

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

Feb 3, 2022 • 31min
2.5 Admins 76: Horses for Courses
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.

Jan 27, 2022 • 30min
2.5 Admins 75: Burning Fiber
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.

Jan 20, 2022 • 29min
2.5 Admins 74: Virtual Pointless Network
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.

Jan 13, 2022 • 30min
2.5 Admins 73: QR Choad
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.

Jan 6, 2022 • 31min
2.5 Admins 72: Email Cartel
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.

Dec 30, 2021 • 29min
2.5 Admins 71: Recover Calmly
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.

Dec 23, 2021 • 30min
2.5 Admins 70: Xmas AMA
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.

Dec 16, 2021 • 31min
2.5 Admins 69: Nice
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.

Dec 9, 2021 • 31min
2.5 Admins 68: Shuckchain
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.

Dec 2, 2021 • 31min
2.5 Admins 67: Haitch
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.


