-
Reddit SystemAdmin. Thanks @reddit2telegram and @r_channels.
What are you best aliases ?
I love aliases, they make the best routines. What are the ones that add the most value to you ?
Here are some of my favourites:
# execute interactive bash or shell in k8s pod
kex() {
local pod=$1
local ns=$2
local namespacearg=()
if [ -n "$ns" ]; then
namespacearg=(-n "$ns")
fi
if kubectl exec -it "${namespacearg[@]}" "$pod" -- /bin/bash 2>/dev/null; then
return 0
else
kubectl exec -it "${namespacearg@}" "$pod" -- /bin/sh
fi
}
# docker aliases
alias ddown="docker compose down -v --remove-orphans"
alias dup="docker compose up --build --force-recreate"
https://redd.it/1ky5t72
@r_systemadmin
Leaving for a new role
I’m posting here because I need a little support on this one lads. I know what many of you will say and I need to hear it.
I’ve been in my current role for 4+ years now. All but the last year I’ve been a 1 man show. Running all of our internal IT + managing our cloud operations for our SaaS platform. I’ve genuinely enjoyed my role and most of the company is great. Software devs are a blessing and a curse all at once.
There’s a lot of conflict between my co-worker, who was brought on to help with my workload, and our CEO. We both report directly to him. Things got bad, they do NOT get along. I’d been working for months to try and change things so they don’t interact as much. Trying to move myself into a leadership role to place him under me and take away their direct contact.
That was in progress and then he called and told me he’s taking another offer and would be leaving in about 6 weeks.
I immediately said fuck it and started applying to other roles. I didn’t trust they would replace my co-worker, they still haven’t replaced the last one that left. This was nearly two weeks ago.
After some interviews they’ve asked me in to tour the office, do some meet and greets and provide an offer. That all got sorted last night.
Now today I’m told all the changes I presented months ago are going ahead because the CEO has realised the changes need to happen.
I still intend on taking the offer but damn I feel bad for my coworkers. They’re going to have a hard time replacing both of us back to back. I mostly feel that it’s too little too late and will be genuinely surprised if the changes do happen. I don’t trust the CEO to not do these things again the future. I just feel bad for my co-workers.
So, go on tell me to look out for me
https://redd.it/1kxxomu
@r_systemadmin
Identifying domains that are blocking us?
One of our users was successfully phished and a bunch of emails were sent out from his account. Some of our vendors blocked us as a result. I've been able to work with those who contacted us to unblock us. What I don't know is who else is blocking us.
As far as I can tell the emails we send are delivered but I'm guessing they are quarantined on their end (something I don't think I can see).
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
https://redd.it/1kxrtej
@r_systemadmin
Sales guy from yesterday. Got fired today lol
Hey all!
It's the sales guy from yesterday that posted "how to sell to IT?".
Even though it was barely my 2nd month there, (58 days) I got fired.
So everyone who was saying to not call or think or look in your way? I won't do that any longer! That's one good thing.
I'm now looking for job and I want to be in IT, as I hated every minute of sales job.
Any entry level job leads would be appreciated.
Everyone was pretty great yesterday, so thank you for that too.
https://redd.it/1kxmywp
@r_systemadmin
Do you remember the days before Power Shell?
I grew up on Unix, before Linux ever existed. Back then, before X Windows, everything was done with the command line, the shell. I remember when I first started using Windows, Windows for Workgroups, 3.11 I'm guessing, that there were so many things that I couldn't do in the DOS box. This morning I was thinking about that and it got me to wondering if there were DOS commands that I didn't know about, or if it was true and you had to use GUI programs for almost everything.
https://redd.it/1kxlpw6
@r_systemadmin
I just discovered UniGetUI for Windows, what other incredible tools am I likely not aware of?
I am not a pro sys admin, but I just learned about UniGetUI, which is really freakin' cool.
