2.5 Admins

It looks like Bitlocker had a back door in it, how a listener accidentally broke Gitea for users of the snap version, Google accidentally published an unpatched exploit for Chromium-based browsers, why people are starting to ditch Bitwarden, and moving a tech stack away from large corporations.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes How Klara and TrueNAS fixed ZFS’s longest standing limitation Webinar: June 25th @ 11am EDT: Understanding AnyRAID with Jon from HexOS   News/discussion YellowKey Bitlocker Bypass Vulnerability Microsoft shares mitigation for YellowKey Windows zero-day How I Broke Gitea for Everyone Google publishes exploit code threatening millions of Chromium users The Quiet Renovation at Bitwarden   Free consulting We were asked about moving a tech stack away from large corporations.                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   <img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="lazy loaded alignnone wp-image-881 entered" src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2.5admins-sm.png" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" srcset="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-300x169.png 300w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1024x576.png 1024w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-768x432.png 768w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/up

Why a proposal for an alternative to IPv6 is unlikely to be viable, Microsoft really doesn’t want you to run Exchange Server on-prem, Google will finally stop being a proper search engine, setting up an email server for internal use, and mitigating DDoS attacks without Cloudflare.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Tuning ZFS for Databases Webinar: May 27th at 11am EDT: Database Performance on ZFS with Tom Lawrence   News/discussion Veteran network architect proposes IPv8 – to improve IPv4, not leapfrog v6 Exchange Server zero-day vulnerability can be triggered by opening a malicious email Google Search as you know it is over   Free consulting We were asked about setting up an email server for internal use, and mitigating DDoS attacks without Cloudflare.                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   <img decoding="async" class="lazy loaded alignnone wp-image-881 entered" src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2.5admins-sm.png" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" srcset="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-300x169.png 300w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1024x576.png 1024w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-768x432.png 768w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1536x864.png 1536w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-210x118.png 210w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon.png

People trying to return defective hard drives and RAM are finding out why consumer protection laws would be good, GoDaddy accidentally gave someone’s domain name away, and when and how to fix ZFS fragmentation.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Fast Dedup Economics: When Deduplication Beats Buying New Disks   News/discussion Toshiba refuses to replace large hard drive that was under warranty — company offers refund at the purchase price, not the higher current retail price GoDaddy Gave a Domain to a Stranger Without Any Documentation   Free consulting We were asked about when and how to fix ZFS fragmentation.                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   </di

Microsoft is encouraging employees with the most experience to leave the company and letting users pause Windows updates forever, some of the best features you’ll get in the version of ZFS that ships with the new Ubuntu LTS, and backing up data from cloud services.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Extending ZFS Performance Without Hardware Upgrades   News/discussion Microsoft tackles quality control issues. Just kidding, it’s encouraging experienced workers to leave Your Windows update experience just got updated zfs-2.3.0 zfs-2.4.0   Free consulting We were asked about backing up data from cloud services.               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   </d

Hitting the limit for hard links, a parent struggles to get back into their teen’s compromised Discord account, the demise of tower PCs and general purpose computing in general, and changing the properties of existing ZFS pools.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Compensating for RAM Constraints with L2ARC on ZFS   News/discussion How Jennifer Aniston and Friends Cost Us 377GB and Broke ext4 Hardlinks Dad stuck in support nightmare after teen lied about age on Discord Apple’s last tower topples… and the others will follow   Free consulting We were asked about changing the properties of existing ZFS pools.               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   </d

Microsoft locks devs out of important accounts, the foreign router ban exemptions make even less sense, Backblaze shows that “unlimited” never means that, and attempting to avoid software that’s written with AI.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Do More with Less: Cost-Efficient Storage on the New TrueNAS with Enhanced Fast Dedup The Hidden Value of CPU-Intensive Compression on Modern Hardware   News/discussion Microsoft locks out VeraCrypt and WireGuard devs, blames verification process Action Required: Account Verification for Windows Hardware Program Begins October 16, 2025 FCC exempts Netgear from ban on foreign routers, doesn’t explain why Backblaze has quietly stopped backing up your data   Free consulting We were asked about avoiding software that’s written with AI.               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="lazy loaded alignnone wp-image-881 entered" src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2.5admins-sm.png" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" srcset="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-300x169.png 300w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1024x576.png 1024w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-768x432.png 768w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thu

