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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Windows is becoming an “agentic OS”, some WD SMR drives are dying prematurely, backing up VMware with ZFS, and separating trusted and non-trusted devices on your network.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Understanding Storage Performance Metrics December Webinar: The 12 Days of ZFS: Tips, Tricks, and Treats   News/discussion Microsoft is turning Windows into an ‘agentic OS,’ starting with the taskbar Critics scoff after Microsoft warns AI feature can infect machines and pilfer data WD launches investigation into problems with its controversial SMR hard drives   Free consulting We were asked about backing up VMware with ZFS, and separating trusted and non-trusted devices on your network.               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Allan tells us about the recent OpenZFS Summit including inconsistent JBODs, more details about mixed disk sizes in ZFS with AnyRaid, an upcoming standard that allows you to keep using partially dead hard drives, Seagate’s roadmap for 50 and 100 TB drives, and NVMe connected mechanical drives. Plus using a separate mini PC for work.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Building Enterprise-Grade Storage on Proxmox with ZFS December Webinar: The 12 Days of ZFS: Tips, Tricks, and Treats   Free consulting We were asked about using a separate mini PC for work.               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why you should seriously consider buying refurbished hard drives, why drives might be lasting longer than they once did, Jim’s M.2 NVMe drive died at an inopportune moment, using multiple partitions on disks with ZFS.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Advanced ZFS Dataset Management: Snapshots, Clones, and Bookmarks November Webinar: ZFS Mastery: The Bits They Don’t Put in the Man Pages   News/discussion Do Refurbished Hard Disks Make Sense For Your Home NAS Server? Are Hard Drives Getting Better? Let’s Revisit the Bathtub Curve Jim’s M.2 NVMe nightmare   Free consulting We were asked about using multiple partitions on disks with ZFS.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why you should keep your Baseboard Management Controller off the network, ZFS is hard to defeat with a zip bomb, how bad the Internet bot problem probably is, and building a small home server cluster.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   Discussion Supermicro server motherboards can be infected with unremovable malware When a decompression ZIP bomb meets ZFS: 19 PB written on a 15 TB disk   Free consulting We were asked about building a small home server cluster.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

It looks like the storage companies aren’t betting on the AI bubble lasting much longer, the arguments against self-hosting, and setting up a server for virtualization and containers.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes ZFS Performance Tuning in the Real World: ARC, L2ARC, and SLOG   Discussion Expect HDD, SSD shortages as AI rewrites the rules of storage hierarchy — multiple companies announce price hikes, too The Future is NOT Self-Hosted   Free consulting We were asked about setting up a server for virtualization and containers.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Windows 10 is officially end of life but Microsoft extends free updates for Windows 10 in Europe, it gets even harder to use a local account in Windows 11, and whether repurposing old server hardware is worth it.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes What the Future Brings – ZFS Features, Roadmap, and Innovations   News/discussion Major backtrack as Microsoft makes Windows 10 extended security updates FREE for an extra year — but only in certain markets Microsoft is plugging more holes that let you use Windows 11 without an online account   Free consulting We were asked about repurposing old server hardware.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A Red Hat breach leads to a leak of lots of sensitive customer data, Synology backs down on allowing third-party drives but they are removing features, and managing ZFS properties during replication.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Optimizing ZFS for High-Throughput Storage Workloads   News Red Hat fesses up to GitLab breach after attackers brag of data theft Red Hat breach escalates as Crimson Collective recruits help International Cyber Digest Twitter thread Synology caves, walks back some drive restrictions on upcoming NAS models Synology Removes Graphics Drivers and HEVC & H.264 HW Transcoding Support Discontinuation Notice for HEVC (H.265), AVC (H.264), and VC-1 Transcoding on DSM and BeeStation OS Platforms   Free consulting We were asked about managing ZFS properties during replication.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The weird errors you see when your root partition is full, TikTok uses a lot of bandwidth by preloading videos, and dealing with a ZFS pool that won’t import.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Keeping Data Safe with OpenZFS: Security, Encryption, and Delegation   News/discussion Dark patterns killed my wife’s Windows 11 installation TikTok video pre-loads cause ‘massive data wastage’   Free consulting We were asked about dealing with a ZFS pool that won’t import. Importing corrupted pool causes PANIC Klara added additional diagnostics to ZFS to help investigate this issue, that shipped as part of 2.3.4 Klara also has a work-around to get past the errors, but it is likely to result in data loss if there are overlapping segments, or the leaking of free space when segments are not entirely removed (not to be attempted without a developer present)             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Intel and Nvidia are teaming up for multiple reasons, Open AI are planning to build data centers and use a ludicrous amount of power, LLM hallucinations aren’t going away, and how long we keep servers and hard drives in production.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Troubleshooting ZFS – Common Issues and How to Fix Them   News Nvidia, Intel to co-develop “multiple generations” of chips as part of $5 billion deal Nvidia and Intel’s $5 billion deal is apparently about eating AMD’s lunch OpenAI and Nvidia’s $100B AI plan will require power equal to 10 nuclear reactors Nvidia adds more air to the AI bubble with vague $100B OpenAI deal The AI-energy apocalypse might be a little overblown OpenAI’s Stargate project to pave the world with AI datacenters announces five new US locations OpenAI admits AI hallucinations are mathematically inevitable, not just engineering flaws   Free consulting We were asked about how long we keep servers and hard drives in production.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Joe set up a FreeBSD box to serve as a replication target and it was surprisingly straightforward, if rather different from Linux. Plus the lies that storage tells us.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Matrix shows how painful enormous databases can be to restore, why the certificate authority system doesn’t seem to make sense in 2025, a hosting provider thinks they are better than Cloudflare at blocking malicious traffic, a viral app turns out to be written by an enthusiastic dev who doesn’t understand best practices, and using S3 object storage outside of the cloud. With guest host Gary from Linux After Dark and Hybrid Cloud Show.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion Matrix.org homeserver grinds to a halt after RAID meltdown Mis-issued certificates for 1.1.1.1 DNS service pose a threat to the Internet The number of mis-issued 1.1.1.1 certificates grows Mythic Beasts will block Cloudflare IPs on shared hosting if abusive traffic gets through Unfortunately, the ICEBlock app is activism theater ICEBlock handled my vulnerability report in the worst possible way   Free consulting We were asked about using S3 object storage outside of the cloud. MinIO           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

McDonald’s IT systems seem to be riddled with 90s-style coding errors, we finally know where the fraudulent hard drives came from, when IT workers go rogue, and ZFS on root without using FreeBSD or Ubuntu.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion How I Hacked McDonald’s Seagate Uncovers Global Scheme That Sold 1 Million Used Drives as New # smartctl -l farm /dev/sdx Developer gets 4 years for activating network “kill switch” to avenge his firing  Woman gets 8 years for aiding North Koreans infiltrate 300 US firms   Free consulting We were asked about ZFS on root without using FreeBSD or Ubuntu. Introduction to ZFSBootMenu           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Google is planning to assert even more control over which Android apps can be installed, the US government takes a 10% stake in Intel, and minimum networking speeds in homes and offices.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes ZFS Basecamp Launch: A Panel with the People Behind ZFS   News/discussion A new layer of security for certified Android devices US government takes 10 percent stake in Intel in exchange for money it was already on the hook for   Free consulting We were asked about minimum networking speeds in homes and offices.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why you can’t rely on a single cloud provider, Jim discovers AI that spreads itself like a worm, and configuring all-flash arrays.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes FreeBSD Summer Roundup: Guide to Lock-In Free Infrastructure   News/discussion AWS deleted my 10-year account and all data without warning AWS Restored My Account: The Human Who Made the Difference Jim’s AI nightmare     Free consulting We were asked about configuring all-flash arrays.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

AMD’s recent mobile-class processors impress us with their power to performance ratio, the UK government suggests a preposterous way to save water, setting up verified boot with snapshots, and the best way to configure ZFS to run VMs.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes ZFS Summer Roundup: Smart Hardware Advice   News AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 vs. Ryzen 9 9950X vs. Ryzen 9 9950X3D Linux Performance Review UK Government says delete old emails to save water UK government to invest over £2 billion in the UK’s AI ecosystem   Free consulting We were asked about setting up verified boot with snapshots, and the best way to configure ZFS to run VMs.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The Web is a mess of tracking and AI scraping so do we need a new one, would it even be possible, or is this the wrong question? Plus setting up servers in a garage where dusty woodworking is happening.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   Free consulting We were asked about setting up servers in a garage where dusty woodworking is happening.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Jim is concerned that although over-anthropomorphising LLMs is a mistake, we should be cautious about some of their human-like behaviour. Plus how to maintain old ZFS pools, and accessibility in the BSDs.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   Discussion It’s a mistake to over anthropomorphize LLMs, but it’s equally a mistake to *under* anthropomorphize them Grok will no longer call itself Hitler or base its opinions on Elon Musk’s, promises xAI   Free consulting We were asked about how to maintain old ZFS pools, and accessibility in the BSDs.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Two recent outages were handled very differently but show the dangers of centralisation, Let’s Encrypt is introducing certificates for IP addresses, and the differences between backup and production systems.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion Microsoft’s 19-hour Outlook outage exposes fragility in cloud infrastructure Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 incident on July 14, 2025 We’ve Issued Our First IP Address Certificate   Free consulting We were asked about the differences between backup and production systems.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

To celebrate the 256 milestone we devote the whole episode to explaining why we use ZFS. We explain about data safety, data retention, data portability, and ease of administration.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Klara ZFS Basecamp – Central Resource for Everything ZFS Practical ZFS               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Microsoft offers Windows 10 updates in return for your settings data, Denmark wants to protect against deepfakes using copyright, someone is wrong on the Internet about RAID, and getting a sysadmin job in your late 40s.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion Microsoft’s free updates for Windows 10 draw criticism Denmark plans to thwart deepfakers by giving everyone copyright over their own features Why I Stopped Using RAID on My Plex Media Server   Free consulting We were asked about getting a sysadmin job in your late 40s.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A vulnerability in sudo brings up concerns about feature-creep, and makes us consider alternatives. Plus Broadcom starts auditing VMware customers, and how to decide which outbound ports to open on a large network’s firewall.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Disaster Recovery with ZFS: A Practical Guide   News/discussion Vulnerability Advisory: Sudo chroot Elevation of Privilege VMware perpetual license holder receives audit letter from Broadcom   Free consulting We were asked about how to decide which outbound ports to open on a large network’s firewall.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Jim is concerned that we might not see another next-gen filesystem that can compete with ZFS, no matter how much we all want one. Plus whether you should switch to third-party firmware on your router.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes ZFS Performance Tuning – Optimizing for your Workload   Discussion Bcachefs Lands More Improvements For Linux 6.16 After Data Loss Bug Hit v6.15 I’m starting to wonder if modern next-gen filesystems are approaching an inherent limit of human ability to mentally model and manage complexity   Free consulting We were asked whether you should switch to third-party firmware on your router.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Nintendo cuts off Switches that dare to play backed up games, more Microsoft AI exploits, why you shouldn’t regularly spin down hard drives, and securing applications on a home server.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Reliable ZFS Storage on Commodity Hardware – A Cost-Efficient, Data-Sure Storage Solution Klara co-hosted a webinar with TrueNAS about ZFS Fast Dedup   News Switch 2 users report online console bans after running personal game “backups” Intellectual Property & Piracy FAQ | Nintendo Support archived version Breaking down ‘EchoLeak’, the First Zero-Click AI Vulnerability Enabling Data Exfiltration from Microsoft 365 Copilot I learned the hard way to never spin down your NAS hard drives   Free consulting We were asked about securing applications on a home server.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

SharePoint is exploitable by Microsoft’s AI, NIST proposes a new metric for exploited vulnerabilities, SBCs that look cool for a mini NAS and a router,  and setting up a first NAS with 4 disks.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes The Maintainer’s Dilemma: Strategies for Supporting Legacy Drivers Across Decades of Hardware Evolution   News/discussion Exploiting Copilot AI for SharePoint NIST proposes new metric to gauge exploited vulnerabilities ODROID-H4 PLUS ODROID-H4 ULTRA H4 Mini-ITX Kit Banana Pi BPI-R4 Pro is a versatile router board with WiFi 7, 10 Gb and 2.5 Gb LAN, and multiple M.2 connectors   Free consulting We were asked about setting up a first NAS with 4 disks.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Google bypasses the usual channels to distrust two certificate authorities, Meta’s new escalation in the privacy arms race, Allan gives us the inside details of a new mixed-disk-size ZFS RAID feature, and moving from UniFi gear to TP-Link.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes The Overlooked Complexity of Firmware Security in the IoT Era   News/discussion Google Chrome to Distrust Two Certificate Authorities Over Compliance and Conduct Issues Meta pauses mobile port tracking tech on Android after researchers cry foul Introducing ZFS AnyRaid, Sponsored by Eshtek   Free consulting We were asked about moving from UniFi gear to TP-Link.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Locating people with just a phone call, Google forces a change to Let’s Encrypt certificates, yet another example of a “lifetime” subscription being cut short, connecting drives to a small form factor machine, and managing ssh keys with LDAP.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes What We’ve Learned Supporting FreeBSD in Production (So You Don’t Have To)   News O2 VoLTE: locating any customer with a phone call Ending TLS Client Authentication Certificate Support in 2026 – Let’s Encrypt VPN firm says it didn’t know customers had lifetime subscriptions, cancels them   Free consulting We were asked about connecting drives to a small form factor machine, and managing ssh keys with LDAP. SAS Expanders, Build Your Own JBOD DAS Enclosure and Save – Iteration 1           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

TrueNAS drops FreeBSD but there’s a community fork, the elusive ZFS send bug that affected encrypted datasets is finally identified and fixed, why the Raspberry Pi doesn’t make a great NAS, and when to use the zpool checkpoint feature.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Maintaining FreeBSD in a Commercial Product – Why Upstream Contributions Matter   News/discussion TrueNAS 25.04 drops FreeBSD: “Fangtooth” only with GNU/Linux base FreeBSD fans rally round zVault upstart ZFS raw-send corruption bug fixed 5 things I regret about using my Raspberry Pi as a NAS   Free consulting We were asked about the zpool checkpoint feature.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The basic computer science problems that still remain unsolvable, why you shouldn’t trust AI to tune ZFS (or answer any admin questions), and setting up a check-in system for a group of friends.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes   Discussion Why You Can’t Trust AI to Tune ZFS   Free consulting We were asked about setting up a check-in system for a group of friends.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Old passwords work for Windows RDP, Broadcom shows why perpetual software licenses aren’t really forever, Windows Server is getting hotpatching, and preventing changes to archived files.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Owning the Stack: Infrastructure Independence with FreeBSD and ZFS   News/discussion Windows RDP lets you log in using revoked passwords. Microsoft is OK with that Broadcom sends cease-and-desist letters to subscription-less VMware users Microsoft pitches pay-to-patch reboot reduction subscription for Windows Server 2025   Free consulting We were asked about preventing changes to archived files.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Crosswalks were comically vulnerable to being hacked, even Google struggles with tiered SSD and HDD storage, some insight into how AI scrapers are using domestic IPs, and creating a ZFS mirror one disk at a time.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Inside FreeBSD Netgraph: Behind the Curtain of Advanced Networking   News/discussion Hacking US crosswalks to talk like Zuck is as easy as 1234 Even Google struggles to balance fast-but-pricey flash and cheap-but-slow hard disks How Colossus optimizes data placement for performance The web is broken, IMHO   Free consulting We were asked about creating a ZFS mirror one disk at a time.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Some Synology NAS products will require drives they sold you, doubt is cast on the CVE program, why some FreeBSD packages didn’t appear when they should have, and backing up the keys for encrypted backups.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Robust & Reliable Backup Solutions with OpenZFS   News Synology confirms that higher-end NAS products will require its branded drives CVE program gets last-minute funding from CISA – and maybe a new home CVE fallout: The splintering of the standard vulnerability tracking system has begun   Free consulting We were asked about backing up the keys for encrypted backups.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

IPv4 addresses are worth an awful lot of money, the serious dangers of a seemingly sensible deepfake law, Microsoft is 50 years old, and our thoughts on antivirus on Linux and Windows.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Accurate and Effective Storage Benchmarking   News Your IPv4 stash can now be collateral for $100M loans Congress close to passing deepfake law—Trump said he wants to use it himself Microsoft is now 50 years old   Free consulting We were asked about antivirus on Linux and Windows.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Jim’s server is getting hammered by AI scrapers and he’s big mad about it, why RCS doesn’t work on Android without Google apps, a complex Google account issue, and how Jim and Allan handle their WireGuard configs.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Network Offload and Socket Splicing (SO_SPLICE) in FreeBSD   News Jim hit by AI scrapers Open source devs say AI crawlers dominate traffic, forcing blocks on entire countries AI bots strain Wikimedia as bandwidth surges 50% 80% of Web Traffic Is Bots — The Hidden Cost of AI Scraping Threat Spotlight: The good, the bad, and the ‘gray bots’ – the Gen AI scraper bots targeting your web apps An AI Scraping Tool Is Overwhelming Websites With Traffic   Free consulting We were asked about RCS on AOSP, a complex Google account issue, and how Jim and Allan handle their WireGuard configs. wg-admin               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Whether tech debt is inevitable and where the blame lies, how to properly organise ZFS datasets, and selectively managing updates.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes ZFS Orchestration Tools – Part 2: Replication                 SysCloud Over 2,000 IT admins already trust SysCloud to protect their SaaS data. Head to SysCloud.com for a 30-day free trial—and for a limited time, use code 25ADMINS to get 50% off your first purchase.                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The key differences between throughput and latency – and when they matter, the tech that we’d keep if we stopped working in IT, and avoiding bitrot with rsync backups.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Core Infrastructure: Why You Need to Control Your NTP   Free consulting We were asked about avoiding bitrot with rsync backups. Parchive           SysCloud Over 2,000 IT admins already trust SysCloud to protect their SaaS data. Head to SysCloud.com for a 30-day free trial—and for a limited time, use code 25ADMINS to get 50% off your first purchase.                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

