2.5 Admins 317: Need Less

A bug in APT shines a light on a long-standing issue, backing up databases in containers, the pros and cons of using FreeBSD to host Linux VMs, network isolation for VMs, and using another backup technology in addition to ZFS. With guest host Sean from Hybrid Cloud Show.   Plug Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes   News/discussion APT can merge two different package downloads after an HTTP redirect gives them the same URI   Free Consulting A modern Proxmox Docker architecture with disposable VMs, VirtIO-FS, and ZFS               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.  

Why you should be watching for SSL certificates that you didn’t issue, Let’s Encrypt is shortening the length of certs to 64 days, Ubuntu tightens up GRUB with secure boot, an Intel driver bug breaks IPv6 for major services, and running websites from a home Internet connection.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes FreeBSD Release Cycles and Enterprise Requirements: Why LTS Matters   News/discussion Chrome’s Response to Recent ccTLD Registry Hijacks 64-Day Certificate Lifetimes Coming Feb 2027 – Let’s Encrypt Ubuntu 26.10 drops Btrfs, XFS & ZFS /boot with Secure Boot A preinstalled Intel driver is silently breaking IPv6, OneNote and Microsoft 365                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.      

Supermarkets found out why their fridges shouldn’t be on the Internet and Samsung smart fridges broke after a firmware update, why we don’t recommend MoCA, some tips for running ethernet cables in your house, and why it’s fine to use a short TTL with your domains.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Biggest ZFS Misconfigurations and How to Fix Them: Part 2   News/discussion Hackers heat French supermarket fridges, sparking fires and spoiling food The username is admin and the password changes every day automatically to.. the current date Freeze the Controller, Defrost the Food: Uncovering Vulnerabilities in Danfoss Refrigeration Controllers Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges   Free consulting Example coax cable tester             See our contact page for ways to get in touch.  

Why batteries in homes could benefit everyone involved, why we didn’t bring up wake-on-LAN when someone asked about keeping a NAS powered on as little as possible, building a router vs buying one, and ways to manage ssh connections.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Biggest ZFS Misconfigurations and How to Fix Them: Part 1   News/discussion How I kept cool with NYC’s free battery program for window AC units               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.  

Google offers a few pennies to web publishers to make up for stealing their content and not sending them any traffic, the tech we’d try to use after the apocalypse, why Jim doesn’t virtualise his clients’ desktops, and setting up Volume Shadow Copy so your users can restore their own files.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes FreeBSD: The Hidden Cost of Upgrading in Production   News/discussion Google’s early attempt to pay websites for AI answers is struggling                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.  

The challenges of funding open source software projects, how Netflix uses FreeBSD in a positive way, why you shouldn’t try to complicate your monitoring, and running servers in a small residence.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Why Is Everyone Stuck on FreeBSD 13?   Discussion Netflix Case Study               See our contact page for ways to get in touch.  

Microsoft really wants you to update your Exchange server, our thoughts on immutable distros, more on Jim’s approach to internet access for his kids, restricting access to servers on a corporate network, and cloning and backing up operating systems with ZFS.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes OpenZFS User and Developer Summit 2026: October 27-30   News Microsoft to bounce mail from outdated Exchange servers                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.  

Some of the ways you can mitigate the ridiculous hardware prices, and designing a small business LAN.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes FreeBSD’s Release Cycle: What It Means for Your Upgrade Schedule   Free consulting We were asked about designing a small business LAN.                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.  

A BGP hijack involved some basic errors, Microsoft teaches people to ignore warnings in Windows, Zoom appears to be reading the clipboard on X11, why a non-US open certificate authority is feasible in theory, and keeping a NAS powered on as little as possible.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes Send us an email   News/discussion BGP hijack infecting networks caused by a comedy of errors that’s not funny at all Windows bug incorrectly tells users that Microsoft Defender Antivirus is turned off I noticed today that an update to the #Linux #Zoom client has made it start proactively reading _everything_ written to the X11 clipboard   Free consulting We were asked about keeping a NAS powered on as little as possible.                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.  

What to read into a study of long-term Backblaze hard drive failure data, why the difference between TB and TiB matters, and what to do about an overheating host bus adapter.   Plugs Support us on patreon and get an ad-free RSS feed with some early episodes ZFS vs Ceph: Choosing the Right Storage Architecture   News/discussion Peer-reviewed study of 443,000 Backblaze hard drives ranks HGST most reliable and Toshiba the least — Analysis of 1.66 million drive-years finds Seagate and Toshiba HDDs fail at roughly twice the rate of WD and HGST Changing Language for Storage Capacity   Free consulting We were asked about an overheating host bus adapter.                 See our contact page for ways to get in touch.