> The main goal of this project is to create an intuitive GUI for the most common CLI package managers for Windows 10 and 11, such as WinGet, Scoop, Chocolatey, Pip, Npm, .NET Tool, PowerShell Gallery and more (Check out the package manager compatibility table)!. With this app, you can easily download, install, update, and uninstall any software published on the supported package managers — and much more!
https://github.com/marticliment/UniGetUI 16.2k stars
Along similar lines, what other tools should I know about?
note: learning about this came out of thinking about https://www.theverge.com/news/675446/microsoft-windows-update-all-apps-orchestration-platform
https://redd.it/1kxh2w5
@r_systemadmin
Heads-up: Major .top DNS outage on May 27 - registry silent
On May 27, a large number of .top domains were affected by a major DNS outage. Domains across multiple registrars failed to resolve or were redirected to Cloudflare IPs (some pointing to China-based addresses).
No official incident report, no tweet, no announcement from the .top registry.
This is an ICANN-accredited TLD operator — and yet there's been zero transparency or communication.
Just putting it out there in case anyone else was troubleshooting unexplained .top failures yesterday. Might be worth double-checking DNS records or reconsidering use of this TLD for anything production-critical.
https://redd.it/1kxebtp
@r_systemadmin
Transitioning an org away from BYOD - higher-ups want an exemption.
My biggest project this year is blocking end-users from accessing any work app or account on non-MDM-managed end-points.
It’s been a grind, but everything is now connected to Entra: core apps (Salesforce, Apple Developer, Wells Fargo, etc.); shared accounts (Twitter, Google Analytics, etc.); and internal services. All my end-users now access these through Entra SSO with MFA.
The final step is enabling the managed devices only conditional access policy. However, a few higher-ups (fewer than 10, and I manage \~2,000 end-users) are asking for a carve-out...
These holdouts want to access work services on their personal phones. We don’t issue company phones so I can’t enforce the policy without locking them out.
The frustrating part is some of the laggards previously approved the project. They either didn't get what what I was trying to achieve, or they just didn't think rules applied to them.
This is half rant, but I'd be curious to know if anyone has any tips or tricks for working with these delightfully frustrating individuals?
https://redd.it/1kxcv8u
@r_systemadmin
The folder that will not delete. A 15min saga.
Got asked by end user to delete a folder as they couldn't do so. Turns out the tinkerer on the site shared the folder and gave full control to 3 groups. Someone in group took ownership of folder, broke inheritance from these groups.
Cue me with speech, only admins or similar should have. Explained difference between modify and full control.
So in comes the deleting and all steps i tried logged in as admin all elevated:
- shift + del
- del via cmd
- takeown via cmd
- icals to strip it and give me ownership
- reg edit to add take own to context menu
- robocopy with the backup switchs to move then delete source
- reg edit to set admin token to equal zero
All met with same 2 errors, access denied...you need to be owner, or access denied...you need Administrators permission to do this.
I gave up, reiterated that end users shouldn't be given full control. It 99% wasn't that (I hope) and want to burn that vhdx to the ground.
https://redd.it/1kwzmnd
@r_systemadmin
Client is F'd, right?
Client PC took a surge while on and the magic smoke came out. This PC was sent up years ago by a former employee, and Bitlocker was enabled. I pulled the drive, which works just fine but is demanding a Bitlocker key that is not linked to the account of the last three people working here who signed in to MS accounts. I do have an identical PC that I can try it in, but before I start taking out screws to attempt a boot with this, I'm 99.44% Sure that the drive is not recoverable without the original key, correct? It will not even boot in any machine except the one it was originally installed on?
https://redd.it/1kws6x3
@r_systemadmin
I don't know who needs to hear this, but use the Office Deployment Toolkit.
We sometimes reinstall Office suites just because it can be a quick and easy way to rule out a corrupted installation. Sometimes this happens after an update.
I still remember rookie me a few months ago (I'm still a rookie, but a more experience one), needing to reinstall an Office suite but the end user had 14 language packs installed. I had the user on call, so I couldn't have prepped for the call. I manually uninstalled every single language pack, 15 mins a pop. I was sweating. I messed up by not having the balls to admit it'd take longer than 30 mins. I sent a distress beacon in the group chat asking if there was a better way to do this. I was getting half-baked replies- suggestions thrown over the fence. I felt like I had to do it on my own, and since by that time I had already uninstalled 8 language packs, I figured I'd power through.