RISC-V is on the rise in China, why Power CPUs aren’t as promising, the dystopian nightmare of surveillance tech at work, and  decrypting ZFS at boot.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Understanding ZFS in the Real World: Mistakes Made, Lessons Learned & Future Plans   News/discussion Alibaba launches server-grade RISC-V CPU design Raptor Computing Systems Y Combinator deletes posts after a startup’s demo goes viral Your Boss Wants You Back in the Office. This Surveillance Tech Could Be Waiting for You     Free consulting We were asked about automatically decrypting ZFS at boot.             SysCloud Over 2,000 IT admins already trust SysCloud to protect their SaaS data. Head to SysCloud.com for a 30-day free trial—and for a limited time, use code 25ADMINS to get 50% off your first purchase.                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Ten-year-old Chromecasts stop working, movie DVDs start rotting, Skype is finally dying, using ZFS on VM guests and hosts.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes ZFS Space Accounting Explained   News Google apologizes for Chromecast outage in email to users “They curdle like milk”: WB DVDs from 2006–2008 are rotting away in their cases Microsoft is shutting down Skype in favor of Teams     Free consulting We were asked about using ZFS on VM guests and hosts.                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

HP was forcing people to wait on hold for 15 minutes to get support, the DOGE site was embarrassingly insecure, setting up encrypted offsite backups, and mixing SATA and NVMe in a server.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Why FreeBSD is the Right Choice for Embedded Devices   News/discusison HP ditches 15-minute wait time policy due to ‘feedback’ Anyone Can Push Updates to the DOGE.gov Website (archive.is)   Free consulting We were asked about mixing SATA and NVMe in a server.         Factor Eat smart with Factor. Get started at factormeals.com/factorpodcast and use code FACTORPODCAST to get 50% off your first box plus free shipping.     SysCloud Over 2,000 IT admins already trust SysCloud to protect their SaaS data. Head to SysCloud.com for a 30-day free trial—and for a limited time, use code 25ADMINS to get 50% off your first purchase.                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Arm is going to make its own server chips, WordPress is selling “100 year” domain registrations, geo-redundancy for VPSs, and backing up Windows to Backblaze B2.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Isolating Containers with ZFS and Linux Namespaces   News Arm to launch its own chip in move that could upend semiconductor industry The WordPress.com 100-Year Domain   Free Consulting We were asked about geo-redundancy for VPSs, and backing up Windows to Backblaze B2.   Hybrid Cloud Show – Episode 24 gdnsd DNSMadeEasy – Failover Service [Allan’s Affiliate Link] Kopia snapshot verify | Kopia RAID is NOT a Backup and Other Hard Truths About Disaster Recovery             SysCloud Over 2,000 IT admins already trust SysCloud to protect their SaaS data. Head to SysCloud.com for a 30-day free trial—and for a limited time, use code 25ADMINS to get 50% off your first purchase.                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Google found a way to run unofficial microcode on AMD CPUs, whether software should get a CVE when it goes end of life, LLMs changing Redditors’ minds and self-replicating, and managing SSH keys at scale.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes ZFS Orchestration Tools – Part 1: Snapshots   News/discussion How to make any AMD Zen CPU always generate 4 from RDRAND CVEs for End of Life? OpenAI says its models are more persuasive than 82 percent of Reddit users AI can now replicate itself — a milestone that has experts terrified   Free Consulting We were asked about managing SSH keys at scale.               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Used Seagate drives are being sold as “new”, another reminder not to hack Windows 11 onto unsupported hardware, about using ZFS on VPS block storage, picking hardware to run VMs, and delegating datasets to containers.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Controlling Your Core Infrastructure: DNS   News Fraud with Seagate hard disks: Dealers swap, Seagate investigates Fraud with Seagate hard disks: Dozens of readers report suspected cases openSeaChest Windows 11 on devices that don’t meet minimum system requirements   Free Consulting We were asked about using ZFS on VPS block storage, picking hardware to run VMs, and delegating datasets to containers. Klara: Isolating Containers with ZFS and Linux Namespaces         SysCloud Over 2,000 IT admins already trust SysCloud to protect their SaaS data. Head to SysCloud.com for a 30-day free trial—and for a limited time, use code 25ADMINS to get 50% off your first purchase.                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

We appreciate the elegance of subnets as well as the power of custom benchmarking, Xboxes will support large amounts of external storage, why it’s not looking great for bcachefs, malware and remote desktops, and our thoughts on Fortigate network gear.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Key Considerations for Benchmarking Network Storage Performance   News/discussion Xbox beta tests support for massive amounts of external storage Migrating away from bcachefs   Free Consulting We were asked about malware and remote desktops, and our thoughts on Fortigate network gear.           SysCloud Over 2,000 IT admins already trust SysCloud to protect their SaaS data. Head to SysCloud.com for a 30-day free trial—and for a limited time, use code 25ADMINS to get 50% off your first purchase.   Factor Eat smart with Factor. Get started at factormeals.com/25a50off and use code 25a50off to get 50% off your first box plus free shipping.               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

An embarrassing typo suggests that MasterCard’s monitoring isn’t as good as it should be, tricky offsite backups, why two-factor authentication over SMS is a bad idea, and keeping two Mac laptops in sync.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Klara Webinar, Feb 13th: RAID is NOT a Backup and Other Hard Truths About Disaster Recovery   News MasterCard DNS Error Went Unnoticed for Years   Free Consulting We were asked about tricky offsite backups, why Two-factor authentication over SMS is a bad idea, and keeping two Mac laptops in sync.           ServerMania Get 15% Off dedicated servers – recurring for Life at servermania.com/25a with code 25ADMINS   Automox Check out the brand new Autonomous IT podcast. Listen in as a variety of experts in the IT Operations space discuss the latest Patch Tuesday releases, mitigation tips, and custom automations to help with CVE remediations. Listen now on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Microsoft didn’t control an important domain that it was using and end up red-faced, the dangers of using free VPN apps, a proof of concept exploit is out for last year’s SSH vulnerability, USB is getting slightly less confusing labels, and swapping the motherboard in a TrueNAS SCALE system.   News Edgio bankruptcy results in endpoint change for Microsoft VPN used for VR game cheat sells access to your home network PoC Exploit Released For OpenSSH Arbitrary Code Execution Vulnerability An updated USB logo will now mark the fastest docking stations   Free Consulting We were asked about swapping the motherboard in a TrueNAS SCALE system.           Entroware This episode is sponsored by Entroware. They are a UK-based company who sells computers with Ubuntu and Ubuntu MATE preinstalled. They have configurable laptops, desktops and servers to suit a wide range of Linux users. Check them out and don’t forget to mention us at checkout if you buy one of their great machines.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A new version of ZFS is out and we go over the great new features. Plus recovering data after accidentally writing part of an ISO onto a USB drive, how to deal with abuse of your domain, and replacing all the drives in a ZFS pool while keeping the birth date.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Managing and Tracking Storage Performance   News Zfs-2.3.0 Introducing OpenZFS Fast Dedup   Free Consulting We were asked about recovering data after accidentally writing part of an ISO onto a USB drive, how to deal with abuse of your domain, and replacing all the drives in a ZFS pool while keeping the birth date.           ServerMania Get 15% Off dedicated servers – recurring for Life at servermania.com/25a with code 25ADMINS           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Jim and Allan explain the benefits of a lithium iron phosphate “UPS”, whether it’s possible to delete every single copy of a file, and using Bluetooth in a Windows 11 VM.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   Discussion Anker SOLIX C300 Anker SOLIX F3800   Free Consulting We were asked about using Bluetooth in a Windows 11 VM.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

What it would take to reliably store data for a hundred years including Institutional funding and organization, decade-proof redundancy, multiple hot and cold copies,hedging your bets against multiple media, and more. Plus backing up ZFS without normal snapshots.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   Discussion Century-Scale Storage     Free Consulting We were asked about backing up ZFS without normal snapshots.           ServerMania Get 15% Off dedicated servers – recurring for Life at servermania.com/25a with code 25ADMINS           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Windows ssh is sending more telemetry than you might think, Let’s Encrypt will offer 6 days certificates, a PSA about domains that don’t send emails, and performance issues in a Synology NAS.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Winter 2024 Roundup: Storage and Network Diagnostics   News/discussion ssh on Windows sends telemetry sshTelemetry.c Let’s Encrypt to offer 6 day certs Important reminder, if you own a domain name and don’t use it for sending email   Free Consulting We were asked about performance issues in a Synology NAS.           ServerMania Get 15% Off dedicated servers – recurring for Life at servermania.com/25a with code 25ADMINS           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Chinese researchers are making progress with quantum computing but they haven’t broken modern RSA or AES encryption, Russian attackers compromised a business via a nearby building’s WiFi, a startup runs out of money and bricks a robot for kids, and hardening Linux systems.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes ZFS Storage Fault Management on Linux   News/discussion No, Chinese quantum computers haven’t hacked military-grade encryption The Nearest Neighbor Attack: How A Russian APT Weaponized Nearby Wi-Fi Networks for Covert Access Startup will brick $800 emotional support robot for kids without refunds The confusing reality of AI friends   Free consulting We were asked about hardening Linux systems.             ServerMania Get 15% Off dedicated servers – recurring for Life at servermania.com/25a with code 25ADMINS   1Password Extended Access Management: Secure every sign-in for every app on every device. Support the show and check it out at 1password.com/25a         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The US government tells people to use encrypted messaging, mandated MFA in healthcare raises a scary geopolitical question, QNAP bungles a firmware update, and securing access to self hosted applications with mTLS.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Deploying pNFS file sharing with FreeBSD   News/discussion FBI Warns iPhone And Android Users—Stop Sending Texts US senators propose mandated MFA, encryption in healthcare QNAP firmware update leaves NAS owners locked out of their boxes   Free consulting We were asked about securing access to self hosted applications with mTLS.             Automox Check out the brand new Autonomous IT podcast. Listen in as a variety of experts in the IT Operations space discuss the latest Patch Tuesday releases, mitigation tips, and custom automations to help with CVE remediations. Listen now on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.   1Password Extended Access Management: Secure every sign-in for every app on every device. Support the show and check it out at 1password.com/25a           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Intel’s CEO departs but replacing him won’t magically solve its serious problems, Zipcar wasn’t prepared for an outage and handled it really badly, moving to an email provider that supports DMARC, and picking a NAS distribution.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes ZFS Ask Me Anything – December 12th Applying the ARC Algorithm to the ARC   News Intel CEO takes his leave as ambition meets reality What happened to Intel? Zipcar Outage Strands Customers in Random Places   Free consulting We were asked about moving to an email provider that supports DMARC, and picking a NAS distribution.             ServerMania Get 15% Off dedicated servers – recurring for Life at servermania.com/25a with code 25ADMINS             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Equinix is shutting down its bare metal service, D-Link advises people to dump old vulnerable routers, Google makes changes to how it ranks some affiliate-driven “reviews”, and data caps seem to be sticking around. Plus mixing different brands and types of disks, using other partitions on a ZFS drive, and scaling a fleet of FreeBSD hosts with jails.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Introducing OpenZFS Fast Dedup   News/discussion Equinix to shutter bare metal IaaS service in 2026 D-Link says replace vulnerable routers or risk pwnage Google cracks down on “Parasite SEO,” punishing established publishers Cable companies and Trump’s FCC chair agree: Data caps are good for you   Free consulting We were asked about mixing different brands and types of disks, using other partitions on a ZFS drive, and scaling a fleet of FreeBSD hosts with jails.   nomad-pot-driver Cluster provisioning with Nomad and Pot on FreeBSD             ServerMania Find this year’s Black Friday & Cyber Week deals at servermania.com/blackfriday   1Password Extended Access Management: Secure every sign-in for every app on every device. Support the show and check it out at 1password.com/25a           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Windows server unexpectedly upgrades major versions, Microsoft reinvents the idea of a thin client, restricting a friend’s access to just their backups, and the importance of warranties when buying hardware.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes DKMS vs kmod: The Essential Guide for ZFS on Linux   News Windows Server 2025 takes admins by surprise No word from Microsoft on shock Windows Server 2025 installs Windows Server 2025 known issues and notifications Windows 11 update bug falsely warns of end of support, confusing users Windows 365 Link—the first Cloud PC device   Free consulting We were asked about restricting a friend’s access to just their backups, and the importance of warranties when buying hardware. 2.5 Admins 218: TLS TTL                   See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Jim and Allan discover modern charging tech and marvel at what’s possible in the USB-C era, more on IPv6 firewalls, using ZFS like Git, and running your own authoritative DNS server.           Automox Check out the brand new Autonomous IT podcast. Listen in as a variety of experts in the IT Operations space discuss the latest Patch Tuesday releases, mitigation tips, and custom automations to help with CVE remediations. Listen now on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.   1Password Extended Access Management: Secure every sign-in for every app on every device. Support the show and check it out at 1password.com/25a           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

How using a copy-on-write filesystem like ZFS can get systems back online within seconds after ransomeware encrypts all your data, and even warn you more quickly that it’s happening. Plus Jim and Allan’s advice on getting a job as a sysadmin.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Klara: 5 Reasons Why Your ZFS Storage Benchmarks Are Wrong   Free consulting We were asked about getting a job as a sysadmin.                   See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

It’s Halloween so Jim and Allan share horrific and spooky stories from their sysadmin careers. Plus picking a UPS for a homelab.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Klara: NAS: Maintenance Best Practices                   See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

SSL certificates are likely going to last less time, the latest Windows 11 update leaves a huge chunk of data behind and doesn’t play nicely with some SSDs, picking a modern dhcp server on a homebrew router, and storing encrypted backups on a friend’s NAS with ZFS.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Klara Halloween Webinar: ZFS Horror Stories. Oct 31st 13:00 EDT, 17:00 UTC   News Sysadmins slam Apple’s SSL/TLS cert lifespan cuts Windows 11 24H2 hoards 8.63 GB of junk you can’t delete As Microsoft rolls out its Windows 11 24H2 update, owners of certain Western Digital SSDs have been greeted with constant Blue Screens of Death WD releases new firmware to fix Windows 11 24H2 blue screens of death on some SSD Not just Western Digital – Windows 24H2 BSODs Asus kit   Free consulting We were asked about picking a modern dhcp server on a homebrew router, and storing encrypted backups on a friend’s NAS with ZFS. The Ars guide to building a Linux router from scratch Linux Router Part 1: Routing, NAT, and NFTables                     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The difference between monitoring and metrics analysis, the security pros and cons of cloud vs on-prem, why Jim and Allan don’t use Unraid, and cloud storage and email for a small company.   Feedback Netdata Nagios ZFS and Unraid   Free consulting We were asked about cloud storage and email for a small company.           Automox Check out the brand new Autonomous IT podcast. Listen in as a variety of experts in the IT Operations space discuss the latest Patch Tuesday releases, mitigation tips, and custom automations to help with CVE remediations. Listen now on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.     1Password Extended Access Management: Secure every sign-in for every app on every device. Support the show and check it out at 1password.com/25a           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

NIST has finally proposed some sensible password standards, why server CPUs with high core counts make sense in a lot of deployments, the .io TLD is probably sticking around, and the best options for a Linux-based router.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Klara Halloween Webinar: ZFS Horror Stories. Oct 31st 13:00 EDT, 17:00 UTC ZBM 101: Introduction to ZFSBootMenu   News NIST proposes barring some of the most nonsensical password rules You’re right not to rush into running AMD, Intel’s new manycore monster CPUs The Disappearance of an Internet Domain   Free consulting We were asked about setting up a Linux-based router. OpenWrt on TP-Link devices                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why cold storage is never as good as keeping your data warm and regularly tested, how the American air traffic control system became so outdated, and isolating your devices from a roommate’s shenanigans.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion Music industry’s 1990s hard drives, like all HDDs, are dying  FAA air traffic control modernization efforts are a mess   Free consulting We were asked about isolating your devices from a roommate’s shenanigans.           1Password Extended Access Management: Secure every sign-in for every app on every device. Support the show and check it out at 1password.com/25a           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A proposed solution to the WHOIS TLS verification problem gets a surprising amount of pushback. Plus isolating IoT devices, our thoughts on Ubiquiti gear, setting up WiFi in a new house, remote access with WireGuard, and our mini PC recommendations.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News Google calls for halting use of WHOIS for TLS domain verifications   Free consulting We were asked about isolating IoT devices, our thoughts on Ubiquiti gear, setting up WiFi in a new house, remote access with WireGuard, and our mini PC recommendations.           1Password Extended Access Management: Secure every sign-in for every app on every device. Support the show and check it out at 1password.com/25a           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The Malaysian government’s misguided plan to control its citizens’ DNS, the wrong way to deploy underwater servers, a philosophical question about how long a person’s photos will exist, and how we manage our SSH keys.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion Malaysia’s plan to block overseas DNS dies after a day  Proposed underwater data center surprises regulators who hadn’t heard about it   Free consulting We were asked about how we manage our SSH keys.           1Password Extended Access Management: Secure every sign-in for every app on every device. Support the show and check it out at 1password.com/25a   Automox Check out the brand new Autonomous IT podcast. Listen in as a variety of experts in the IT Operations space discuss the latest Patch Tuesday releases, mitigation tips, and custom automations to help with CVE remediations. Listen now on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A surprising way to exploit the WHOIS system, Microsoft will force old versions of Windows 11 to update, and the simple way to set up TP-Link Omada gear.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News Rogue WHOIS server gives researcher superpowers no one should ever have Windows 11 users still living in the past face forced update, like it or not   Free consulting We were asked about setting up TP-Link Omada gear.                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Another example of the downsides of abstraction, whether AI can ever be truly “open source”, and the security benefits and drawbacks of different types of VPN.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion Hackers infect ISPs with malware that steals customers’ credentials Debate over “open source AI” term brings new push to formalize definition   Free consulting We were asked about whether VPNs are a security measure.                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

