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.
Reading the feed…
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 a
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 Ubiquiti UniFi. 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 Ubiquiti UniFi. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
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
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
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 tes
A new HTTP caching standard looks promising but might struggle to get adopted, a terrible space mirror idea is actually happening, cars will spy on us all, and picking a VPN for use with an IP that doesn’t change very often. Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes News/discussion HTTP gets a QUERY method so complex searches can stop pretending to be POST FCC grants approval for sun-reflecting space mirror that’s been widely criticized by astronomers Feels like all of us need to pay way more attention to the new rules affecting EU and US folk, requiring a
Microsoft really wants your Windows settings data, secure boot has been useless for a decade, our thoughts on (the idea of) Incus and IncusOS, and configuring ZFS for a Lightning Memory Mapped Database. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Jails, Not Containers: FreeBSD Isolation Done Right News/discussion Microsoft flips Windows Backup to on by default unless you’re in the EU Microsoft’s Secure Boot has been broken for a decade and no one noticed until now IncusOS Incus Free consulting We were asked about configuring ZFS for a Lightning Memory Mappe
Follow-up on rebooting to update, portable power stations, glass storage, and objective news sources. Plus whether to use one ZFS pool per vdev, or just one large pool. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Native inotify in FreeBSD Feedback Anker SOLIX EV Charger Adapter (For F3000, J1722 only) EcoFlow EV Charger to Portable Power Station Adaptor (SAE J1772 to 5P8 Port, 50A) WattCycle First-to-Market: WattLINK – EcoFlow Delta 2/3 Series PPS E Free consulting We were asked about whether to use one ZFS pool per vdev, or just one large pool. See our con
Why setting up commercial email and VPN services is incredibly hard, avoiding TrueNAS’s move from FreeBSD to Linux, why we avoid virtualising storage systems, and bridging WiFi to an external building. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Using Object Storage with OpenZFS and SeaweedFS Discussion Jeff Moss explains why setting up private email and VPN services are so difficult Feedback XigmaNAS Free consulting We were asked about bridging WiFi to an external building. Point-to-point Wi-Fi bridging between buildings—the cheap and easy way See our cont
The one tool in our IT tool belt that we value the most. This is a short episode because Joe is having a summer break. See our contact page for ways to get in touch.
Wiring up a house for networking including cables, access points, connectors, and racks. Plus Google is found liable for what its AI overviews say. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Managing Cache and DirectIO for Databases on ZFS Webinar: June 30th @ 11am EDT: FreeBSD After Hours AMA News/discussion Landmark German ruling declares Google’s AI Overviews are Google’s own words and makes it liable for false answers Free consulting We were asked about wiring up a house for access points etc. Jim’s guide to Wi-Fi AP placement Monoprice 24-port Cat5e P
People were locked out of their password managers to stop a brute force attack, Coreutils come to Windows, a FreeBSD PR effort backfires, and the best simple consumer WiFi gear. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Why ZFS Is the Ideal Filesystem for Multi-User/Department Media Production Webinar: June 30th @ 11am EDT: FreeBSD After Hours AMA News/discussion Password manager Dashlane suspends customer accounts amid brute-force attacks Microsoft Announces Coreutils For Windows: Derived From Rust Coreutils Coreutils for Windows FreeBSD Foundation Execu
Microsoft threatens a security researcher for disclosing vulnerabilities publicly, bricks old versions of Office, and announces their version of OpenClaw. Plus keeping up with the latest technology. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Which ZFS Storage Metrics Matter for Database Performance Webinar: June 25th @ 11am EDT: Understanding AnyRAID with Jon from HexOS News/discussion Microsoft under fire for threatening security researcher with criminal investigation The researcher is a former MS employee says Krebs Microsoft reaches for olive branch aft
It looks like Bitlocker had a back door in it, how a listener accidentally broke Gitea for users of the snap version, Google accidentally published an unpatched exploit for Chromium-based browsers, why people are starting to ditch Bitwarden, and moving a tech stack away from large corporations. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes How Klara and TrueNAS fixed ZFS’s longest standing limitation Webinar: June 25th @ 11am EDT: Understanding AnyRAID with Jon from HexOS News/discussion YellowKey Bitlocker Bypass Vulnerability Microsoft shares mitigation for
Why a proposal for an alternative to IPv6 is unlikely to be viable, Microsoft really doesn’t want you to run Exchange Server on-prem, Google will finally stop being a proper search engine, setting up an email server for internal use, and mitigating DDoS attacks without Cloudflare. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Tuning ZFS for Databases Webinar: May 27th at 11am EDT: Database Performance on ZFS with Tom Lawrence News/discussion Veteran network architect proposes IPv8 – to improve IPv4, not leapfrog v6 Exchange Server zero-day vulnerability can b
People trying to return defective hard drives and RAM are finding out why consumer protection laws would be good, GoDaddy accidentally gave someone’s domain name away, and when and how to fix ZFS fragmentation. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Fast Dedup Economics: When Deduplication Beats Buying New Disks News/discussion Toshiba refuses to replace large hard drive that was under warranty — company offers refund at the purchase price, not the higher current retail price GoDaddy Gave a Domain to a Stranger Without Any Documentation Free consulting
Microsoft is encouraging employees with the most experience to leave the company and letting users pause Windows updates forever, some of the best features you’ll get in the version of ZFS that ships with the new Ubuntu LTS, and backing up data from cloud services. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Extending ZFS Performance Without Hardware Upgrades News/discussion Microsoft tackles quality control issues. Just kidding, it’s encouraging experienced workers to leave Your Windows update experience just got updated zfs-2.3.0 zfs-2.4.0 Free consulting
Hitting the limit for hard links, a parent struggles to get back into their teen’s compromised Discord account, the demise of tower PCs and general purpose computing in general, and changing the properties of existing ZFS pools. Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Compensating for RAM Constraints with L2ARC on ZFS News/discussion How Jennifer Aniston and Friends Cost Us 377GB and Broke ext4 Hardlinks Dad stuck in support nightmare after teen lied about age on Discord Apple’s last tower topples… and the others will follow Free consulting We were aske
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 Pro
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.
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.
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
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
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 En
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