I just put a folder called ODT in our shared document library with several XML files, one for each common purpose. I did this on a Surface laptop and cleaned up all the language packs and installed the two language packs I wanted in less than fifteen minutes, I might even say ten, I didn't count specifically. Another Surface was struggling a bit with uninstallation until I finally got it to work.
I still need to work out the kinks and figure out just exactly why the first laptop worked perfectly and the other laptop needed a bit more kicks to it. One thing to note is that for the first laptop, I used the offline Microsoft Support and Recovery Assistant tool to uninstall the language packs, and for the second one, I attempted the same, eventually ended up trying an uninstall .xml file.
I still need time to completely master this and figure out what these tools need to work properly (think Click to run vs .msi installations), but I'm excited that I finally took the time to do this. Once I figure out how to use this on all our machines, regardless of brand, I'll save so much time.
Who else is using ODT/SaRA? Any tips and tricks? (Our Office suites are rolled out via Intune, so no ODT during app installation.)
https://redd.it/1kwysgp
@r_systemadmin
Add "google.com##.hdzaWe" without quotes to your Ublock Origin My Filters to block the google AI overview
Don't forget to click Apply Changes in the top left!
edit:
google.com##.hdzaWe
thank you u/mordacthepreventer
https://redd.it/1kwsvcj
@r_systemadmin
Leaving Job Where I Can Do Whatever I Want, Am I Crazy?
So let me start off by saying my entry into IT was a very strange path most don't take. I am not booksmart and absolutely suck at memorizing terminology. What I am good at is critical thinking and problem solving, so when it comes to certificates, I have none. When it comes to experience I have an extremely broad skill-set ranging from spinning up Azure instances, to setting up new Firewalls, even down to pentesting and vulnerability assessments. Some days I just coil some cables. My current job I am given near complete creative freedom to problem solving, which I LOVE. I also more or less can do anything I want, leave as early as I want, etc. As long as the work gets done. And that's the problem with my current job. I have maxed out my knowledge in this environment. I have also made everything as streamlined as it's going to get. I feel like I have nothing to do now most days. So I read and expand my skills, but that now feels pointless because I'm not applying those skills.
So my next thing is money of course. I make about 44k/yr. It's a nonprofit with better funding than most nonprofits, but all the big money goes to the Marketing team. If I left, their infrastructure would probably crumble or an MSP would take over for much more money than simply giving me a raise. But they refuse to give me a raise because they see our department as overhead. It's not sleek and sexy like Marketing, I get it. The thing is, I could immediately jump to 80k/yr and have a few days remote instead of always being on-site.
So my question really is: Do I trade work-life balance, amazing community and mission, but shitty pay for being paid double, expanding my skills but not knowing what my work life will be like? Or do I stay, knowing I am being underpaid and underappreciated, and continue to work on skills, knowing I'll always have free time for hobbies and things I like doing?
For the record I am 30 years old, in a stable relationship, and want to start a family soon. I know at the end of the day it's my choice... But I feel like I'm making a mistake either way and need advice from fellow techies.
Thank you.
https://redd.it/1kwrelv
@r_systemadmin
Anyone actually solving vulnerability noise without a full team?
We’re a small IT crew managing a mix of Windows and Linux workloads across AWS and Azure. Lately, we’ve been buried in CVEs from our scanners. Most aren’t real risks; deprecated libs, unreachable paths, or things behind 5 layers of firewalls.
We’ve tried tagging by asset type and impact, but it’s still a slog.
Has anyone actually found a way to filter this down to just the stuff that matters? Especially curious if anyone’s using reachability analysis or something like that.
Manual triage doesn’t scale when you’ve got three people and 400 assets.
https://redd.it/1kwmf2m
@r_systemadmin
LAPS – what‘s the benefit?