AMD will patch some old Ryzens against SinkClose now, but their benchmarking methods for newer CPUs didn’t live up to everyday reality. Plus Bcachefs devs annoy Linus Torvalds, the US government sues a college over compliance issues, and Jim disappoints a patron.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News AMD’s Ryzen 3000 CPUs to get SinkClose patch after all AMD explains, promises partial fixes for Ryzen 9000 performance problems Linus Torvalds Begins Expressing Regrets Merging Bcachefs After cybersecurity lab wouldn’t use AV software, US accuses Georgia Tech of fraud   Free consulting We were asked about monitoring your network for new device connections.                   See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Insecure SSH implementations and a weak key that let a researcher control 200 MW of electrical capacity reignites the debate about versioned protocols vs pluggable protocols, follow-up on sharing files from your LAN with people on the Internet, and the pros and cons of encrypted backups.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion Researchers find insecure SSH implementations everywhere 512-bit RSA key in home energy system gives control of “virtual power plant”   Feedback Syncthing Resilio Send OnionShare Warp Immich   Free consulting We were asked about the pros and cons of encrypted backups.             1Password Extended Access Management: Secure every sign-in for every app on every device. Support the show and check it out at 1password.com/25a           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Forcing Windows to undo updates and a separate IPv6 vulnerability, hardware bugs in AMD and Intel CPUs, and using Samba on Linux with Active Directory.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News Your victim’s Windows PC fully patched? Just force undo its updates and exploit away CVE-2024-38063 – Security Update Guide – Microsoft – Windows TCP/IP Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Almost unfixable “Sinkclose” bug affects hundreds of millions of AMD chips SMM LOCK BYPASS Intel’s crashing 13th and 14th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs: all the news and updates   Free Consulting We were asked about using Samba on Linux with Active Directory.   map acl inherit = yes acl_xattr:ignore system acls = yes acl_xattr:default acl style = windows Setting up a Share Using Windows ACLs           Automox Check out the brand new Autonomous IT podcast. Listen in as a variety of experts in the IT Operations space discuss the latest Patch Tuesday releases, mitigation tips, and custom automations to help with CVE remediations. Listen now on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Secure boot is compromised on hundreds of devices, Amazon’s desperate attempt to make money from Alexa, and how to decide which open source software on GitHub to trust.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion Secure Boot is completely broken on 200+ models from 5 big device makers old and related Amazon’s paid Alexa is coming to fill a $25 billion hole dug by Echo devices Alexa had “no profit timeline,” cost Amazon $25 billion in 4 years   Free consulting We were asked about how to decide which open source software on GitHub to trust.           1Password Extended Access Management: Secure every sign-in for every app on every device. Support the show and check it out at 1password.com/25a           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

How and why the recent huge Windows outage was caused by a bad CrowdStrike update and how it could have been avoided, a hilariously dumb ESXi vulnerability, and using SAS drives with a PCIe card.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News A closer look at what caused the CrowdStrike Windows crashes Ransomware gangs are loving this dumb but deadly ESXi flaw Jake Williams on Twitter   Free Consulting We were asked about using SAS drives with a PCIe card.                     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

How a Bitcoin mine made life in a Texas town absolutely miserable, why paying for extended support for end of life Windows versions is just doubling down on technical debt, and the best way to manage router redundancy.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion Inside the ‘Nightmare’ Health Crisis of a Texas Bitcoin Town Enterprises urged to think carefully about Windows 10 extended support options   Free Consulting We were asked about managing router redundancy.           1Password Extended Access Management: Secure every sign-in for every app on every device. Support the show and check it out at 1password.com/25a           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A widely-used login system is still using MD5 which is bad news, miscreants took over some domains when they moved from Google to Squarespace, Linksys’ sloppy app isn’t a huge problem but is a bad sign, and why backing up an Android phone in one go is pretty much impossible without root.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News New Blast-RADIUS attack breaks 30-year-old protocol used in networks everywhere Squarespace migration linked to DNS hijacking, claims report Linksys Velop routers send Wi-Fi passwords in plaintext to US servers   Free Consulting We were asked about backing up Android phones.       Automox Check out the brand new Autonomous IT podcast. Listen in as a variety of experts in the IT Operations space discuss the latest Patch Tuesday releases, mitigation tips, and custom automations to help with CVE remediations. Listen now on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

We didn’t get to all of your questions for our Episode 200 free consulting special so here is another full episode of your questions and our answers. Our thoughts on a new UK smart devices law, backing up 30TB off-site, how to learn ZFS, SMB vs other ways to share files, and backing up secrets.   Smart devices: new law helps citizens to choose secure products FreeBSD Mastery: ZFS FreeBSD Mastery: Advanced ZFS           1Password Extended Access Management: Secure every sign-in for every app on every device. Support the show and check it out at 1password.com/25a   Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why we didn’t mention pocket fluff when we talked about USB-C charging issues, Microsoft abandons its promising underwater data center experiment and didn’t monitor it’s SSL certs, why you should be careful which WordPress plugins and themes you install,an Australian ISP’s tech debt comes due, and remoting into desktop Linux.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes     News Microsoft ends Project Natick underwater data center experiment despite success Microsoft declares its underwater data center test was a success Shouting in the Datacenter Backdoor slipped into multiple WordPress plugins in ongoing supply-chain attack Coding error in forgotten API blamed for massive data breach Microsoft hits snooze again on security certificate renewal     Free Consulting We were asked about remoting into desktop Linux. NoMachine                   See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Vulnerabilities in Asus hardware make us think there should be some regulations about what can be sold as a router, a VPN feature that we hadn’t heard of is removed from Windows, and why we don’t believe that Microsoft will ever take security as seriously as they claim.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion High-severity vulnerabilities affect a wide range of Asus router models Dear Asus router user: You’ve been pwned, thanks to easily exploited flaw Microsoft to remove DirectAccess from Windows, recommends switching to Always On VPN Microsoft fixes hack-me-via-Wi-Fi Windows security hole CVE-2024-30078 Microsoft in damage-control mode, says it will prioritize security over AI Pluralistic: Microsoft pinky swears that THIS TIME they’ll make security a priority             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.   Automox Check out the brand new Autonomous IT podcast. Listen in as a variety of experts in the IT Operations space discuss the latest Patch Tuesday releases, mitigation tips, and custom automations to help with CVE remediations. Listen now on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

It’s our episode 200 free consulting special. Jim and Allan answer your questions about hard drive availability, USB-C robustness, ZFS performance on a VPS, cold storage with a 2.5″ form factor, how we gained our level of knowledge, disk enclosure issues, and monitoring Windows servers.             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.   1Password Extended Access Management: Secure every sign-in for every app on every device. Support the show and check it out at 1password.com/25a             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

How to prepare for your loved ones to have the access they need if the worst unexpectedly happens, Joe’s weird issues with wireless access points, and dealing with email accounts that shouldn’t exist.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion After you die, your Steam games will be stuck in legal limbo EAP225 AC1350 wireless access point   Free Consulting We were asked about dealing with email accounts that shouldn’t exist.           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.   1Password Extended Access Management: Secure every sign-in for every app on every device. Support the show and check it out at 1password.com/25a         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Microsoft is tightening up SMB security in Windows which might break access to your old NAS, a Cogent root-server mysteriously goes out of sync without them spotting it, and protecting hard drives from electromagnetic pulses.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News Installing Windows 11 24H2 might mean binning that old NAS A root-server at the Internet’s core lost touch with its peers. We still don’t know why   Free Consulting We were asked about protecting hard drives from electromagnetic pulses.             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.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Linux kernel developers were infected with malware for 2 years, another nail in the coffin of proper federated email as Exchange Server moves to a subscription model, followup on zfsbootmenu and IPv6, and learning unfamiliar topics.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion Linux maintainers were infected for 2 years by SSH-dwelling backdoor with huge reach Exchange Server SE to debut just before 2019 support ends Newbie struggling with zfsbootmenu   Free Consulting We were asked about learning unfamiliar topics.             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.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Microsoft’s new Copilot+ feature will record everything you are doing on your computer for some reason, but it will only work on new Arm hardware for now. Plus Apple’s weird iOS bug that restored deleted files and photos, and sharing files over the Internet from a NAS on your LAN.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Allan was on Linux Dev Time   News New Windows AI feature records everything you’ve done on your PC Microsoft’s “Copilot+” AI PC requirements are embarrassing for Intel and AMD Apple needs to explain that bug that resurfaced deleted photos   Free Consulting We were asked about sharing files over the Internet from a NAS on your LAN.             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.   Automox Check out the brand new Autonomous IT podcast. Listen in as a variety of experts in the IT Operations space discuss the latest Patch Tuesday releases, mitigation tips, and custom automations to help with CVE remediations. Listen now on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why Windows 10 might be gaining users at Windows 11’s expense, an old DHCP option is a potential risk for VPN users, we should probably say “renting” rather than “buying”domains, and avoiding tracking when using IPv6.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Jim was on Late Night Linux again   News Has Windows 11 really lost marketshare to Windows 10? Novel attack against virtually all VPN apps neuters their entire purpose   Free Consulting We were asked about avoiding tracking when using IPv6.           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.   Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta. Visit kolide.com/25a to learn more.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Mastodon’s link previews are causing downtime for web servers without properly configured caching, locking down DNS inside Windows networks, why using write-once backup media is a bad idea, and increasing the performance of a Microsoft SQL Server with SSDs and ZFS.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Jim was on Late Night Linux   News Mastodon delays firm fix to solve link preview DDoS Mastodon Is DDoSing Me  Microsoft plans to lock down Windows DNS like never before     Free Consulting We were asked about write-once backup media, and increasing the performance of a Microsoft SQL Server with SSDs and ZFS.           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.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

How a smart TV broke a Windows machine on the same network by pretending to be hundreds of different TVs, Jim’s alarming theory about AI malware, and encrypting offsite backups.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion Is your PC having trouble? Your smart TV might be to blame   Free Consulting We were asked about encrypting offsite backups.           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.   Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta. Visit kolide.com/25a to learn more.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

ZFS on root is back in the Ubuntu installer but there’s a better way to do it, next-generation hard drives are proving to be reliable but prices are going up thanks to storage-hungry AI, why getting started with ZFS is really easy, and the best filesystem for a single SSD (take a guess).   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes How to upstream code to open source projects   News Ubuntu 24.04 Supports Easy Installation Of OpenZFS Root File-System With Encryption After years of testing, Seagate claims its heat-assisted HAMR drives are as reliable as traditional PMR storage Seagate makes HDD price hikes, says AI caused demand spike   Free Consulting We were asked about learning ZFS, and which filesystem to use for a single SSD.           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.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why updating iPhones in their sealed boxes might have some downsides, Amazon’s “AI” turned out to just be people, LLMs hallucinating imaginary dependencies is potentially a security risk, Aruba backs up its government data to the Internet Archive, and disk queue schedulers in Linux.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion Here’s our first look at Apple’s in-the-box iPhone updating machine Amazon Ditches ‘Just Walk Out’ Checkouts at Its Grocery Stores AI bots hallucinate software packages and devs download them Caribbean nation of Aruba backs itself up to Internet Archive   Free Consulting We were asked about disk queue schedulers in Linux.             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.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A backdoor has been found in xz-utils, OpenZFS improves ZVOL performance on Linux, Twitter devs fail at regex, and adding SATA ports to a home NAS.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Hybrid Cloud Show is a new show that’s part of the Late Night Linux Family!   News backdoor in upstream xz/liblzma leading to ssh server compromise OpenZFS Merges Support For Using Multiple Task Queues To Increase Performance for zvols X fixes URL blunder that could enable social media phishing   Free Consulting We were asked about adding SATA ports to a home NAS.             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.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Glassdoor seemingly doesn’t understand its raison d’etre, Telegram wants to cheap out on sending verification codes, law enforcement makes YouTube give them details of everyone who watched certain videos, and tuning a low end VPS to host a blog.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion Users ditch Glassdoor, stunned by site adding real names without consent Telegram’s Peer-to-Peer Login system is a risky way to save $5 a month Feds Ordered Google To Unmask Certain YouTube Users   Free Consulting We were asked about tuning a low end VPS to host a blog.           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.   Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta. Visit kolide.com/25a to learn more.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The FreeBSD version of TrueNAS is going away, a major Apple antitrust case begins, encrypted LLM chat responses are relatively easy to read, and scaling a fleet of FreeBSD hosts with jails.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News TrueNAS CORE 13 is the end of the FreeBSD version zVault Apple’s antitrust fight begins US DOJ’s blockbuster lawsuit against Apple is headline grabber but poses limited near-term impact Hackers can read private AI-assistant chats even though they’re encrypted   Free Consulting We were asked about scaling a fleet of FreeBSD hosts with jails. Cluster provisioning with Nomad and Pot on FreeBSD             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Prison officials took away inmate student laptops for no good reason, Warner Bros. ruined gamers’ experiences, Google’s terrible office WiFi, and managing gold images.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion An engineer bought a prison laptop on eBay. Then 1,200 incarcerated students lost their devices Devs left with tough choices as Warner Bros. ends all Adult Swim Games downloads Google’s self-designed office swallows Wi-Fi “like the Bermuda Triangle”   Free Consulting We were asked about managing gold images.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Roku stops its users watching TV until they accept a new ToS, the line between journalism and computer fraud and abuse, and when using jumbo frames on a network makes sense.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News Roku disables players and TVs with attempt to coerce arbitration agreement Over 15,000 hacked Roku accounts sold for 50¢ each to buy hardware Op-ed: Charges against journalist Tim Burke are a hack job     Free Consulting We were asked about using jumbo frames on a network.           Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta. Visit kolide.com/25a to learn more.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The boss of Nvidia says kids don’t need to code because they can just use AI, companies sell their users’ data to train models, and why 2.5Gbps networking probably isn’t worth bothering with.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion Jensen Huang says kids shouldn’t learn to code — they should leave it up to AI Google cut a deal with Reddit for AI training data Tumblr and WordPress to Sell Users’ Data to Train AI Tools   Free Consulting We were asked about adding 2.5Gbps gear to your network.         Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta. Visit kolide.com/25a to learn more.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