Why putting data center satellites in orbit is a terrible idea, Google might show people a made-up version of your website, and ZFS on really old Dell servers.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes   News/discussion Orbital data centers, part 1: There’s no way this is economically viable, right? 11 mins edited Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea Google Just Patented The End Of Your Website   Free consulting We were asked about ZFS on really old Dell servers.               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Arm announces its first CPU, Anthropic accidentally leaks the source for Claude Code and it’s terrible, and setting up a backup for a friend’s photos.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes FreeBSD and OpenZFS in the Quest for Technical Independence: A Storage Architect’s View​   News/discussion Arm expands compute platform to silicon products in historic company first Anthropic exposes Claude Code source by accident   Free consulting We were asked about setting up a backup for a friend’s photos.               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Microsoft says Windows 11 is getting less rubbish but we are skeptical, vehicles with alcohol interlocks won’t start because the manufacturer’s server is down, and whether you should virtualise a router or a NAS.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Five‑Year Storage Design with OpenZFS: Media Refresh, Rebalancing, and Hardware Independence   News/discussion Our commitment to Windows quality Microsoft fixes broken Windows update days after vowing fewer broken updates Cyberattack on vehicle breathalyzer company leaves drivers stranded across the US   Free consulting We were asked about whether you should virtualise a router or a NAS.             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   </

The US government is drumming up fear about foreign routers, a pretty serious supply chain attack might be state-sponsored, and the safety of filesystems inside VMs.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes The Real Cost of Technology Dependence: Building Independence with Open-Source Storage   News/discussion US bans any new consumer-grade routers not made in America National Security Determination on the Threat Posed by Routers Produced by Foreign Countries (pdf) 1K+ cloud environments infected following Trivy supply chain attack Self-propagating malware poisons open source software and wipes Iran-based machines   Free consulting We were asked about the safety of filesystems inside VMs.                 Automox Turnkey Results Endpoint management tailored to your specific environment. Know the plan. Trust the result. Learn more at www.automox.com       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="lazy loaded alignnone wp-image-881 entered" src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2.5admins-sm.png" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" srcset="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-300x169.png 300w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1024x576.png 1024w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-768x432.png 768w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1536x864.png 1536w, https://2.5a

Why passkeys aren’t the right solution to everything, Allan tells us why he loves his new Lithium Iron Phosphate UPS, Btrfs vs ZFS on root, and restricting Internet access for IoT devices on your network.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Designing OpenZFS Storage for Independence   News/discussion Please, please, please stop using passkeys for encrypting user data Allan’s new Anker SOLIX C1000 Gen 2 Portable Power Station   Free consulting We were asked about restricting Internet access for IoT devices on your network.                 Automox Turnkey Results Endpoint management tailored to your specific environment. Know the plan. Trust the result. Learn more at www.automox.com       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.

Microsoft Authenticator will delete Entra credentials on phones that aren’t running stock ROMs, Jim’s nightmare experience trying to get a user back into their MS account, tracking vehicles via tire pressure monitors, using a ZFS pool in a degraded state, and keeping cold ZFS storage dataset snapshots in sync.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes ZFS Fast Dedup for Proxmox   News/discussion Microsoft Authenticator to nuke Entra creds on rooted and jailbroken phones Jailbreak/root detection in Microsoft Authenticator Jim Microsoft MFA rant Vehicle Tire Pressure Sensors Enable Silent Tracking   Free consulting We were asked about purposely using a ZFS pool in a degraded state, and keeping cold ZFS storage dataset snapshots in sync.                 Automox Turnkey Results Endpoint management tailored to your specific environment. Know the plan. Trust the result. Learn more at www.automox.com       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="lazy loaded alignnone wp-image-881 entered" src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2.5admins-sm.png" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" srcset="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-300x169.png 300w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1024x576.png 1024w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-768x432.png 768w,

An exciting new cold storage technology seems to be getting closer, Nvidia seemingly wants a slice of the laptop hardware action, why you (and your users) should definitely not use LLMs to “generate” passwords , and whistleblowing when sensitive customer data isn’t being taken seriously.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes ARC and L2ARC Sizing on Proxmox   News/discussion Data stored in glass could last over 10,000 years, Microsoft says Nvidia plans a Windows PC SoC, setting up direct competition with Qualcomm, Intel, and AMD Vibe Password Generation: Predictable by Design   Free consulting We were asked about whistleblowing when sensitive customer data isn’t being taken seriously.                 Automox Turnkey Results Endpoint management tailored to your specific environment. Know the plan. Trust the result. Learn more at www.automox.com       See our contact page for ways to get in touch.   <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="lazy loaded alignnone wp-image-881 entered" src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2.5admins-sm.png" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" srcset="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-300x169.png 300w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1024x576.png 1024w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-768x432.png 768w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1536x864.png 1536w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-210x118.png 210