We want to implement LAPS in our environment. Our plan looks like this:
\- The local admin passwords of all clients are managed by LAPS
\- Every member of the IT Team has a separate Domain user account like “client-admin-john-doe”, which is part of the local administrators group on every client
However, we are wondering if we really improve security that way. Yes, if an attacker steals the administrator password of PC1, he can’t use it to move on to PC2. But if “client-admin-john-doe” was logged into PC1, the credentials of this domain user are also stored on the pc, and can be used to move on the PC2 – or am I missing something here?
Is it harder for an attacker to get cached domain user credentials then the credentials from a local user from the SAM database?
https://redd.it/1kwm5r4
@r_systemadmin
Thickheaded Thursday - May 29, 2025
Howdy, /r/sysadmin!
It's that time of the week, Thickheaded Thursday! This is a safe (mostly) judgement-free environment for all of your questions and stories, no matter how silly you think they are. Anybody can answer questions! My name is AutoModerator and I've taken over responsibility for posting these weekly threads so you don't have to worry about anything except your comments!
https://redd.it/1ky6xqd
@r_systemadmin
Anyone else dealing with shrinking teams and growing workloads?
Hey everyone,
It feels like the job market is getting out of control. We’re expected to do way more work for the same pay. A few years ago, my company had an IT Director, an IT Manager, two Sys Admins, and four help desk guys. I started as one of those help desk guys and got promoted to Senior IT Manager. Now, we’re down to just two help desk guys, one Sys Admin overseas, and no IT Director. I’m not even a director yet, and everything’s falling apart.
I’m already looking for jobs, but it feels like every single IT Manager role out there in the whole country has 500+ applicants for a single opening. It’s brutal.
Is anyone else seeing their teams shrink and their responsibilities explode? How are you all coping?
https://redd.it/1kxwt4p
@r_systemadmin
12:00 pm Noon Meetings
Don't you all hate people who schedule meetings at noon. Generally, for me is project meetings, follow up calls and team meetings or townhalls.
My days are packed with meetings with vendors, meeting with other department managers, visiting clients, catching up with emails and doing what I call "real work" that generally involves the action items from said meetings. I try to block from 12:00-12:30 to be able to have a break in the middle of the day and some lunch. But then a PM or a Director comes along and decides their meeting is more important than my break and there is no chance in hell I can skip those meetings.
As a result, poof goes my break and lunch time. I still swallow my sub while I attend one of the subsequent meetings and I run to the nearest washroom when miraculously my meeting ends early. By the end of the day, I feel like I have gone 10 rounds against Oleksandr Usyk (I had to look him up as I didn't know who the top boxer is these days).
</End of rant>
https://redd.it/1kxrcqz
@r_systemadmin
I want IT to be fun again
Hi guys!
Sysadmin/intune administrator here. I don’t know this is the correct place for this but i’m making a qualified guess.
I am almost 5 years in to working for a SMB MSP and i don’t know if it worth it anymore. I mean, the only thing i feel is stress. Going to work having imposter syndrome, feeling like i can’t keep up with learning, being afraid of making mistakes or missing an important change for my customers. And on top of this i am also on a streak of making crucial mistakes.
Anyone out there who has been in the same situation and made it out of the situation to make working in IT fun again?
Ps. I am not a native english speaker so there might be some spelling errors above, sorry in advance!
https://redd.it/1kxmpc2
@r_systemadmin
Seeking recommendation for the WORST DEVICE EVER!
Hello People,
I meant the printer 😁
We are planning to shift to a new office and want to get rid of of the current HP crap (MFP M283fdw) ones which doesnt allow us to completely turn off the 'Auto Off/Auto On Technology' (more about it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/83xe6c/warning\_about\_latest\_model\_hp\_printersthey\_turn/). Not the usual sleep guys, THE 'Auto Off/Auto On Technology' which ends up coming as offline the next day in user's PC which has been a nightmare for us.
So we are looking something which works (for the most part because we know how these things are) but atleast something which doesnt have crazy restrictions like this. Thank you!
https://redd.it/1kxhng1
@r_systemadmin
How are your teams split up?
