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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.   […]

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 […]

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is never as good as keeping your data warm and regularly tested, how the American air traffic control system became so outdated, and isolating your devices from a roommate’s shenanigans.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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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   […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]