More cameras leak footage, Avast is fined for selling user data, a vending machine quietly scans students’ faces, using a small NVMe drive with ZFS, and taking snapshots of VMs.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News “So violated”: Wyze cameras leak footage to strangers for 2nd time in 5 months Avast fined $16.5 million for ‘privacy’ software that actually sold users’ browsing data Vending machine error reveals secret face image database of college students   Free Consulting We were asked about using a small NVMe drive with ZFS, and taking snapshots of VMs.       Automox Check out the brand new Autonomous IT podcast. Listen in as a variety of experts in the IT Operations space discuss the latest Patch Tuesday releases, mitigation tips, and custom automations to help with CVE remediations. Listen now on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why it’s not a great idea to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware, quantum computing hype has been replaced by AI, toothbrushes can’t be part of a botnet, Google has killed cached search results, and testing your backups.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion Windows 11 24H2 goes from “unsupported” to “unbootable” on some older PCs Investors threw 50% less money at quantum sector last year Viral news story of botnet with 3 million toothbrushes was too good to be true Google has killed cached results in search   Free Consulting We were asked about testing your backups.         Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta. Visit kolide.com/25a to learn more.   Automox Check out the brand new Autonomous IT podcast. Listen in as a variety of experts in the IT Operations space discuss the latest Patch Tuesday releases, mitigation tips, and custom automations to help with CVE remediations. Listen now on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Nginx is forked, Broadcom/VMware kills ESXi, dedup is finally fixed in ZFS, using multiple network interfaces on a NAS, and more.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News announcing freenginx.org Broadcom-owned VMware kills the free version of ESXi virtualization software OpenZFS Native Encryption Use Raises Data Corruption Concerns Fast Dedup is a Valentines Gift to the OpenZFS and TrueNAS Communities   Free Consulting We were asked about using multiple network interfaces on a NAS.         Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta. Visit kolide.com/25a to learn more.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Trying to report a security issue lands a consultant in trouble, a new take on the drop shipping scam, setting up your first NAS – including the benefits of RAID, picking a distro, choosing the right disk size, and more.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes   News/discussion IT consultant in Germany fined for exposing shoddy security Canadian Man Stuck in Triangle of E-Commerce Fraud ICANN proposes creating .INTERNAL domain   Free Consulting We were asked about setting up your first NAS – including the benefits of RAID, picking a distro, and choosing the right disk size. Building Your Own FreeBSD-based NAS with ZFS Part 2: Tuning Your FreeBSD Configuration for Your NAS 3.5″ internal drives sorted by price/TB         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Microsoft’s rudimentary error that allowed an attacker access to its executives’ emails, Pixel phones have another serious storage bug, hidden malware payload found at Ars Technica, and when to upgrade your hardware for Windows 11.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes BSDCan 2024 – Call for papers   News In major gaffe, hacked Microsoft test account was assigned admin privileges Pixel phones are broken again with critical storage permission bug Ars Technica used in malware campaign with never-before-seen obfuscation   Free Consulting We were asked about when to upgrade your hardware for Windows 11.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Y2K was a pretty serious problem and 2038 is coming soon, work on Arm servers is improving the experience on the desktop, and what to do with an old unsupported Synology NAS.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes OpenZFS Best Practices: Part 2: File Serving and SANs   News/discussion The ‘nothing-happened’ Y2K bug – and how IT squashed it What I learned from using a Raspberry Pi 5 as my main computer for two weeks   Free Consulting We were asked about what to do with an old unsupported Synology NAS. Xpenology How can I use a PC to recover data when my Synology NAS malfunctions?           Automox Check out the brand new Autonomous IT podcast. Listen in as a variety of experts in the IT Operations space discuss the latest Patch Tuesday releases, mitigation tips, and custom automations to help with CVE remediations. Listen now on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Hard drives are pretty much an enterprise product now, GitHub’s malware problem, and spreading services across different machines and VMs to keep downtime to a minimum.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes OpenZFS Storage Best Practices and Use Cases Part 1: Snapshots and Backups   News Hard disk drives are next in line to become mostly enterprise hardware — as Nvidia (and AMD) could be planning to focus on AI, leaving consumers as second-class citizens Seagate unveils 30 TB+ Exos HAMR disk drives – Blocks and Files Miscreants absolutely love using GitHub to sling malware Flying Under the Radar: Abusing GitHub for Malicious Infrastructure   Free Consulting We were asked about spreading services across different machines and VMs to keep downtime to a minimum.       Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure it can’t access your apps.  It’s Device Trust for Okta. Visit kolide.com/25a to learn more.   Automox Check out the brand new Autonomous IT podcast. Listen in as a variety of experts in the IT Operations space discuss the latest Patch Tuesday releases, mitigation tips, and custom automations to help with CVE remediations. Listen now on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 open source? Bruce Perens is working on it A tale of 2 casino ransomware attacks: One paid out, one did not The State of Ransomware in the U.S.: Report and Statistics 2023   Free Consulting We were asked about running a Nagios distro on a Raspberry Pi. NEMS Linux         Automox Check out the brand new Autonomous IT podcast. Listen in as a variety of experts in the IT Operations space discuss the latest Patch Tuesday releases, mitigation tips, and custom automations to help with CVE remediations. Listen now on Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 feed with early episodes sometimes   News Google agrees to settle Chrome incognito mode class action lawsuit I’d Buy That for a Dollar: Chevy Dealership’s AI Chatbot Goes Rogue   Free Consulting We were asked about maximizing performance when using mixed disk types on ZFS mirrored vdevs.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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   News Twitch to shut down in Korea over ‘prohibitively expensive’ network fees Marketer sparks panic with claims it uses smart devices to eavesdrop on people   Free Consulting We were asked for our thoughts on mandatory access controls.         Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure, it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today to see how it works at kolide.com/25a         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 world’s most sensitive networks. It just got a lot weaker UniFi devices broadcasted private video to other users’ accounts   Free Consulting We were asked about the state of ZFS encryption, and Syncoid snapshots.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 Drive users say Google lost their files; Google is investigating How to restore files in Drive for desktop (v84.0.0.0-84.0.4.0) Just about every Windows and Linux device vulnerable to new LogoFAIL firmware attack   Free Consulting We were asked about using cheap resold volume Windows licenses.           Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure, it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today to see how it works at kolide.com/25a           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 We were asked about managing 40+ servers.         Automox Save time, eliminate risk, and automate the patching, configuration, and control of all your Windows, macOS, and Linux endpoints with Automox.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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   News How a tiny Pacific Island became the global capital of cybercrime Passive SSH server private key compromise is real … for some vulnerable gear   Feedback The beauty of finished software       Free Consulting We were asked about using powerline or WiFi for security cameras.             Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure, it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today to see how it works at kolide.com/25a   The Traceroute Podcast Check out the new season of the Traceroute Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.  Visit the website.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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.             HelloFresh With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep. Get free breakfast for life at hellofresh.com/25adminsfree with code 25adminsfree. (One breakfast item per box while subscription is active).   Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure, it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today to see how it works at kolide.com/25a           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 claims Flexential data center outage was behind service disruption – DCD Post Mortem on Cloudflare Control Plane and Analytics Outage Android 14’s storage disaster gets patched, but your data might be gone   Feedback winget Toshiba Consumer Internal Hard Disk Drives   Free Consulting We were asked about running a mail server at home. “Run Your Own Mail Server” chapter 0             HelloFresh With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep. Get free breakfast for life at hellofresh.com/25adminsfree with code 25adminsfree. (One breakfast item per box while subscription is active).   Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure, it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today to see how it works at kolide.com/25a           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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   News No, Okta, senior management, not an errant employee, caused you to get hacked Okta October breach affected 134 orgs, biz admits Okta hit by another breach, this one stealing employee data from 3rd-party vendor This tiny device is sending updated iPhones into a never-ending DoS loop Jim went to the Ubuntu Summit   Free Consulting We were asked about what to do when you find a company’s sensitive data on the Internet.         The Traceroute Podcast Check out the new season of the Traceroute Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.  Visit the website.   Automox Save time, eliminate risk, and automate the patching, configuration, and control of all your Windows, macOS, and Linux endpoints with Automox.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 and Cost-Effectiveness   News/discussion The Secret Water Footprint of AI Technology China requires all new Wi-Fi kit to run IPv6   Free Consulting We were asked about the implications of poor Bluetooth security on an e-bike. Monitor Traffic With Wireless Travel Time Sensors DeepBlue Sensor Bluetooth Pedestrian and Vehicle Tracking         The Traceroute Podcast Check out the new season of the Traceroute Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.  Visit the website.   Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure, it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today to see how it works at kolide.com/25a         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 look like KeePass’s official website pixel 6 can’t access storage with multiple profiles after updating to android 14 Hackers can force iOS and macOS browsers to divulge passwords and much more   Free Consulting We were asked about the pros and cons of TP-Link Omada and Ubiquiti Unifi.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today to see how it works at kolide.com/25a         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep. Get 50% off plus free shipping at hellofresh.com/5025admins using code 5025admins.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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   Free Consulting We were asked about picking the right external storage solution.         Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure, it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today to see how it works at kolide.com/25a         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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” for 0-day hunters Google quietly corrects previously submitted disclosure for critical webp 0-day   Free Consulting We were asked about setting up a distributed backup system with a group of friends.         Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure, it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today to see how it works at kolide.com/25a         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 were asked about setting up storage inside VMs.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 clarify price increase plan, as game developers fume unity_to_godot_converter: An experimental converter from Unity to Godot game engines Toyota outage caused by servers running out of storage Lidl recalls Paw Patrol snacks after website on packaging displayed porn   Free Consulting We were asked about picking the hardware and software for a router.           HelloFresh With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep. Get 50% off plus 15% off the next 2 months at hellofresh.com/5025admins using code 5025admins.     Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure, it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today to see how it works at kolide.com/25a         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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.   Plugs Support us on patreon   News/discussion Windows 11 has made the “clean Windows install” an oxymoron Microsoft is using malware-like pop-ups in Windows 11 to get people to ditch Google   Free Consulting We were asked about powering a home server on and off regularly.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 the storage you need’ unlimited plan, blames abusive users Intel doesn’t plan to support Wi-Fi 7 on Windows 10 Wi-Fi 7 is Coming: Here’s What You Need to Know   Feedback Turing Pi   Free Consulting We were asked about managing ssh keys, and setting up data storage for containers.         Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure, it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today to see how it works at kolide.com/25a           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 not kill disk drives Samsung Announces 256TB SSDs and Unveils Peta-Byte Scale PBSSDs   Free Consulting We were asked about setting up IPMI for cheap Arm boards. PiKVM       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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,” requires workers to return to the office BlueJeans, Verizon’s Google Meet competitor you’ve never heard of, is shutting down We just lost 3TB of data on a SanDisk Extreme SSD SanDisk’s silence deafens as high-profile users say Extreme SSDs still broken   Free Consulting We were asked about ECC RAM in a home server.       Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure, it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today to see how it works at kolide.com/25a           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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   News/discussion 2.5 Admins in The ‘90s Internet: When 20 hours online triggered an email from my ISP’s president How To Start An ISP (like it’s 1993)   Free Consulting We were asked about recovering old versions of files.           Linux Matters Check out Linux Matters – a show in the Late Night Linux Family hosted by popey, Mark, and Wimpy about all the Linux matters that matter. They did a recent episode about backups (without using ZFS).         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 IP Insights AWS to charge customers for public IPv4 addresses from 2024 Google’s new security pilot program will ban employee Internet access     Free Consulting We were asked about operating systems uploading firmware to devices at boot, rather than having it baked in.         Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure, it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today to see how it works at kolide.com/25a           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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: Proposing a new meta tag for LLM/AI ChatGPT Browse with Bing temporarily disabled The Biden administration is tackling smart devices with a new cybersecurity label   Free Consulting We were asked about fully encrypting a server. The Klara article that Allan mentioned           Factor Factor’s fresh, never frozen, meals are ready in just 2 minutes, so all you have to do is heat them up and enjoy. Go to factormeals.com/25a50 and use code 25a50 to get 50% off.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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, and upgradable mini NUC computers Intel and ASUS Agree to Term Sheet to Take Intel NUC Systems Product Line Forward ‘Millions’ of sensitive US military emails were reportedly sent to Mali due to a typo   Free Consulting We were asked about monitoring SSDs.         Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure, it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today to see how it works at kolide.com/25a           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 We were asked about backing up a Windows machine to ZFS.         HelloFresh With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep. Get 50% off and free shipping at hellofresh.com/25admins50 using the promo code 25a50.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 and the intense pushback, explained Brave aims to curb practice of websites that port scan visitors   Free Consulting We were asked about OpenWrt vs OPNsense.       Kolide Kolide ensures that if a device isn’t secure, it can’t access your apps. It’s Device Trust for Okta. Watch the demo today to see how it works at kolide.com/25a   Factor Factor’s fresh, never frozen, meals are ready in just 2 minutes, so all you have to do is heat them up and enjoy. Go to factormeals.com/25a50 and use code 25a50 to get 50% off.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 JMAP PC games are starting to require SSDs   Free Consulting We were asked about alternatives to VMware, and verifying your backups.           The Traceroute Podcast Catch up with the new season of the Traceroute Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.  Check out the website.   Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

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 generation” filesystem ReFS.         Kolide Kolide can help you nail third party audits and internal compliance goals with endpoint security for your entire fleet. Learn more at kolide.com/25a   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Sloppy practises by Gigabyte reveal one of the problems with UEFI, why Slack refuses to implement end to end encryption, a familiar bug ruins people’s uptime, and XFS vs ext4.   Plugs Support us on patreon FreeBSD or Linux – A Choice Without OS Wars   News/discussion Millions of Gigabyte Motherboards Were Sold With a Firmware Backdoor Millions of Gigabyte PC motherboards backdoored? What’s the actual score? 90+ orgs tell Slack to stop slacking when it comes to full encryption AMD’s EPYC Rome Chips Crash After 1,044 Days of Uptime   Free Consulting We were asked about using XFS vs ext4.         HelloFresh With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep.  Get 16 free meals plus free shipping at hellofresh.com/25admins16 using the promo code 25admins16.   Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

We are unimpressed by Apple’s new headset, a particularly bountiful watering hole attack, misdirection from the AI industry, and connecting hard disks via a PCIe card.   Plugs Support us on patreon OpenZFS, Your Data and the Challenge of Ransomware   News Apple Vision Pro Hololens dev Twitter thread (archived version) Some Curseforge accounts might be compromised/hacked, and are uploading malicious files Statement on AI Risk WordPress has a new AI tool that will write blog posts for you Air Force denies running simulation where AI drone “killed” its operator     Free Consulting We were asked about connecting hard disks via a PCIe card.         Axiom Axiom unlocks observability at any scale. Go to axiom.co/25a, create an account, and start your 14-day free trial. You can do better than legacy logging, with Axiom.   Kolide Kolide can help you nail third party audits and internal compliance goals with endpoint security for your entire fleet. Learn more at kolide.com/25a   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

An unfixable bug shines a light on a fundamental issue with Windows, why M.2 is a terrible connector for SSDs, the pros and cons of 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi, and the state of ZFS encryption.   Plugs Support us on patreon OpenZFS For HPC Clusters   News/discussion Windows 11 is so broken that even Microsoft can’t fix it You know M.2 SSDs suck, right? Why 2.4GHz Wi-Fi is both the savior and the scourge of the smart home   Free Consulting We were asked about the state of ZFS encryption.         Factor Factor’s fresh, never frozen, meals are ready in just 2 minutes, so all you have to do is heat them up and enjoy. Go to factormeals.com/25a50 and use code 25a50 to get 50% off your first box.   The Traceroute Podcast Listen and subscribe to the new season of the Traceroute Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.  Check out the website.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Google’s new TLDs are silly but not as dangerous as some people think, whether we should cling on to AM radio, Microsoft scans password-protected zip files, and how to assess open source software for its trustworthiness.   Plug Support us on patreon   News Google pushes .zip and .mov domains onto the Internet, and the Internet pushes back Google’s .zip and .mov domains aren’t the end of the world Congress wants AM radio in all new cars—trade groups say that’s a mistake Ford decides it won’t kill AM radio after all Microsoft is scanning the inside of password-protected zip files for malware   Free Consulting We were asked about how to assess open source software for its trustworthiness.           Kolide Kolide can help you nail third party audits and internal compliance goals with endpoint security for your entire fleet. Learn more at kolide.com/25a   Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Adobe’s vague threats show why open source is often the pragmatic choice, Russians craft a poor man’s ransomware with WinRAR, Chrome drops the padlock icon, Amazon pulls a Google, and using a keyfile with a password manager.   Plugs Support us on patreon Understanding ZFS vdev Types   News/discussion Adobe Tells Users They Can Get Sued for Using Old Versions of Photoshop Russian hackers use WinRAR to wipe Ukraine state agency’s data Google Chrome to get rid of padlock icon Our decision to wind down Amazon Halo   Free Consulting We were asked about using a keyfile with a password manager.         Axiom Axiom unlocks observability at any scale. Go to axiom.co/25a, create an account, and start your 14-day free trial. You can do better than legacy logging, with Axiom.   HelloFresh With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep.  Get 16 free meals plus free shipping at hellofresh.com/25admins16 using the promo code 25admins16.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Google’s attempt to replace passwords with keys, why Jim thinks IBM is dragging Red Hat in the wrong direction, Intel’s rudimentary error that breaks a security feature, and protecting your files from other users on your system.   Plugs Support us on patreon What Makes OpenZFS the Ideal Storage Solution for University Environments   News Google Online Security Blog: So long passwords, thanks for all the phish opensource.com Intel BootGuard key leaked   Free Consulting We were asked about protecting your files from other users on your system.         Kolide Kolide can help you nail third party audits and internal compliance goals with endpoint security for your entire fleet. Learn more at kolide.com/25a   Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

What the challenge of building a web browser from scratch tells us about the state of the modern web, why some people are frying their AMD CPUs, more on basic password managers and regularly powercyling network gear, moving from Mercurial to Git, running old applications on modern Ubuntu, and more.   Plugs Support us on patreon Leveraging OpenZFS to Build Your Own Storage Appliance   News/discussion How we’re building a browser when it’s supposed to be impossible New BIOS updates attempt to keep Ryzen 7000X3D processors from frying themselves   Feedback Pass   Free Consulting We were asked about moving from Mercurial to Git, and running old applications on modern Ubuntu.         Factor Factor’s fresh, never frozen, meals are ready in just 2 minutes, so all you have to do is heat them up and enjoy. Go to factormeals.com/25a40 and use code 25a40 to get 40% off your first box.   The Traceroute Podcast Listen and subscribe to the new season of the Traceroute Podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.  Check out the website.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

