

2.5 Admins
The Late Night Linux Family
2.5 Admins is a podcast featuring two sysadmins called Allan Jude and Jim Salter, and a producer/editor who can just about configure a Samba share called Joe Ressington. Every week we get together, talk about recent tech news, and answer some of your admin-related questions.
Episodes
Mentioned books

7 snips
Nov 10, 2022 • 29min
2.5 Admins 116: Worst Billionaire
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.

Nov 3, 2022 • 33min
2.5 Admins 115: Key Party
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.

Oct 27, 2022 • 30min
2.5 Admins 114: RAID WTF
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.

Oct 20, 2022 • 33min
2.5 Admins 113: Eggs and Baskets
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.

Oct 13, 2022 • 29min
2.5 Admins 112: Reuse > Recycle
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.

Oct 6, 2022 • 32min
2.5 Admins 111: The Freezer Trick
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.

Sep 29, 2022 • 31min
2.5 Admins 110: Border Gateway Currency
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.

Sep 22, 2022 • 32min
2.5 Admins 109: Selling Technical Debt
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.

Sep 15, 2022 • 33min
2.5 Admins 108: dQw4w9WgXcQ
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.

Sep 8, 2022 • 30min
2.5 Admins 107: s/smart//g
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.


