 14, 202329 min

2.5 Admins 172: HOLEy ZFS

Jim and Allan break down the details of the recent ZFS data corruption bug, and give their tips for managing a fleet of 40+ servers. Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes News Two new versions of OpenZFS fix long-hidden corruption bug Free Consulting […]

Dec 07, 202332 min

2.5 Admins 171: RSA PSA

Why a small island nation’s top level domain ended up with such a terrible reputation, an ssh vulnerability that’s not as scary as it sounds, whether software can be “finished”, and using powerline or WiFi for security cameras. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes […]

Nov 30, 202330 min

2.5 Admins 170: Uninterruptible WiFi

Why and how Allan installed a set of new Power over Ethernet wireless access points, and our hardware recommendations for a media server and NAS in one. Allan’s new WiFi setup Access points Controller Free Consulting We were asked for hardware recommendations for a media server and NAS in one. […]

Nov 23, 202329 min

2.5 Admins 169: SDCoF

A Cloudflare outage shines a light on sloppy data center practices, and why you shouldn’t run a mail server at home. Plus followup on the Android multi-user bug, package managers on Windows, and Toshiba hard drives. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes News/discussion Cloudflare […]

Nov 16, 202331 min

2.5 Admins 168: Do The Right Thing

Okta seems to not be taking its security seriously enough, crashing iPhones is far easier than it should be, Jim’s report from the Ubuntu Summit, and what to do when you find a company’s sensitive data on the Internet. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes […]

Nov 09, 202330 min

2.5 Admins 167: Delayed Flush

The large water consumption of AI and data centers in general, China’s big push towards IPv6, why we don’t talk about Toshiba hard drives very often, and the implications of poor Bluetooth security on an e-bike. Plugs Support us on patreon Unlocking Infrastructure Sovereignty: Harnessing the Power of Open Source Solutions for Business Flexibility […]

Nov 02, 202332 min

2.5 Admins 166: 20 Second Cheque

What Google should do to prevent malware sites in their ads, why you might want to avoid using multiple profiles on Android devices, a speculative execution vulnerability in Apple Silicon, and the pros and cons of TP-Link Omada and Ubiquiti Unifi. Plugs Support us on patreon News Clever malvertising attack uses Punycode to […]

Oct 26, 202331 min

2.5 Admins 165: Big AI

The nuances of copyrighting AI-generated art, getting the best speeds with Samba, and building an SSD-only NAS. News/discussion Opinion: The Copyright Office is making a mistake on AI-generated art Free Consulting We were asked about building an SSD-only NAS. Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure, it […]

Oct 19, 202330 min

2.5 Admins 164: Filthy Internet

Why enabling password autofill isn’t a great idea, Jim’s adventures in network repair, and setting up a home router/WiFi hotspot. Feedback Don’t use autofill on your password manager Story Time Adventures in network repair Free Consulting We were asked about hardware for a home router/Wi-Fi hotspot. HelloFresh With […]

Oct 12, 202331 min

2.5 Admins 163: Two Factors One SPOF

A network breach teaches us all a valuable lesson about threat models, Allan and Jim’s TV setups, and picking the right external storage solution. Plugs Support us on patreon News/discussion How Google Authenticator made one company’s network breach much, much worse Amolith’s wiki page about passwords Feedback Allan’s TV remote control […]

Oct 05, 202329 min

2.5 Admins 162: Irresponsible Disclosure

Google and Apple do a bad job of disclosing a pretty serious vulnerability, why hard drives aren’t physically bigger, and setting up a distributed backup system with a group of friends. Plugs Support us on patreon News Submit your ideas or articles – OpenSource.net Incomplete disclosures by Apple and Google create “huge blindspot” […]

Sep 28, 202330 min

2.5 Admins 161: 5PiB Coffee Mug

The future of archive storage using lasers and ceramics, self-hosting an Internet archive, more on Windows 11 Home, and setting up storage inside VMs. Plugs Support us on patreon Jim and Allan host Klara’s latest Webinar: OpenZFS Data Replication News/discussion Cerabyte roadmaps ceramic nano-memory storage Feedback Archivy ArchiveBox Free Consulting We […]

Sep 21, 202326 min

2.5 Admins 160: Diss Unity

Unity causes a stink with its new pricing model, running out of disk space causes a very expensive problem, how one-off promotional domains can come back to bite you, and picking the hardware and software for a router. News Unity has changed its pricing model, and game developers are pissed off Unity rushes to […]