How not to practice responsible disclosure, Mulvad proves that its claims stand up, whether to be worried about public phone chargers, an “anti-ransomware” SSD, and monitoring ZFS with Zabbix.   Plugs Support us on patreon Comparing Modern Open-Source Storage Solutions: OpenZFS vs. The Rest   News Vague warning about an Amazon compromise Mullvad VPN was subject to a search warrant. Customer data not compromised Be Skeptical of FBI Warnings About Phone Chargers Let’s take a closer look at these claims of anti-ransomware SSDs   Free Consulting We were asked about monitoring ZFS with Zabbix.         Kolide Kolide can help you nail third party audits and internal compliance goals with endpoint security for your entire fleet. Learn more at kolide.com/25a   Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The new and up and coming tech that we’re excited about including RISC-V, hard drive innovation, Arm servers, and the Fediverse. Plus whether FreeBSD’s license has held it back, and generating SSL certificates on a router.           Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Google Drive’s arbitrary file limit, SMR disks probably die sooner, Western Digital’s My Cloud outage locks some people out of their data, why we don’t talk much about Veeam, and running containers as root.   Plugs Support us on patreon Managing Disk Arrays on FreeBSD and TrueNAS   News Google Drive quietly introduced (then pulled) a file creation limit for all users HDD average life span misses 3-year mark in study of 2,007 defective drives Users fume after My Cloud network breach locks them out of their data   Free Consulting We were asked about running containers as root.           Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   Kolide Kolide can help you nail third party audits and internal compliance goals with endpoint security for your entire fleet. Learn more at kolide.com/25a   Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Yet another reason not to plug random USB drives into your laptop, how Reddit learned about the importance of testing your backups, and we brainstorm a sysadmin’s version of a minimal password manager.   News/discussion Journalist plugs in unknown USB drive mailed to him—it exploded in his face You Broke Reddit: The Pi-Day Outage   Free Consulting We were asked about rolling your own password manager.         HelloFresh With HelloFresh, you get farm-fresh, pre-portioned ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep. Get 50% off at hellofresh.com/25admins50 using the promo code 25admins50   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why the RESTRICT Act is about much more than banning Tik Tok, what recent Tesla hacks tell us about the way the security research community is changing, and what server manufacturers we recommend.   Plugs Support us on patreon   News TikTok ban hearing: all the news on the US’s crackdown on the video platform The ‘Insanely Broad’ RESTRICT Act Could Ban Much More Than Just TikTok Tesla Model 3 Hacked in Less Than 2 Minutes at Pwn2Own Contest   Free Consulting We were asked about what server manufacturers we recommend.         Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   Kolide Kolide can help you nail third party audits and internal compliance goals with endpoint security for your entire fleet. Learn more at kolide.com/25a         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why the death of Reader 10 years ago might come back to haunt Google, Samsung’s AI moon photos raise a philosophical question, Jim’s frustrations with Ubuntu, and connecting a POS system.   Plugs Support us on patreon FreeBSD History: Understanding the origins of DTrace   News/discussion Requiem for Google Reader, gone but not forgotten Samsung’s Moon photos are fake — but so is a lot of mobile photography How Samsung Galaxy Cameras Combine Super Resolution Technologies With AI Technology to Produce High-Quality Images of the Moon   Free Consulting We were asked about connecting a POS system.           Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   Kolide Kolide can help you nail third party audits and internal compliance goals with endpoint security for your entire fleet. Learn more at kolide.com/25a   Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Our take on the collapse of Siicon Valley Bank, an odd case of 2 Teslas with the same key, filesystems in VMs, and self-hosted password managers.   Plugs Support us on patreon FreeBSD vs Linux: Tracing and Troubleshooting   News Silicon Valley Bank collapses Common equity capital chart Man accidentally drove away in someone else’s tesla using the car’s app   Free Consulting We were asked about filesystems in VMs, and self-hosted password managers.         Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   Kolide Kolide can help you nail third party audits and internal compliance goals with endpoint security for your entire fleet. Learn more at kolide.com/25a           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Saving millions of dollars by exiting the cloud, GoDaddy is compromised by a sophisticated attacker, why you really shouldn’t use a smart plug to powercycle your router, running SMB and NFS shares on the same host, why private keys should stay private, and using old hardware as a backup server.   Plugs Support us on patreon Klara Webinar: Deploying a Successful Performance Audit   News/discussion We stand to save $7m over five years from our cloud exit GoDaddy says a multi-year breach hijacked customer websites and accounts You Should[n’t] Be Using a Smart Plug to Restart Your Router   Free Consulting We were asked about running SMB and NFS shares on the same host, why private keys should stay private, and using old hardware as a backup server.           Kolide Kolide can help you nail third party audits and internal compliance goals with endpoint security for your entire fleet. Learn more at kolide.com/25a   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Twitter are going to charge for bad 2 factor authentication, new alarming details about the recent LastPass breach, and setting up a DNS server in the cloud.   Plugs Support us on patreon Klara: ZFS Optimization Success Stories   News An update on two-factor authentication using SMS on Twitter LastPass says employee’s home computer was hacked and corporate vault taken   Free Consulting We were asked about setting up a DNS server in the cloud.         Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   Kolide Kolide can help you nail third party audits and internal compliance goals with endpoint security for your entire fleet. Learn more at kolide.com/25a           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Google is getting paid to advertise malware sites, Comcast’s false map data, more on private TLDs, why we don’t use Btrfs, and getting notifications for your monitoring.   Plugs Support us on patreon Klara Sysadmin Series: How to catch a bitcoin miner   News/discussion Until further notice, think twice before using Google to download software Comcast gave false map data to FCC—and didn’t admit it until Ars got involved   Free Consulting We were asked about getting notifications for your monitoring.           Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   Kolide Kolide can help you nail third party audits and internal compliance goals with endpoint security for your entire fleet. Learn more at kolide.com/25a   Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Microsoft and Google seem to think that chatbots are the future of search, the problem of filtering spam, and organising data with backups in mind.   Plugs Support us on patreon Klara Live Webinar, Feb 23rd: Deploying a Successful Performance Audit   News Bing is having bizarre emotional breakdowns and there’s a subreddit with examples Alphabet stock price drops after Google Bard launch blunder Microsoft classifies own emails as junk   Free Consulting We were asked about organising data with backups in mind.         Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A “smart” lighting system goes wrong, mitigating a DNS attack, an unsatisfying update about Eufy cameras, why Jim and Allan won’t be active on Mastodon any time soon, and how we set up servers in a few minutes.   Plugs Support us on patreon Klara Live Webinar, Feb 23rd: Deploying a Successful Performance Audit   News/discussion US school runs lights 24/7/365: The smart lights have been broken since 2021 This is why your DNS queries now have random capitalization Anker finally comes clean about its Eufy security cameras   Free Consulting We were asked about how we set up servers in a few minutes.         Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.   Kolide Kolide can help you nail third party audits and internal compliance goals with endpoint security for your entire fleet. Learn more here: https://l.kolide.co/3Xfbsct           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Yet another reason to disable voicemail, why so many recent Macs end up as scrap, and setting up a mail server.   Plugs Support us on patreon Auditing for Storage Performance   News WhatsApp accounts takeover Perfectly Good MacBooks From 2020 Are Being Sold for Scrap Because of Activation Lock   Free Consulting We were asked about setting up a mail server.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why you should still use a VPN with public WiFi, who the new Xeons are aimed at, follow-up on trying to be your own bank, and separating legacy WiFi devices from modern ones.   Plugs Support us on patreon OpenZFS: Data Security vs Integrity   News/discussion Why Public Wi-Fi is a Lot Safer Than You Think Years late and 36 cores short of AMD, who are Intel’s 4th-gen Xeons even for?   Free Consulting We were asked about separating legacy WiFi devices from modern ones.         Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.   Kolide Kolide can help you nail third party audits and internal compliance goals with endpoint security for your entire fleet. Learn more here: https://l.kolide.co/3Xfbsct           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A recent outage that grounded thousands of planes, correcting ZFS misreporting, the problem of fake SSDs on Amazon, and IP schemes vs internal DNS.   Plugs Support us on patreon FreeBSD vs Linux: Package Management   News FAA outage that grounded flights blamed on old tech and damaged database file The Future of ZFS on Ubuntu Desktop is Not Looking Good ZFSBootMenu Why the Heck Is Amazon Selling These Fake 16 Terabyte Portable SSD Drives?   Free Consulting We were asked about IP schemes.         Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Two recent examples of backups not being properly tested, why the term “edge” is meaningless, we try not to laugh at the Bitcoin dev who lost all his magic beans, and directory services for mixed environments.   Plugs Support us on patreon Klara’s best articles from 2022   News/discussion Eir says thousands of customer emails irretrievably deleted in error Eir users offered free lifetime subscriptions after up to 20 years of emails deleted in error – The Irish Times EA says it can’t recover 60% of players’ corrupted Madden franchise save files It’s time to retire ‘edge’ from our IT vocabulary Bitcoin Core developer loses all his BTC   Free Consulting We were asked about directory services for mixed environments.         Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   Kolide Kolide is a fleet visibility solution for Mac, Windows, and Linux that can help you securely scale your business. Learn more here: https://l.kolide.co/3HB8xUv   Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices. up to 20 devices.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

LastPass vaults are leaked, ChatGPT is coming to Bing, live migrations, and SSD vs spinning disk power usage.   Plugs Support us on patreon Klara is looking for sysadmins with ZFS experience, join Allan’s team   News LastPass – Notice of Recent Security Incident The LastPass disclosure of leaked password vaults is being torn apart by security experts Microsoft to challenge Google by integrating ChatGPT with Bing search   Free Consulting We were asked about live migrations, and SSD vs spinning disk power usage.         Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

It’s the last episode of the year so we look back at a couple of 2022 trends: the explosion of AI/ML, and big social media changes. Plus a quick-fire ZFS FAQ.         Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Buying and renting features in Intel hardware that you’ve already bought, killer robots, a huge nuclear fusion breakthrough, and the pros and cons of parallel rsync jobs.   Plugs Support us on patreon OpenZFS: Choosing between FreeBSD and Linux   News/discussion Intel On Demand Driver Ready To Activate Your Licensed CPU Features With Linux 6.2 Intel On Demand VICTORY! San Francisco Bans Killer Robots…For Now Nuclear fusion power research passes milestone with ‘fusion ignition’   Free Consulting We were asked about running parallel rsync jobs Fpsync       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Saving money by changing the CPU frequency governor on servers, Making unphishable 2FA phishable, phishing with Google Docs, monitoring at scale, and using ZFS with a single disk.   Plugs Support us on patreon FreeBSD vs Linux – Networking   Discussion Can You Save Money By Changing the CPU Frequency Governor on Your Servers? Making unphishable 2FA phishable Phishing links with Google Docs   Free Consulting We were asked about monitoring at scale, and using ZFS with a single disk.         Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.     Kolide Kolide is a fleet visibility solution for Mac, Windows, and Linux that can help you securely scale your business. Learn more here: https://l.kolide.co/3HB8xUv         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Security cameras that aren’t quite as secure as they claim, why it’s difficult to trust software “from Samsung”, getting started with offsite backups, and ZFS on root on Ubuntu.   Plugs Support us on patreon the Role of Operating Systems in IoT   News Anker’s Eufy lied to us about the security of its security cameras Samsung’s Android app-signing key has leaked, is being used to sign malware   Free Consulting We were asked about getting started with offsite backups, and ZFS on root on Ubuntu.         Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.     Kolide Kolide is a fleet visibility solution for Mac, Windows, and Linux that can help you securely scale your business. Learn more here: https://l.kolide.co/3HB8xUv         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The risks of taking your laptop to a repair shop, why DNS has become concentrated to just a few providers, and powering down drives periodically.   Plugs Support us on patreon Virtualization Showdown: FreeBSD bhyve vs Linux KVM   Discussion Thinking about taking your computer to the repair shop? Be very afraid DNS concentration   Free Consulting We were asked about periodically shutting down a server.         Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.     Kolide Kolide is a fleet visibility solution for Mac, Windows, and Linux that can help you securely scale your business. Learn more here: https://l.kolide.co/3HB8xUv         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why the Twitter infrastructure is creaking, Jim’s experiences of the Ubuntu Summit, changing VM resources without rebooting, and more.   News/discussion Why Twitter will fail shortly Twitter mayhem, staff cuts have advertisers bailing on the platform Jim tells us about his experiences at the Ubuntu Summit   Free Consulting We were asked about WireGuard on OPNsense, and changing VM resources without rebooting.       Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Microsoft’s half-baked Arm machine, why it’s a bad idea to go to the World Cup in Qatar, using WireGuard to punch through double NAT, and the best filesystem for removable storage. With guest host Alex Kretzschmar from Self-Hosted.   News/discussion Microsoft’s new $599 Mac Mini-like PC is designed to improve Windows on Arm How many major upgrade cycles with your main work machine do you expect to go through before you transition to an Arm machine? Everyone going to the World Cup must have this app – experts are now sounding the alarm Qatar Spyware – Schneier on Security   Free Consulting We were asked about WireGuard and double NAT, and the best filesystem for removable storage. NetBird nebula headscale         Kolide Kolide is a fleet visibility solution for Mac, Windows, and Linux that can help you securely scale your business. Learn more here: https://l.kolide.co/3HB8xUv   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Android’s controversial VPN settings, the deepfake audio arms race, the Metaverse is even worse than we thought, and why you shouldn’t use external cables for server storage. With guest host Alex Kretzschmar from Self-Hosted.   News Android leaks connectivity check traffic Meta’s New Headset Will Track Your Eyes for Targeted Ads Deepfake audio has a tell – researchers use fluid dynamics to spot artificial imposter voices   Free Consulting We were asked about usuing Thunderbolt storage with a server, and how PINs relate to encryption. ODROID-H3       Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Password spray attacks, the value of certifications vs actual experience, and the best VPN strategy.   News/discussion Use Authentication Policies to Fight Password Spray Attacks   Free Consulting We were asked about certifications, and VPN strategy.       Kolide Kolide is a fleet visibility solution for Mac, Windows, and Linux that can help you securely scale your business. Learn more here: https://l.kolide.co/3HB8xUv   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

An impressive AI pretends to be Linux, Jim gets angry about a RAIDZ calculator, and using a laptop as a server.   News/discussion We interviewed Linux OS through an AI bot to discover its secrets   Free Consulting We were asked about using a laptop as a server.         Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Traditional vs modern backup methods, hiding malware inside innocent-looking files, and power loss protection in SSDs.   News/discussion Steganography alert: Backdoor spyware stashed in Microsoft logo   Free Consulting We were asked about power loss protection in SSDs       Kolide Kolide is a fleet visibility solution for Mac, Windows, and Linux that can help you securely scale your business. Learn more here: https://l.kolide.co/3HB8xUv   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A drone-delivered exploit system, why companies destroy perfectly good hardware, and pulling backups from a Windows machine.   Plugs Support us on patreon iX and Klara – The Open Source Era is Upon Us Your Comprehensive Guide to FreeBSD’s rc   News Drone attack Twitter thread Why Big Tech shreds millions of storage devices it could reuse   Free Consulting We were asked about pulling backups from a Windows machine. cwRsync Acrosync       Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

SSDs are probably more reliable than spinning hard drives, how much RAM you actually need, Cloudflare alternatives, sudo password security, and more.   Plugs Support us on patreon the History of Package Management on FreeBSD   News/discussion The SSD Edition: 2022 Drive Stats Mid-year Review How Much RAM Do You Need in 2022? Exploring Swap on FreeBSD   Feedback Fastly Gcore Jetpack A Practical Guide to (Correctly) Troubleshooting with Traceroute (pdf) Paris Traceroute How to properly interpret a traceroute or mtr TRex   Free Consulting We were asked about sudo password security.       BorgBase Manage all your Borg backup repositories in one place via web interface or API. Use promo code 25A to get 30% off your first year at BorgBase.com   Kolide Kolide is a fleet visibility solution for Mac, Windows, and Linux that can help you securely scale your business. Learn more here: https://l.kolide.co/3HB8xUv   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

How a BGP hijack facilitated the theft of $235k worth of crypto, why we aren’t too excited about Cloudflare’s new CAPTCHA, and how to configure ZFS on Proxmox.   Plugs Support us on patreon Deploying FreeBSD on Oracle Cloud Allan and Wendell chat about ZFS data recovery   News How 3 hours of inaction from Amazon cost cryptocurrency holders $235,000 Announcing Turnstile, a user-friendly, privacy-preserving alternative to CAPTCHA   Free Consulting We were asked about ZFS on Proxmox. Klara Article: Jim on tuning ZFS recordsize Jim’s Proxmox bug       Kolide Kolide is a fleet visibility solution for Mac, Windows, and Linux that can help you securely scale your business. Learn more here: https://l.kolide.co/3HB8xUv   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why solving network congestion issues is so difficult, our thoughts on DNS privacy, an unwise use case for 32-bit Linux, and PoE injectors vs switches.   Discussion The Math Proves It—Network Congestion Is Inevitable   Free Consulting We were asked about Power over Ethernet injectors vs PoE switches.         Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why modern interfaces suck, the reasons we don’t recommend Cloudflare, and backups for beginners. With guest host Gary from Linux Downtime (and Pidgin).   News/discussion Blocking Kiwifarms The modern OS desktop is a crime against humanity Rick Astley has done more to prevent folks clicking on unknown links than all cyber security training combined   Free Consulting We were asked for advice about backups for beginners. IDrive rsnapshot       Kolide Kolide is a fleet visibility solution for Mac, Windows, and Linux that can help you securely scale your business. Learn more here: https://l.kolide.co/3HB8xUv   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why the W3C is struggling to move to HTTPS by default and follow-up on Certbot, monitoring, and Silverlight. Plus buying enterprise switches.   News/discussion W3C’s planned transition to HTTPS stymied by legacy laggards   Free Consulting We were asked what switches we recommend for enterprise.         Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A big change is coming to Windows licensing for VMs, Google changes the rules around VPNs on Android, and solving a DoH problem.   Plugs Support us on patreon EuroBSDCon Sept 15-18 Vienna, Austria – Allan will be speaking about making ZFS scale for NVMe   News Microsoft adds virtual core licensing to Windows Server Microsoft EU cloud revisions just so happen to exclude Google, Amazon Google Play rule change disallows ad-blocking VPN apps   Free Consulting We were asked about solving a DNS over HTTPS problem.           Kolide Kolide is a fleet visibility solution for Mac, Windows, and Linux that can help you securely scale your business. Learn more here: https://l.kolide.co/3HB8xUv   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The pros and cons of  using email aliases, an Internet hero scratches his own itch, Jim and Allan yell at the cloud, and choosing a firewall distro.   News/discussion The Security Pros and Cons of Using Email Aliases Man who built ISP instead of paying Comcast $50K expands to hundreds of homes   Feedback A few people wanted Allan and Jim to answer the same question that was discussed on Linux After Dark 23: In a world of cloud and serverless, is there any point in most people learning the command line?   Free Consulting We were asked about firewall distros. Configure CARP         Tailscale Tailscale is a VPN service that makes the devices and applications you own accessible anywhere in the world, securely and effortlessly. Go to tailscale.com and try it for free on up to 20 devices.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Amazon is acquiring lots of home floor plans, Google will let politicians spam its Gmail users, burning in new drives, and ZFS scrub best practises.   Plugs Support us on patreon EuroBSDCon Sept 15-18 Vienna, Austria – Allan will be speaking about making ZFS scale for NVMe   News Amazon to acquire Roomba robot vacuum maker iRobot for $1.7 billion Gmail is now officially allowed to spam-proof politicians’ emails   Free Consulting We were asked about commissioning new drives, and ZFS scrubs.           Kolide Kolide is a fleet visibility solution for Mac, Windows, and Linux that can help you securely scale your business. Learn more here: https://l.kolide.co/3HB8xUv   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Good and bad from Meta/Facebook, data centres in London are hogging all the power, separating databases from applications, picking a DB, and more. With guest host Gary from Linux After Dark.   Plugs Support us on patreon   News It’s time to leave the leap second in the past Meta thinks Facebook may need more “harmful health misinformation” Electronics are built with death dates. Let’s not keep them a secret Too Many Servers Could Mean No New Homes in Parts of the UK   Free Consulting We were asked about separating databases from applications, and how to pick a DB in the first place.         Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The consequences of accrued technical debt and how to avoid it, a serious security issue in Confluence, Proxmox’s poor ZFS config, and more. With guest host Gary from Linux After Dark.   Plugs Support us on patreon   News Linux x86 32-bit Is Vulnerable To Retbleed But Don’t Expect It To Get Fixed Debian skip-skip-cross-up-grade Hardcoded password in Confluence app has been leaked on Twitter Atlassian reveals critical flaws across its product line   Free Consulting We were asked about ZFS snapshots, and Proxmox performance. Jim’s Twitter thread about ZFS config in Proxmox     Kolide Kolide is a fleet visibility solution for Mac, Windows, and Linux that can help you securely scale your business. Learn more here: https://l.kolide.co/3HB8xUv   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Jim and Allan’s thoughts on GitHub Copilot, why you can’t take the bar exam on modern Intel hardware, and database VM snapshot consistency.   Plugs Contributing to Open Source: Beyond Software Development Support us on patreon   News/discussion GitHub Copilot Linux Downtime – Episode 51 Why can’t Intel’s 12th-gen CPUs pass the bar exam? Blame the E-cores   Free Consulting We were asked about database VM snapshot consistency.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