Hardware scarcity and price hikes spread to hard drives, the Bcachefs dev thinks his AI is ‘fully conscious’, an agent might have gone after a FOSS maintainer, Jim is disappointed with an Ars author, and ZFS and VMs in the homelab.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with early episodes sometimes Piss up at The Shipwrights Arms (just next to London Bridge station) on Saturday 27th June from 6pm until late Pool and VDEV Topology for Proxmox Workloads   News/discussion AI blamed again as hard drives are sold out for this year Hard drive pricing in the UK is so high someone flew to the US to buy drives, saving money despite flight and hotel costs Bcachefs creator claims his custom LLM is ‘fully conscious’ An AI Agent Published a Hit Piece on Me An AI Agent Published a Hit Piece on Me – More Things Have Happened An AI Agent Published a Hit Piece on Me – Forensics and More Fallout An AI Agent Published a Hit Piece on Me – The Operator Came Forward Editor’s Note: Retraction of article containing fabricated quotations Sorry all this is my fault   Free consulting We were asked about ZFS and VMs in the homelab.                     <div cla

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.   <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="lazy loaded alignnone wp-image-881 entered" src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2.5admins-sm.png" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" srcset="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-300x169.png 300w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1024x576.png 1024w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-768x432.png 768w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1536x864.png 1536w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-210x118.png 210w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon.png 1920w" alt="" width="350" height="197" data-src="https://2.5a

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.   <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="lazy loaded alignnone wp-image-881 entered" src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2.5admins-sm.png" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" srcset="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-300x169.png 300w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1024x576.png 1024w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-768x432.png 768w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moo

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.   <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="lazy loaded alignnone wp-image-881 entered" src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2.5admins-sm.png" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" srcset="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-300x169.png 300w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1024x576.png 1024w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-768x432.png 768w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1536x864.png 1536w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-210x118.png 210w, https://2.5ad

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.   <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="lazy loaded alignnone wp-image-881 entered" src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2.5admins-sm.png" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" srcset="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-300x169.png 300w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1024x576.png 1024w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-7

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.   <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="lazy loaded alignnone wp-image-881 entered" src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2.5admins-sm.png" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" srcset="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-300x169.png 300w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1024x576.png 1024w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-768x432.png 768w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1536x864.png 1536w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/up

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.   <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="lazy loaded alignnone wp-image-881 entered" src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2.5admins-sm.png" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" srcset="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-300x169.png 300w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1024x576.png 1024w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-768x432.png 768w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1536x864.png 1536w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-210x118.png 210w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/

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.   <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="lazy loaded alignnone wp-image-881 entered" src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2.5admins-sm.png" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" srcset="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-300x169.png 300w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1024x576.png 1024w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-768x432.png 768w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1536x864.png 1536w, https://2.5admins.com

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.   <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="lazy loaded alignnone wp-image-881 entered" src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2.5admins-sm.png" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" srcset="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-300x169.png 300w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1024x576.png 1024w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-768x432.png 768w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1536x864.png 1536w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-210x118.png 210w, https://2.5adm

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.   <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="lazy loaded alignnone wp-image-881 entered" src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2.5admins-sm.png" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" srcset="https://2.5admins.

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.   <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="lazy loaded alignnone wp-image-881 entered" src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2.5admins-sm.png" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" srcset="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/y

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.   <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="lazy loaded alignnone wp-image-881 entered" src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/2.5admins-sm.png" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" srcset="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-300x169.png 300w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1024x576.png 1024w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-768x432.png 768w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1536x864.png 1536w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-210x118.png 210w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon.png 1920w" alt="" width="350" height="197" data-src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-cont

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.   <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="lazy loaded alignnone wp-image-881 " src="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-300x169.png" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" srcset="https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-300x169.png 300w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-1024x576.png 1024w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube-thumb-moon-768x432.png 768w, https://2.5admins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/youtube