Sep 14, 202332 min

2.5 Admins 159: Dirty Install

The user experience on fresh installations of Windows and Edge is terrible and we get to the bottom of why. Unfortunately the reason isn’t exclusive to Microsoft’s offerings – it’s a pattern that we’ve seen from numerous companies, even Mozilla. Plus why it’s a bad idea to power your server on and off regularly. […]

Sep 07, 202331 min

2.5 Admins 158: It Doesn’t Go to 10

Dropbox once again proves that there is no such thing as “unlimited” anything, Intel isn’t going to support WiFi 7 on Windows 10 (but it doesn’t really matter), managing ssh keys, setting up data storage for containers, and more on IPMI for Raspberry Pis. Plugs Support us on patreon News Dropbox limits ‘all […]

Aug 31, 202329 min

2.5 Admins 157: Lincoln’s HDD

CNET’s SEO attempts once again show that nothing lasts forever, why the reports of the death of the mechanical hard drive are greatly exaggerated, and home-made IPMI on the cheap. Plugs Support us on Patreon News/discussion The Internet is not forever after all: CNET deletes old articles to game Google Coughlin: SSDs will […]

Aug 24, 202327 min

2.5 Admins 156: SanDisk Extreme Fail

Why fully remote work is on the wane as Zoom drags employees back to the office and Bluejeans is shut down, the Sandisk SSDs that keep failing, and how and why you should use ECC RAM in your home server if you can. Plugs Support us on Patreon News Zoom has “Zoom fatigue,” […]

Aug 17, 202325 min

2.5 Admins 155: Dialup Memories

Allan and Jim reminisce about the early days of connecting to the Internet, and what inspired them to become sysadmins in the first place. Plus recovering old versions of files, and an exciting announcement about the show. Plugs 2.5 Admins is now part of the Late Night Linux Family. Support us on Patreon […]

Aug 10, 202328 min

2.5 Admins 154: 8.8.8.8.8.8

Why the increasing trend of charging for public IPv4 addresses won’t change much, Google trials restricting its employees’ Internet access, and operating systems uploading firmware to devices at boot. Plugs Support us on patreon Klara 2023 Recommended Summer Reads – FreeBSD and Linux News New – AWS Public IPv4 Address Charge + Public […]

Aug 03, 202330 min

2.5 Admins 153: Robots.nope

Updating the robots.txt standard for the AI era, the US government implements an IoT certification and labeling system, and the issues with fully encrypting a server. Plugs Support us on patreon 3 Advantages to Running FreeBSD as Your Server Operating System News/discussion Google suggests updating the robots.txt standard Robots.txt is not the answer: […]

Jul 27, 202333 min

2.5 Admins 152: AirTags Use CR2032 Batteries

Intel is giving up on NUCs and Asus is taking over the line, millions of classified US military emails are going to a Russian ally thanks to a common typo, and monitoring SSDs. Plugs Support us on patreon Linux and FreeBSD Firewalls – Part 2 News Intel is quitting on its adorable, powerful, […]

Jul 20, 202329 min

2.5 Admins 151: Practical ZFS

Setting up a self-hosted alternative, what counts as a “removable” battery, and backing up a Windows machine to ZFS. News/discussion Practical ZFS Making sense of the EU’s fight for user-replaceable smartphone batteries (Jim was wrong about AirTags and their batteries. He’ll correct the record next time. No need to email us.) Free Consulting […]

Jul 13, 202331 min

2.5 Admins 150: Red Hate

Red Hat wants to limit redistribution of RHEL source code. We discuss their history with CentOS and the likely knock-on effects of taking direct aim at its customers’ GPL rights. Plus browsers doing port scans, and OpenWrt vs OPNsense. Plugs Support us on patreon Practical ZFS News Red Hat’s new source code policy […]

Jul 06, 202333 min

2.5 Admins 149: Three Year Warning

WD disks “warning” that they have been running for 3 years, a modern replacement for IMAP that no one seems to be using, the potential issues that arise when PC games require an SSD to run, alternatives to VMware, and verifying your backups. News/discussion “Clearly predatory”: Western Digital sparks panic, anger for age-shaming HDDs […]

Jun 29, 202334 min

2.5 Admins 148: API Ultra 7 Pro for Workstations

Reddit fails to see where its true value lies, Intel makes its consumer CPU lines confusing, and Microsoft’s “next generation” filesystem. News What Reddit Got Wrong Reddit CEO tells employees that subreddit blackout ‘will pass’ Intel has new labels for its next major CPU architecture Free Consulting We were asked about Microsoft’s “next […]

Jun 22, 202332 min