More on abandoned hardware, central auth, Internet Explorer, Antivirus, monitoring, speed testing, and more.   Plugs Watch Jim and Allan’s webinar: Getting started with bhyve Support us on patreon   Things mentioned: End-of-Sale and End-of-Life Announcement for the Cisco Small Business RV Series Routers (selected models) Cisco Small Business RV Series Routers FreeIPA Sophos Icinga InfluxDB Graphite Grafana VictoriaMetrics Bufferbloat Test by Waveform A review of Monitor-IO       Kolide Kolide is a fleet visibility solution for Mac, Windows, and Linux that can help you securely scale your business. Learn more here: https://l.kolide.co/3HB8xUv   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A PSA about cheap hard drives, a major Internet outage in Canada, Apple’s new Lockdown Mode, and hostnames and DNS.   Plugs From 0 to Bhyve on FreeBSD 13.1  Support us on patreon   News PSA: buyer beware on “WaterPanther” drives Canadian ISP Rogers falls over for hours, takes out broadband, cable, cellphones Rogers restores service for ‘vast majority’ of customers after massive outage Rogers outage points to need for greater oversight of critical industry After massive Rogers outage, Government of Canada to force telecoms to help each other in emergencies Apple expands commitment to protect users from mercenary spyware Why Lockdown mode from Apple is one of the coolest security ideas ever   Free Consulting We were asked about hostnames and DNS.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Picking the right switch, clustering Raspberry Pis, dynamic DNS, replacing a desktop PC, work-life balance, and more.       Kolide Kolide is a fleet visibility solution for Mac, Windows, and Linux that can help you securely scale your business. Learn more here: https://l.kolide.co/3HB8xUv   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The best ways to test your Internet speed, more on filesystem caching, monitoring servers at scale, and more.   Plugs ZFS Developer job description Webinar: Open-source Virtualization: Getting Started with Bhyve Support us on patreon   Discussion Public iPerf3 servers DSLReports MTR fast.com   Feedback OpenZFS on Windows   Free Consulting We were asked about monitoring servers at scale. Nagios Zabbix LibreNMS     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Internet Explorer is dead, Cisco small business routers that need to be junked, antivirus on Linux servers, and you’ll never guess what Jim and Allan recommend for easily rolling back updates.   Plugs ZFS Developer job description Webinar: Open-source Virtualization: Getting Started with Bhyve Support us on patreon   News Internet Explorer 11 has retired and is officially out of support—what you need to know If you’re using older, vulnerable Cisco small biz routers, throw them out   Free Consulting We were asked about antivirus on Linux servers, and easily rolling back updates. Sophos Anti-Virus for Linux Bitdefender Endpoint Security Tools for Linux best practices VMware Carbon Black Endpoint         Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The finer points of allocating VM resources, Jim is annoyed with the browser situation on Ubuntu desktop, and when you should have passwords on your SSH keys.   Plugs ZFS Developer job description Support us on patreon   News/discussion How are we improving Firefox snap performance? Part 1   Free Consulting We were asked about passwords on SSH keys.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Freeing up millions of IPv4 addresses, WSL 2 comes to Windows Server, why cert renewal should be automated, what to do with SMR drives, and more.   Plugs ZFS Developer job description Support us on patreon   News Freeing up of hundreds of millions of IPv4 addresses proposed Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 splashes down on Win Server 2022 Massive podcast outage caused by Spotify’s failure to renew security certificate   Free Consulting We were asked about making use of SMR drives, and tuning ZFS         Kolide Endpoint Security for Teams That Slack – Try for Free Today! https://l.kolide.co/3LpQbqk   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A Linux user tries out FreeBSD’s Bhyve hypervisor, choosing storage for a VMware ESXi server, and perfect use case for WireGuard.   Discussion Jim has been testing Bhyve   Free Consulting We were asked about connecting home and small business networks, and choosing storage for a VMware ESXi server.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

End-to-end encryption is under threat again, Broadcom is buying VMware, prison time for an angry DBA, and backing up your photos with encryption.   Plugs Evaluating FreeBSD-CURRENT for Production Use BSDCan 2022 – Online June 1-4th Support us on patreon   News “War upon end-to-end encryption”: EU wants Big Tech to scan private messages Broadcom to buy VMware on Thursday for ‘$60 billion’ Angry IT admin wipes employer’s databases, gets 7 years in prison   Free Consulting We were asked about backing up photos with encryption. Stingle is a privacy-focused open source photo backup application Google Photos is so 2020—welcome to the world of self-hosted photo management     Kolide Endpoint Security for Teams That Slack – Try for Free Today! https://l.kolide.co/3LpQbqk   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

More on Ubuntu mirrors and DNS, detecting advanced persistent threats, resilient backups, and open source Active Directory alternatives.   Plugs bhyve: the BSD hypervisor Support us on patreon   Feedback ubuntu/pool/main/b/bash Damaged ZFS filesystems can be more or less unrepairable   Free Consulting We were asked about open source Active Directory alternatives.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Another attempt to replace passwords, trying to solve the problem of write-once storage, and the unusual ways we manage our invoices.   Plugs EuroBSDCon CfP: September 15-18, 2022 in Vienna, Austria. Submit by May 25th Support us on patreon   News Apple, Google, and Microsoft want to kill the password with “Passkey” standard How Apple, Google, and Microsoft will kill passwords and phishing in one stroke Verbatim Launches Write-Once External SSD With 10-Year Warranty   Free Consulting We were asked about open source invoice software.       Kolide Endpoint Security for Teams That Slack – Try for Free Today! https://l.kolide.co/3LpQbqk   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

How long optical disks last and why cold storage isn’t usually worth it, VM security, more thoughts on crypto nonsense, and more.   Plugs Learning the Fundamentals of the FreeBSD Shell Support us on patreon   Feedback Twitter thread about optical media longevity Qubes OS   Free Consulting We were asked about exporting VMs.         Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Musk buys Twitter, Ubuntu’s ZFS on root snapshot tool is put on the back burner, and setting up your own apt mirror.   Plugs Build your own NAS, Part 2: Tuning Support us on patreon   News Elon Musk strikes deal to buy Twitter for $44bn Tweet from Rik Mills (Ubuntu & Kubuntu developer) Launchpad bug to remove ZFS-on-root from Ubiquity installer zsys removed from the 22.04 installer   Free Consulting We were asked about running setting up your own apt mirror.       Kolide Endpoint Security for Teams That Slack – Try for Free Today! https://l.kolide.co/3LpQbqk   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Yet another IoT company abandons its customers, ridiculous “hard drives”, Postrges with containers, and cloud storage that isn’t quite as good as it sounds. With guest host Alex Kretzschmar from the Self-Hosted podcast.   Plugs Building Your Own FreeBSD-based NAS with ZFS Support us on patreon   News Insteon looks dead—just like its users’ smart homes   Feedback Harder Drive: Hard drives we didn’t want or need Jottacloud   Free Consulting We were asked about  ZFS and multipath, and running Postgres with containers.         Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The new features in OpenSSH, an embarrassing outage, the ugly side of Apple’s AirTags, and securing SSH keys when using Git. With guest host Dalton Durst from Linux After Dark.   Plugs Improving Replication Security With OpenZFS Delegation Support us on patreon   News OpenSSH 9.0 released At last, Atlassian sees an end to its outage – in two weeks Police Records Show Women Are Being Stalked With Apple AirTags Across the Country Apple: What to do if you get an alert that an AirTag is with you AirGuard – AirTag protection Tom Scott video   Free Consulting We were asked about securing SSH keys when using Git.       Kolide Endpoint Security for Teams That Slack – Try for Free Today! https://l.kolide.co/3LpQbqk   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

CAPTCHAs in phishing attacks, Jim gets angry about Bitcoin propaganda in schools, and packet loss with UDP.   Plugs Tuning OpenZFS Record size Support us on patreon   Discussion How CAPTCHA puzzles cloak phishing page URLs in emails Jim gets mad about crypto propaganda in schools   Free Consulting We were asked about packet loss with UDP.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

An open source dev goes rogue, a big single sign-on provider is compromised, self-hosting DNS, and more.   Plugs Should I upgrade to OpenZFS 2.1? Support us on patreon   News BIG sabotage: Famous npm package deletes files to protest Ukraine war The Fragile Open Source Ecosystem Isn’t Ready for ‘Protestware’ Okta Hack Exposes A Huge Hole In Tech Giant Security: Their Call Centers Microsoft: Lapsus$ Used Employee Account to Steal Source Code Lapsus$ found a spreadsheet of passwords as they breached Okta, documents show     Free Consulting We were asked about switches, and self-hosting DNS. Allan’s DNS Made easy affiliate link     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

SSD reliability, a huge potential amplification DDoS attack, and learning how a mail server works.   Plugs Webinar: Improving Recovery Objectives with OpenZFS Support us on patreon   News Backblaze report finds SSDs as reliable as HDDs New method that amplifies DDoSes by 4 billion-fold. What could go wrong?   Free Consulting We were asked how to learn the inner workings of a mail server. Postfix, Virtual Domain Setup     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Our concerns about Google’s latest acquisition, the technical implications of the sanctions on Russia, more on VPNs and filesystem replacements, and using Nagios with Sanoid.   Plugs Controlling Resource Limits with RCTL in FreeBSD Support us on patreon   News Google makes second-largest acquisition ever: $5.4 billion for Mandiant Internet backbone Cogent cuts Russia connectivity Internet backbone provider Lumen quits Russia Another Step Towards The Russian Splinternet Russia faces IT crisis with just two months of data storage left Cloudflare, Akamai defend decision to stay in Russia     Free Consulting We were asked about using Nagios with Sanoid. Reddit thread       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

How not to solve some of the problems with filesystems, why backups are only part of defending your data, and Allan finally tells us the difference between FreeBSD and OpenBSD.   Plugs NFS Sharing with ZFS Support us on patreon   Discussion Backups ‘no longer effective’ for stopping ransomware attacks Where Did I Put That File?   Free Consulting We were asked about the difference between FreeBSD and OpenBSD.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Browser version numbers might break websites, Samsung’s bad crypto implementation, more on Mazda and Caddy, the FreeBSD init system, and keeping VMs in sync between the two physical hosts.   Plugs UNIX Philosophy: The ideas that made UNIX Improving Recovery Objectives with OpenZFS Support us on patreon   News Three major browsers are about to hit version 100. Will websites cope? Samsung shipped ‘100m’ Android phones with flawed encryption   Free Consulting We were asked about the FreeBSD init system, and VMs in sync between the two physical hosts.   The FreeBSD Boot Process reboot -r on untrusted system         Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Maintaining data long-term, Chrome OS comes to generic PCs, and how to detect intrusions and malware on servers and networks.   Plugs The FreeBSD Boot Process Support us on patreon   News/discussion Most hard drives have a lifespan of three to five years. Have you checked yours lately? Google is bringing Chrome OS to PCs and Macs   Free Consulting We were asked about detecting intrusions or malware on servers and networks.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why Arm was never likely to be acquired by Nvidia, an expensive bug in Mazda cars, and how there isn’t always a technical solution to a policy problem.   Plugs Unix: On the path to BSD Support us on patreon   News Arm’s $66bn sale to Nvidia collapses Intel’s strategy for outflanking Arm takes shape with bet on RISC-V Radio station snafu in Seattle bricks some Mazda infotainment systems   Free Consulting We were asked about solving a policy problem with a technical solution.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

What the recent Spotify controversy means for open podcasting standards, why young people increasingly don’t understand the concept of a hierarchical filesystem, and our update practices.   Plugs Modern inetd on FreeBSD Support us on patreon   Discussion Joe Rogan Podcast is staying on Spotify says boss Students who grew up with search engines might change STEM education forever   Free Consulting We were asked about our update practices.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The pain of updating Windows, FreeBSD vs Linux, and getting started with ZFS.   Plugs FreeBSD Periodic Scripts Support us on patreon   News/discussion Microsoft: Windows needs at least 8 hours online to update reliably Why we’re migrating (many of) our servers from Linux to FreeBSD Counterpoint to “FreeBSD’s network stack is better”   Free Consulting We were asked about getting started with ZFS. What Makes a Good Time to Use OpenZFS Slog and When Should You Avoid It Choosing the right ZFS pool layout OpenZFS: All about the cache vdev or L2ARC ZFS 101—Understanding ZFS storage and performance How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love RAIDZ       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Allan has a recent war story for us, Microsoft blocked email from Linode, maximizing performance in a large capacity storage server, and more.   Plugs Cluster Provisioning with Nomad and Pot Support us on patreon   Feedback Register article about Microsoft blocking email from Linode   Allan’s recent war story Photos   Free Consulting We were asked about maximizing performance in a large capacity storage server. ZFS RAIDZ stripe width, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love RAIDZ     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A potential new European recursive DNS, why VPNs aren’t the silver bullet some people think they are, and how we set up new systems from scratch.   Plugs Support us on patreon The Birth of Unix   News/discussion EU wants to build its own DNS infrastructure with built-in filtering capabilities   Free Consulting We were asked about how we set up machines from scratch.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A novel approach to an old scam, your feedback about web servers and ransomware, and maintaining old databases.   Plugs Packet Scheduling with Dummynet and FreeBSD Support us on patreon   News/Discussion Pay to park scam   Feedback Jim’s review of the Caddy web server   Free Consulting We were asked about optimising and maintaining an old database.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Microsoft suffers an embarrassment with Exchange, why it’s so hard to host your own email, and the easiest and safest way to manage your backups.   Plugs BSDCan 2022: June 1-4th. CFP Closes Jan 19th Support us on patreon   News/discussion Microsoft releases emergency fix for Exchange year 2022 bug Gloomy sysadmin take on running your own email infrastructure   Free Consulting We were asked about using Syncoid for backups.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why ransomware isn’t really an infosec problem, how some open source work Allan helped with saved a company millions of dollars, your feedback, and more.   Plugs OpenZFS: Native Encryption Support us on patreon   News/Discussion Kronos hack will likely affect how employers issue paychecks and track hours How We Saved Millions in SSD Costs by Upgrading Our Filesystem   Feedback SpinRite   Free Consulting We were asked about moving a QNAP NAS out of an office.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

It’s our holiday AMA episode. We answered your questions about hobbies, TV resolutions, living in the moment, and the biggest screw-ups we’ve witnessed.   Plugs Panel: FreeBSD Arm64 Flexibility with Ampere Support us on patreon       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A huge vulnerability in a Java logging library, ZFS on AWS disappoints, the fastest web servers for static sites, the importance of certs, and more.   Plugs Using FreeBSD’s pkg audit to investigate known security issues Support us on patreon   News/Discussion Log4Shell: RCE 0-day exploit found in log4j 2, a popular Java logging package The Internet’s biggest players are all affected by critical Log4Shell 0-day Canada Revenue Agency and other government departments take some services offline due to security vulnerability Amazon FSx for OpenZFS   Free Consulting We were asked about web servers for static sites, VLANS and interfaces, and certifications.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A mystery in the Tor network, whether blockchain has any real-world value, configuring passwords with Ansible, and burning in new disks. With guest host Gary Williams from Linux After Dark.   Plugs Allan was on Late Night Linux Extra talking about FreeBSD. BSDCan 2022 – Call for papers Support us on patreon   News It’s long past time for cost-benefit analysis on blockchain Funny tweet A mysterious threat actor is running hundreds of malicious Tor relays   Free Consulting We were asked about using configuring passwords with Ansible, and burning in new disks.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

An insight into the massive scale of Google’s infrastructure, Allan and Jim refuse to accept that crypto now means cryptocurrency (and confuse Latin and Greek), multi-factor auth and WireGuard, and testing network quality.   Plugs Demystifying OpenZFS 2.0 Support us on patreon   News/Discussion Google’s server life extension delivers $1.7bn revenue boost in nine months Google to make its own custom server chips as well Seagate demos hard disk drive with an NVMe interface Cryptographers are not happy with how you’re using the word ‘crypto’   Free Consulting We were asked about using WireGuard with multi-factor authentication, and testing network quality. netburn FreeBSD Network Troubleshooting: Understanding Network Performance RIPE Atlas     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Tesla owners locked out of their cars, a Linux side-channel attack that enables DNS cache poisoning, why Jim doesn’t use Proxmox, and accessing KVM hosts from Windows.   Plugs Jim was on Late Night Linux twice, as well as Late Night Linux Extra. Support us on patreon   News Tesla drivers left unable to start their cars after outage Server errors hit Tesla remote-control app Linux has a serious security problem that once again enables DNS cache poisoning   Free Consulting We were asked about why Jim doesn’t use Proxmox, and accessing KVM hosts from Windows.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

How some Swedish parents tried to take control of their kids’ education app, why you shouldn’t try to add magsafe to your phone, introducing the new shiny at work, Samba security, and more.   Plugs FreeBSD Papers We Love: Jails and Cloneable Network Stacks Support us on patreon   News/Discussion These Parents Built a School App. Then the City Called the Cops   Free Consulting We were asked about monitoring, how junior admins can introduce new workflows in the face of resistance, and Samba security.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Categories: podcast

Why the metaverse sounds terrible, Alder Lake benchmarks, revoking SSH keys, remote management of Windows machines, and more.   Plugs Looking towards the future: FreeBSD on RISC-V Support us on patreon   News Welcome to Meta Intel’s Alder Lake big.little CPU design, tested: It’s a barn burner OpenZFS Developer Summit   Free Consulting We were asked about managing and revoking SSH keys, and remote management of Windows machines.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   Categories: podcast

The Oculus Go is opened up, a potential addition to HTTPS, Intel’s new Alder Lake CPUs, testing ZFS backups, virtualising a firewall, and more.   Plugs OpenZFS Developer Summit – Nov 8-9th Online Advanced ZFS Snapshots – Holds and Clones Support us on patreon   News/Discussion John Carmack pushes out unlocked OS for defunct Oculus Go headset HTTPS Attestable: Remote, secure, verified enclaves proposed Intel Announces 12th Gen Core “Alder Lake” CPUs       Free Consulting We were asked about testing ZFS backups, and virtualising a firewall.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The stupid notch on the new Macs, why Windows 11 had performance issues with AMD CPUs, why hibernation isn’t really a thing, and more.   Plugs OpenZFS Developer Summit – Nov 8-9th Online Understanding top(1) on FreeBSD Support us on patreon   News AMD and Microsoft release fixes for Ryzen slowdowns in Windows 11 Apple’s MacBook Pro is a GPU-shaped warning to Nvidia and AMD   Free Consulting We were asked about hibernation, and whether there’s a distro with a Linux kernel and a BSD userland.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

How not to steal and sell sensitive information, why ISPs shouldn’t try to sue Netflix, and the best way to set up wireless access points.   Plugs Webinar: Enterprise Certificate Management on FreeBSD – October 28th @ 12:00 ET FreeBSD Developer Workstation Setup Support us on patreon   News/Discussion FBI Arrests Navy Nuclear Engineer, Wife Accused of Selling Submarine Secrets S.Korea broadband firm sues Netflix after traffic surge from ‘Squid Game’   Free Consulting We were asked about setting up wireless access points to avoid lag-spikes.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

How Facebook’s services managed to go down for 6 hours, Windows Subsystem for Linux is now easier than ever to set up, and expanding a large capacity storage server.   Plugs Webinar: Enterprise Certificate Management on FreeBSD – October 28th @ 12:00 ET All Things Open Manipulating a ZFS Pool from the Rescue System Support us on patreon   News Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus are down. Here’s what we know Update about the October 4th outage Animated graphic of Facebook BGP routes disappearing The best part of Windows 11 is a revamped Windows Subsystem for Linux A preview of WSL in the Microsoft Store is now available     Free Consulting We were asked about expanding the storage in large capacity server.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why RISC-V looks promising for the future, how the web switched to HTTPS by default, an interesting DoS method, and how mitigating ssh attacks has changed over the years.   Plugs RISC-V: The New Architecture on the Block Support us on patreon   News/Discussion Weaponizing Middleboxes for TCP Reflected Amplification Electronic Frontier Foundation will deprecate HTTPS Everywhere plugin   Free Consulting We were asked about SSH tarpits.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A pretty serious flaw with Autodiscover that leaks email credentials, why Btrfs sucks for more than one disk, and the best hardware for a low-powered NAS.   Plugs EuroBSDCon 2021 videos are available When to use a SLOG, and when not to Support us on patreon   News Microsoft Exchange Autodiscover bug leaks hundreds of thousands of domain credentials Microsoft knew of Exchange Autodiscover flaw five years ago Examining btrfs, Linux’s perpetually half-finished filesystem   Free Consulting We were asked about the best hardware for a low-powered NAS.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

What exactly constitutes WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption, your feedback about time-based YouTube blocking, Optane in servers, and what sysadmins actually do.   Plugs Using the FreeBSD RACK TCP stack Support us on patreon   News/Discussion WhatsApp “end-to-end encrypted” messages aren’t that private after all   Free Consulting We were asked about Optane in servers, and what sysadmins actually do.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Yet another Azure vulnerability, Anonymous dumps a huge Epik leak, running a desktop in a VM, SSH keys on a Yubikey, and ZFS send to TrueNAS.   Plugs Understanding ZFS Channel Programs Support us on patreon   News Security researchers at Wiz discover another major Azure vulnerability Timeline Anonymous leaks gigabytes of data from alt-right web host Epik   Free Consulting We were asked about ZFS sends to TrueNAS, running a dektop in a VM, and SSH keys with a Yubikey.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A surprisingly cheap and easy way to connect 2 buildings wirelessly, your feedback about Samba, and the realities of parental Internet controls.   Plugs Choosing the right ZFS pool layout Support us on patreon   News/Discussion Point-to-point Wi-Fi bridging between buildings—the cheap and easy way   Free Consulting We were asked about restricting access to YouTube at certain times of day.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

SSD manufacturers quietly switching out components, 20TB non-SMR HDDs, the surprising side effects of killing the landline, ZFS snapshots when space is limited, and how Jim and Allan set up their systems and monitoring.   Plugs History of ZFS: Part 3 Support us on patreon   News After quietly switching to slower NAND in an NVMe SSD, Western Digital promises to be a bit louder next time Samsung seemingly caught swapping components in its 970 Evo Plus SSDs Western Digital introduces new non-SMR 20TB HDDs with onboard NAND Internet revamp for the humble landline     Free Consulting We were asked about how Jim and Allan set up their systems and monitoring, and how to deal with ZFS snapshots when space is limited.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

How getting root might be easier for attackers than you think, what a new OS can teach us about open source development, and why you probably shouldn’t buy enterprise drives for your NAS.   Plugs EuroBSDCon 2021 is Online, September 17-19, 2021 Support us on patreon   News/Discussion Asking nicely for root command execution (and getting it) SerenityOS is a Unix-y love letter to the ’90s   Free Consulting We were asked about enterprise and NAS drives.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Netflix blocking residential IPs, Intel’s upcoming discrete graphics cards, and the finer points of connecting disks to a RAID controller.   Plugs Achieving RPO/RTO Objectives with ZFS – Part 2 Jim was a guest on Linux Unplugged 418 discussing WireGuardNT Support us on patreon   News Netflix is adding residential IP addresses to its VPN blocklists Intel Introduces New High-Performance Graphics Brand: Intel Arc   Free Consulting We were asked about RAID controllers.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why a large sysadmin conference shut down and what it means, roaming between multiple wireless access points, sending ZFS snapshots to the cloud, best practice for tunnelling between home and the cloud, and a novel use for old hard disks.   Plugs Achieving RPO/RTO Objectives with ZFS – Part 1 Support us on patreon   News/Discussion LISA Community Message   Feedback We mentioned Spinning Rust Records who are on Twitter and Bandcamp.         Checkmk Checkmk is the best way to monitor your complex and hybrid IT infrastructure, bridging the gap between IT Ops and DevOps Teams. Go to checkmk.com/25admins and try out the open source or enterprise edition.   CBT Nuggets Training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Huge improvements for WireGuard on Windows, and a brief update on the Framework Laptop. Plus why RAID is not a backup, when to use bare metal vs VMs, choosing database types, and more.   Plugs Let’s Talk OpenZFS Snapshots Support us on patreon   News New WireGuardNT shatters throughput ceilings on Windows Framework’s lightweight modular laptop is a winner   Free Consulting We were asked about RAID and whether similar disks die at the same time, Samba speed differences, VMs vs bare metal, and databases.       Checkmk Checkmk is the best way to monitor your complex and hybrid IT infrastructure, bridging the gap between IT Ops and DevOps Teams. Go to checkmk.com/25admins and try out the open source or enterprise edition.   CBT Nuggets Training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why the Pegasus spyware isn’t really anything new, a Windows vulnerability sends Jim and Allan down memory lane, what to do with old hard disks, your feedback, and more.   Plugs FreeBSD TCP performance system controls Support us on patreon   News Leak uncovers global abuse of cyber-surveillance weapon This World of Ours New Windows 10 vulnerability allows anyone to get admin privileges   Free Consulting We were asked about paying for password leak notifications, and what to do with old small hard disks.       Checkmk Checkmk is the best way to monitor your complex and hybrid IT infrastructure, bridging the gap between IT Ops and DevOps Teams. Go to checkmk.com/25admins and try out the open source or enterprise edition.   CBT Nuggets Training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Jim’s hands-on with the modular and upgradeable Framework laptop, the details of Muse Group’s latest controversy, and when backing up to a Pi in your friend’s basement sometimes makes sense.   Plugs Managing Boot Environments Support us on patreon   News Framework Laptop Audacity’s new owner is in another fight with the open source community   Free Consulting We were asked about off-site backups.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The current and future states of system performance across the whole stack, and backing up to tapes. Plus your feedback about clustered filesystems, a ZFS success story, and IPv6 devices.   News/Discussion Computing Performance: On the Horizon   Free Consulting We were asked about backing up to magnetic tape.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Windows 11 has been announced but some key details are still unknown, why you shouldn’t connect consumer-grade network storage devices to the Internet, optimizing Windows guests on KVM hosts, and how to get started with Sanoid.   Plugs History of FreeBSD: Net/1 and Net/2: Path to Freedom Support us on patreon   News WD My Book NAS devices are being remotely wiped clean worldwide Western Digital My Book NAS Hackers exploited 0-day, not 2018 bug, to mass-wipe My Book Live devices Western Digital Users Face Another RCE Windows 11 is much more than a new theme slapped onto Windows 10   Free Consulting We were asked about optimizing Windows guests on KVM hosts, and how to get started with Sanoid.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Potentially serious vulnerabilities in military systems, a new ZFS feature that’s mostly for home users, and IPv6 on your LAN.   Plugs FreeBSD Performance Observability Support us on patreon   News/Discussion Vulnerabilities in Weapons Systems ZFS fans, rejoice—RAIDz expansion will be a thing very soon   Free Consulting We were asked about identifying devices with IPv6 addresses on a local network.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/25a and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Supply chain problems causing a rise in counterfeit chips, busting the myth about ZFS and RAM, gold VM images, and x86 routers.   Plugs Introduction to ZFS replication Support us on patreon   News Chip shortages lead to more counterfeit chips and devices   Free Consulting We were asked about how much RAM ZFS needs, gold VM images, and homebrew x86 routers.       CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A potential order of magnitude increase in HDD sizes, Amazon Sidewalk, dying SSDs, planning new systems, ssh vs VPN logins, and more.   Plugs History of ZFS: Part 2: Exploding in Popularity Support us on patreon   News/Discussion Ultra-high-density hard drives made with graphene store ten times more data Amazon devices will soon automatically share your Internet with neighbors   Free Consulting We were asked about dying SSDs, push and pull backups with third-party hosting, ssh and VPN logins, and planning new systems.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Fastly’s recent outage, how attackers probably breached the Colonial Pipeline’s network, crypto mining in anti-virus software, and setting up a box at your friend’s house to watch Netflix while abroad.   News Fastly broke the Internet for an hour The 503’s heard around the world Fastly Summary of June 8 outage Colonial Pipeline Chief Says Recovery From Ransomware Hack Not Complete Uncle Sam recovers 63.7 of 75 Bitcoins Colonial Pipeline paid to ransomware crew NortonLifeLock Unveils Norton Crypto   Free Consulting We were asked about encrypted off-site backups, and getting around geo-restrictions with a VPN.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Synology and Btrfs, backing up low-end Linux laptops, vulnerability management, FreeBSD hypervisors, and more.   Plugs Building Customized FreeBSD Images Support us on patreon   Feedback Things we mentioned: Barracuda I couldn’t break Synology SHR+btrfs (yet) Our subreddit   Free Consulting We were asked about AAA (Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting), backing up low-end Linux laptops, FreeBSD hypervisors, and vulnerability management.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The complex tale of the recent IRC drama, Microsoft kills Windows 10X, and why we think a WordPress site was pwned.   News Microsoft puts Windows 10X variant on the back burner Freenode IRC staff resign en masse after takeover by Korea’s “crown prince”   Free Consulting We were asked why a WordPress site had been compromised.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Testing failing disks and why they don’t work over a certain altitude, and your feedback about ZFS snapshots, authentication, community discussion platforms, Docker and ZFS, and more.   Plugs Basics of ZFS Snapshot Management Klara articles RSS feed Support us on patreon   Feedback Things we mentioned: zrepl authelia r/25admins Using bind mounts docker-vackup   Discussion Poor Disk Performance Dell HDD Warranty void above 10,000 ft       CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The importance of VPNs when using Wi-Fi, the complexities of chip node size, and whether appliance NAS devices make any sense.   Plugs Getting the most out of ARM64 Support us on patreon   News FragAttacks: Security flaws in all Wi-Fi devices IBM creates the world’s first 2 nm chip   Free Consulting We were asked about off-the-shelf network storage devices.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Authorities trying to remove malware from people’s servers, turning your sysadmin hobby into a career, cloud backups, config management, and more.   Plugs Why you should consider the BSD license Support us on patreon   Feedback Cloud backups with Rclone and alternatives, MikroTik network gear, server security, and config management.   News Brit authorities could legally do an FBI and scrub malware from compromised boxen without your knowledge   Free Consulting We were asked about the best way to turn your sysadmin hobby into a career.         CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

GUI Linux apps on Windows, Linux kernel development is pen-tested, ZFS and Docker, and converting a Windows installation to a VM.   Plugs FreeBSD IOStat EuroBSDCon 2021 CfP Support us on patreon   News Graphical Linux apps are coming to Windows Subsystem for Linux Linux kernel team rejects University of Minnesota researchers’ apology “Full disclosure” from the University of Minnesota   Free Consulting We were asked about using ZFS with Docker, and visualizing a physical Windows installation.     CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

We answer a bunch of your questions about server hardening, managing ZFS snapshots, Docusign, SSL certs in air-gapped networks, and automating updates.   Plugs EuroBSDCon 2021 Call for Papers Support us on patreon     CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

We answer a bunch of your questions about firewalls, best practices for backups, learning ZFS, QoS, SSH key management, backing up Google Drive, and more.   Links to things mentioned Unix Haters Handbook Allan’s FreeBSD Journal Article Dummynet: The Better Way to Build FreeBSD Networks Jim’s ZFS 101 Allan’s book   Plugs Customizing FreeBSD Ports and Packages All Things Open Support us on patreon     CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Thousands of students learn about backups the hard way, why securing all of DNS isn’t practical, and how to protect Internet-facing services running at home.   News Victoria University of Wellington accidentally nukes files on all desktop PCs Root Server Operators’ Statement on DNS Encryption [pdf]   Free Consulting We were asked about the best way to secure Internet-facing services running at home.   CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Our first look at the next generation of Arm, alarming claims about a recent Ubiquiti breach, and setting up a FreeBSD file server.   Plugs Customizing the FreeBSD Kernel Check out Joe’s albums Support us on patreon   News Containerize all the things! Arm v9 takes security seriously ARM Morello Whistleblower: Ubiquiti Breach “Catastrophic”   Free consulting We were asked about setting up a first FreeBSD file server.     CBT Nuggets This episode is sponsored by CBT Nuggets – training for IT professionals or anyone looking to build IT skills. Go to cbtnuggets.com/25admins and sign up for a 7-day free trial.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

How we’ll get to 100TB hard disks by the end of the decade, the potential dangers of flipped bits in network traffic, how to organize multiple copies of your backups, and managing dynamic DNS.   Plugs Understanding Network Performance Support us on patreon   News Seagate: 100TB HDDs Due in 2030, Multi-Actuator Drives to Become Common Toshiba’s disk drive: WTF is the flux control effect? Bitflips when PCs try to reach windows.com: What could possibly go wrong?   Free consulting We were asked about how to ensure data integrity on multiple backups, and managing dynamic DNS.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The OVH data center fire and related tales, drama with WireGuard in FreeBSD, why you should plug your flash drives in regularly, and more.   News OVH data centre destroyed by fire in Strasbourg OVH outlines recovery plan as French data centres smoulder OVH founder says UPS fixed up day before blaze is early suspect as source of data centre destruction Hard lessons learned from the OVH datacenter blaze In-kernel WireGuard is on its way to FreeBSD and the pfSense router Painful Lessons Learned in Security and Community FreeBSD kernel-mode WireGuard moves forward out-of-tree   Feedback Mitigating bitrot with checksums, and why flash isn’t any good as cold storage.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.   Lernard This episode is sponsored by Lernard. Sign up at automation.link and upgrade with the code admins to get 50% off a years’ subscription to a new devops training site called Lernard.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why it’s so hard to build a PC these days, finding help for ZFS issues, getting started with a homebrew router, and more.   Plugs The history of ARM and FreeBSD Support us on patreon   Discussion We talk about why it’s so hard to find PC parts and peripherals at the moment. Jim wrote an article about buying a gaming PC.   Free consulting We were asked about how to get help with ZFS issues, encrypting the root partition on ZFS, and how to get started with a homebrew router.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why hard disks will be around for ever, bad news for VR, slowdown from disk I/O, and when clustering isn’t necessarily the best solution.   Plugs Register for Open Source 101 OpenZFS: dRAID is coming Support us on patreon   News Seagate: Why SSDs will not kill disk drives Google Cardboard is no longer for sale   Free consulting We were asked about I/O wait on Linux, and clustering Linux machines.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Where we draw the line when supporting friends and family, monitoring SSL certs, ZFS on single drives, Chromium finally cleans up its act, and more in this feedback-filled episode.   Feedback Chromium finally fixes its DNS issue, a Samba AD server called Zentyal, firewalls, Unraid and SnapRAID, xCloud, and Nagios plugins.   Free consulting We were asked about ZFS on single drives, and how best to support enthusiastic amateur friends. Jim mentioned Sanoid.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Bad news for LastPass users, why Nvidia probably won’t buy Arm, what happens to our servers if we disappear, and using the cloud to avoid bottlenecks.   Plugs FreeBSD Jails – The beginning of Containers Support us on patreon   News Changes to LastPass Free Nvidia wants to buy CPU designer Arm—Qualcomm is not happy about it   Free Consulting We were asked about bus factor mitigation, and caching data from a home server in the cloud.       Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.   Lernard This episode is sponsored by Lernard. Sign up at automation.link and upgrade with the code admins to get 50% off a years’ subscription to a new devops training site called Lernard.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Stadia and game streaming, Bitcoin and Linux quirks in your feedback, and building a home server for more than just storage.   Plugs Simple and Secure VPN in FreeBSD – Introducing WireGuard Support us on patreon   News/discussion Focusing on Stadia’s future as a platform, and winding down SG&E   Feedback Follow-up on Bitcoin, and historical quirks of Linux.   Free Consulting We were asked about the best way to build a genral-purpose home server.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Reddit trolls Wall Street, bad news for Parler’s new host, why you should learn iptables, and backing up S3-compatible buckets.   Plugs History of FreeBSD Part 4: BSD and TCP/IP Support us on patreon   News Understanding /r/wallstreetbets DDoS-Guard To Forfeit Internet Space Occupied by Parler   Free Consulting We were asked about firewall managers and backing up S3-compatible buckets.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The Bitcoin price is booming again so we take the chance to laugh at Allan for selling too early, then we discuss some of your emails including Arm/x86 combos, switching to Ubuntu, and the importance of using a UPS.   Discussion The world’s cryptocurrency is now worth more than $1 trillion   Feedback Reproducibility, Arm and x86 in one machine, managing Ubuntu servers as a Red Hat user, and attracting more devs to FreeBSD.   Free Consulting We were asked about redundant, and uninterruptible power supplies.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.   Lernard This episode is sponsored by Lernard. Sign up at automation.link and upgrade with the code admins to get 50% off a years’ subscription to a new devops training site called Lernard.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why Parler is unlikely to come back any time soon, free RHEL, and using a VPS to subvert VPN limits.   Plugs Exploring Swap on FreeBSD Support us on patreon   News Amazon cuts off Parler’s Web hosting following Apple, Google bans CentOS is gone—but RHEL is now free for up to 16 production servers   Free Consulting We were asked about using a VPS to avoid limits on the number of devices connected to a VPN.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.   Datadog This episode is sponsored by Datadog – the unified monitoring and analytics platform for comprehensive visibility into cloud, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. Start your Datadog trial today by visiting datadog.com/25admins, create one dashboard, and you’ll get a free Datadog t-shirt.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

The merits of ECC RAM, why reproducible builds are a good idea, and where to buy used equipment.   Plugs Webinar: Introducing OpenZFS 2.0 Support us on patreon   News/Discussion Linus Torvalds rails at Intel for ‘killing’ the ECC industry Why don’t PCs use error correcting RAM? “Because Intel,” says Linus You don’t need reproducible builds   Free consulting We were asked about the best places to buy used equipment.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.   Datadog This episode is sponsored by Datadog – the unified monitoring and analytics platform for comprehensive visibility into cloud, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. Start your Datadog trial today by visiting datadog.com/25admins, create one dashboard, and you’ll get a free Datadog t-shirt.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

A cruel but necessary phishing test, ancient standards in brand new legislation, using Windows when it makes sense, and commissioning and decommissioning servers.   Plugs Webinar: Introducing OpenZFS 2.0 Klara: Routing and Firewalling VLANS with FreeBSD Support us on patreon   News GoDaddy Employees Were Told They Were Getting a Holiday Bonus. It Was Actually a Phishing Test Brexit trade deal advises governments to use Netscape Communicator and SHA-1. Why? It’s all in the DNA   Free consulting We were asked about Active Directory solutions, and the server commissioning and decommissioning process.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.   Datadog This episode is sponsored by Datadog – the unified monitoring and analytics platform for comprehensive visibility into cloud, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. Start your Datadog trial today by visiting datadog.com/25admins, create one dashboard, and you’ll get a free Datadog t-shirt.   TrueNAS from iXsystems This episode is sponsored by TrueNAS from iXsystems, the number one Open Storage OS. See how TrueNAS can support your next storage project, whether it’s just a few terabytes, all the way up to multiple petabytes.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why Google services like Gmail went down recently, the potentially promising future for RISC-V, and using ZFS for home and root.   News Google Mail outage Google incident report New RISC-V CPU claims record breaking performance per watt Seagate working on RISC-V SoCs   Free consulting We were asked about using ZFS for root and home partitions.     Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.   Lernard This episode is sponsored by Lernard. Sign up at automation.link and upgrade with the code admins to get 50% off a years’ subscription to a new devops training site called Lernard.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Potentially improving DNS privacy, the big new ZFS release, and the best way to automate Linux installations.   Plugs Webinar – Best Practices For Optimizing ZFS – Part 1 Support us on patreon   News Improving DNS Privacy with Oblivious DoH in 1.1.1.1 OpenZFS 2.0 release unifies Linux, BSD and adds tons of new features   Free consulting We were asked about the best way to automate Linux installations.       TrueNAS from iXsystems This episode is sponsored by TrueNAS from iXsystems, the number one Open Storage OS. See how TrueNAS can support your next storage project, whether it’s just a few terabytes, all the way up to multiple petabytes.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

How Intel and AMD have fought it out over the years, Apple changes the industry with their M1 SoC, and we repeat the mantra that RAID is not a backup.   Plugs Support us on patreon. If enough people do, we will go weekly.   News A history of Intel vs. AMD desktop performance, with CPU charts galore Hands-on with the Apple M1—a seriously fast x86 competitor Intel’s Disruption is Now Complete   Free consulting A question about drive failures is answered with a basic lesson in backups. We mentioned this article.   Linode Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and more easily. Go to linode.com/twoandahalf and get started with $100 credit.   Datadog This episode is sponsored by Datadog – the unified monitoring and analytics platform for comprehensive visibility into cloud, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. Start your Datadog trial today by visiting datadog.com/25admins, create one dashboard, and you’ll get a free Datadog t-shirt.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Google proves that “unlimited” anything doesn’t exist, GitHub shenanigans, Apple’s new Arm computers, and which distro to start with as a sysadmin.   Plugs Allan’s ZFS Webinar – Nov 18th, signup soon Support us on patreon. If enough people do, we will go weekly.   News Arm Macs announced Google Photos is the latest “Unlimited” plan to impose hard limits GitHub’s source code was leaked on GitHub last night… sort of Allan trolls Greg K-H   Free consulting We were asked whether someone starting out as a sysadmin should master Debian or CentOS.     Datadog This episode is sponsored by Datadog – the unified monitoring and analytics platform for comprehensive visibility into cloud, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. Start your Datadog trial today by visiting datadog.com/25admins, create one dashboard, and you’ll get a free Datadog t-shirt.   TrueNAS from iXsystems This episode is sponsored by TrueNAS from iXsystems, the number one Open Storage OS. See how TrueNAS can support your next storage project, whether it’s just a few terabytes, all the way up to multiple petabytes.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

We wade through Cloudfare’s marketing fluff, forced WordPress plugin updates, a bunch of your questions, and the shocking revelation that FreeBSD actually has graphics drivers.   Plugs History of FreeBSD, Part 2   News Introducing Cloudflare One Introducing Cloudflare Browser Isolation beta WordPress deploys forced security update for dangerous bug in popular plugin   Free consulting We answered a big batch of questions about managing bandwidth quotas, tape backups, preventing users from rebooting, and DKMS issues. We mentioned Firehol, ntopng, and Bacula.     Datadog This episode is sponsored by Datadog – the unified monitoring and analytics platform for comprehensive visibility into cloud, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. Start your Datadog trial today by visiting datadog.com/25admins, create one dashboard, and you’ll get a free Datadog t-shirt.   Lernard This episode is sponsored by Lernard. Sign up at automation.link and upgrade with the code admins to get 50% off a years’ subscription to a new devops training site called Lernard.   See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

How not to store test results, AMD firmly on top of the desktop space, what moving to remote work means for corporate networks, and deduplication of disorganized data.   Plugs Allan’s summary of the OpenZFS Devsummit 2020 All Things Open Support us on patreon. If enough people do, we will go weekly.   News Why using Microsoft’s tool caused Covid-19 results to be lost AMD’s new Zen 3 Ryzen desktop CPUs arrive November 5 Yesterday’s corporate network design isn’t working for working from home   Free consulting Joe asked for advice on deduplicating some old disorganized data.     Datadog This episode is sponsored by Datadog – the unified monitoring and analytics platform for comprehensive visibility into cloud, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. Start your Datadog trial today by visiting datadog.com/25admins, create one dashboard, and you’ll get a free Datadog t-shirt.   TrueNAS from iXsystems This episode is sponsored by TrueNAS from iXsystems, the number one Open Storage OS. See how TrueNAS can support your next storage project, whether it’s just a few terabytes, all the way up to multiple petabytes.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Intel almost catching up to AMD with Tiger Lake, the .uk fiasco, and why you shouldn’t be using dd.   Plugs OpenZFS Developer Summit All Things Open 2020 Support us on patreon. If enough people do, we will go weekly.   News Hands-on with Intel’s i7-1185G7 Tiger Lake prototype laptop Intel’s run at the GPU market begins with Tiger Lake onboard graphics What the hell is going on with .uk? .uk registry operator Nominet responds to renewed criticism – by silencing its critics .uk overlord Nominet tells everyone not to worry about ‘distorted’ vote allocations in its board elections   Free consulting We were asked about block size while using dd. Jim mentioned his blog post about iostat.   Datadog This episode is sponsored by Datadog – the unified monitoring and analytics platform for comprehensive visibility into cloud, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. Start your Datadog trial today by visiting datadog.com/25admins, create one dashboard, and you’ll get a free Datadog t-shirt.     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Cyber insurance for ransomware, more confusing WD specs, the truth behind the return of the Gateway brand, and managing config files.   News Ransomware accounted for 41% of all cyber insurance claims in H1 2020 Western Digital is trying to redefine the word “RPM” We found out who makes Walmart’s new Gateway laptops, and it’s bad news   Free consulting We were asked about managing config files when updating.     TrueNAS from iXsystems This episode is sponsored by TrueNAS from iXsystems, the number one Open Storage OS. See how TrueNAS can support your next storage project, whether it’s just a few terabytes, all the way up to multiple petabytes.   Datadog This episode is sponsored by Datadog – the unified monitoring and analytics platform for comprehensive visibility into cloud, hybrid, and multi-cloud environments. Start your Datadog trial today by visiting datadog.com/25admins, create one dashboard, and you’ll get a free Datadog t-shirt.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

How Internet standards are decided, what a new one means for the Web, a surprising “feature” of Chrome, and the best ways to monitor your systems.   News WebBundles Harmful to Content Blocking, Security Tools, and the Open Web RFC8890: The Internet is for End Users A Chrome feature is creating enormous load on global root DNS servers   Free consulting We were asked about monitoring backups and systems in general.       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Low power x86 vs Arm boards, hard disk failure rates, and the intricacies of ZFS snapshots.   Plugs OpenZFS Developer Summit Support the podcast on Patreon   News Seeed Studio’s Odyssey is a mini-PC for big projects and small wallets Backblaze Hard Drive Stats Q2 2020   Free consulting We were asked about ZFS on root, snapshots, and Jim’s project called Sanoid.     TrueNAS from iXsystems This episode is sponsored by TrueNAS from iXsystems, the number one Open Storage OS. See how TrueNAS can support your next storage project, whether it’s just a few terabytes, all the way up to multiple petabytes.     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Intel’s 7nm woes, hosts files, Mozilla’s VPN service, and automating ssh between remote hosts.   News Heads roll at Intel after 7nm delay Intel’s 7nm is busted, chips delayed, may have to use rival foundries to get GPUs out for US govt exascale super AMD is now following Moore’s Law: More chips, more money, more pressure on Intel, more competition in the x86 space AMD Says Zen 3 Consumer CPUs Will Launch This Year Windows 10: HOSTS file blocking telemetry is now flagged as a risk We test Mozilla’s new Wireguard-based $5/mo VPN service   Free consulting We were asked about automating ssh between remote hosts. Allan mentioned SSH Mastery.     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

New types of hard disks, recovering data from dying drives, AMD makes Jim reach for the calculator, and what to do with obscure software that you need.   Plugs FreeBSD Fridays: A Series of 101 Classes Joe’s podcast consulting   News Western Digital releases new 18TB, 20TB EAMR drives Tales From The Sysadmin: Impending Hard Drive Doom AMD Ryzen 4000 desktop CPUs will be here in Q3 2020   Free consulting We were asked how to deal with updates for software that isn’t in repos and needs to be compiled.     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Initial Arm Mac benchmarks are out and they aren’t terrible, getting the best transfer speeds over USB, and rolling our own home routers.   Plugs FreeBSD Bug Squash Support the podcast on Patreon   News First benchmarks surface for Apple’s ARM-based Developer Transition Kit UASP makes Raspberry Pi 4 disk IO 50% faster   Free Consulting We were asked about our home network setups.   See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Jim bought the worst laptop in the world, a quick update on SMR drives, learning the basics of ZFS, and updating air-gapped servers.   Plug Support the podcast on Patreon   News We bought Walmart’s $140 laptop so you wouldn’t have to Lawsuit vs. Western Digital wants to end any use of SMR in NAS drives Western Digital adds “Red Plus” branding for non-SMR hard drives   Free Consulting We were asked about the best ways to start with ZFS, and Shlomi asked about updating air-gapped Ubuntu machines with various VMs.         See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

When the world will move to IPv6, WD SMR drives put to the test, raw vs qcow2 on ZFS, and erasing SSDs.   Plug Support the podcast on Patreon   News It could be ‘five to ten years’ before the world finally drags itself away from IPv4 We put Western Digital’s dreaded SMR Red drive to the test   Free consulting Michael asked for advice about whether to use raw or qcow2 on ZFS, and Joe had a question about giving SSDs away.           See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Zoom’s new encryption, podcasts in walled gardens, and servers as pets vs cattle.   Plug Support the podcast on Patreon   News Zoom to require users to upgrade to 5.0 after May 30th Zoom bought Keybase in early May Joe Rogan will move his podcast to Spotify   Free consulting Eduardo asked us to dive a little deeper into how to move from being an admin who treats their servers like pets to being an admin who treats their servers like cattle.     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Why Apache is still relevant in 2020, and the differences between ZFS and Btrfs.   Plugs Allan’s BSDCan Homelab panel Allan on setns.live Support the podcast on Patreon   Apache vs Nginx Apache 101   Free Consulting Several people including Emil have asked us to discuss the differences between ZFS and Btrfs. Jim recently wrote a ZFS 101 article.     See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Our thoughts on DNS-over-HTTPS, whether Arm is about to take over, HDD advice, and automatic updates and reboots.   Plugs Help us keep the lights on by supporting us on Patreon. Watch Allan’s Homelab panel recording for BSDCan 2020 on May 5th, 2pm EDT (18:00 UTC) Check out Joe’s light-hearted podcast The New Show Jim will be speaking at Open Source 101 At Home   News Surreptitiously Swapping SMR into Hard Drive Lines Must Stop Canada’s .ca overlord rolls out free privacy-protecting DNS-over-HTTPS service for folks in Great White North Paul Vixie on DoH @ vBSDCon 2019 Paul Vixie: DNS Wars: Episode IV: A New Bypass @ EuroBSDCon 2019 The rumor that just won’t die: Apple to keep Intel at Arm’s length in 2021 with launch of ‘A14-powered laptops’ Making macOS run well on ARM processors isn’t the hard part What is ARM Morello ARM backs the CHERI project   Free Consulting Frank wrote in to ask advice on which HDDs to buy, and Jake was curious about automatic updates and reboots.

In our first episode, Allan Jude, Jim Salter, and Joe Ressington discuss Amazon cutting affiliate rates, SMR hard drives, and setting up off-site backups on the cheap.   News Amazon reportedly planning drastic cuts to affiliate commission rates   Buyer beware—that 2TB-6TB “NAS” drive you’ve been eyeing might be SMR Seagate says Network Attached Storage and SMR don’t mix Western Digital admits 2TB-6TB WD Red NAS drives use shingled magnetic recording Seagate ‘submarines’ SMR into 3 Barracuda drives and a Desktop HDD Toshiba desktop disk drives have shingles too Western Digital implies WD Red NAS SMR drive users are responsible for overuse problems   Free Consulting Joe has ~2TB of data that should be backed up off-site. Jim and Allan discuss the best ways to do that on a low budget. Send your questions for Jim and Allan to show@ the show website domain: 2.5admins.com