Where you work who is responsible for what? I know there is lots of variation across IT departments.
Interested to hear if people have lots of teams with quite specific roles or larger teams with broader responsibilities.
Of course, Systems Administration is the 'omni-team'. Everything that no other team wants ends up with us...
https://redd.it/1kxg1df
@r_systemadmin
2 months into new job I found out our company have basically no email security
No DKIM, no SPF, no DMARC, no SEG, no CDN/CDR sandboxes, and most company computers use Outlook 2016 for clients, and tomorrow they’re holding a seminar for “educating employees on basic cybersecurity”
It’s an apparel manufacturing company, been around for 30+ years, I’m not part of the cybersecurity/IT team but I tested with a few emails between my company email and private one, and yeah, after a disguised email with malformed html and some tracking pixels went through into my work mailbox with no problem, in pretty fucking sure our company email have minimal security.
They said they sent a test out to people and are surprised by how many people actually viewed the email. I got the test, it came from an internal address, with a company IP. I only opened the email, didn’t click anything in it. And if IT is concerned with parser vulnerabilities being exploited, they should update our email clients instead, and focus on teaching about social engineering attacks rather than “not click on promotion emails that has no business to do with your work email”
Forced to waste an hour tmr because cybersec isn’t doing their job lol
https://redd.it/1kxe40s
@r_systemadmin
Do you socialize with your team?
Stealing shamelessly from the "How many people do you share a space with" thread; I thought I'd inquire how many folks socialize with your team mates (if you happen to have them that is). We spend 40+ hours working with those folks, with some level of 0-100% remote/WFH. Do you folks make the effort to be friendly / social / converse about non work things? Or just strictly business and go home?
Also, how much do you value the above?
I'll start. Every team I've been on (about 5 or 6 variations over the past decade) has been very close, some more than others. It helps that there's a lot of tenure and "blue collar in a white collar world" type vibes. We still mind some business etiquette (we don't swear like sailors or tell offensive jokes given the multi-racial/gendered of most teams, company policy, etc) - but anywhere from a 4-6 hours a week to 10-60 minutes, I've always been on teams where laughter, jokes, and anecdotes and memes are present. I like to set down roots as well, I've never been short term contract - and if I'm going to work with you all day in the weeds, I want to know who you are a bit - and be able to complain about vendors and issues and such.
What about you lot?
https://redd.it/1kx7s9o
@r_systemadmin
What's your current linux server distro of choice?
This isn't a "what OS should I chose?" post (well, it is, but in disguise), I am interested in your personal opinions regarding the current Linux server landscape, what are your favourites and why? what changed in recent years?
I have been looking into various server distros in recent days, figuring out whether I should try RHEL 10, maybe go openSUSE, or back to debian with my home server, and while >try them and use what you like best< is the obvious answer, I wanted to get some input on what other sysadmins think.
Yes, I know right now is a kind of inbetween state: RHEL 10 just dropped, Trixie is anticipated, but I think it might be a good time, especially with the CentOS drama having cooled down a everything being stablizied, right before the next big changes are coming into effect
https://redd.it/1kwzihe
@r_systemadmin
How does being a k8s admin change your day to day?
Curious about folks who moved from traditional sysadmin work to full k8s management?
Do you find you job got more complex or easier? What's your biggest complaints for your day to day changes? What kinds of things got way easier to do?
https://redd.it/1kwwwfx
@r_systemadmin
Has anyone attempted IPv6 on their internal network?
I manage a large network comprising 25 FortiGates, numerous VLANs, and extensive ACLs. Has anyone moved forward with IPv6, and if so, what were the pitfalls and was it worth it?
https://redd.it/1kwugd1
@r_systemadmin
First day as a sysadmin and I already feel like an imposter.
This is not to say I am without technical skill, but when I'm asked by my supervisor to reset the network configuration and I'm blanking out about IP config reset and release, it doesn't make me feel good. I used the cmd Getmac during Windows setup instead. I even asked him to see how he copied a user object to create my user account on AD. I've never done that but I know how it works. flawed answer during the interview in response to "what should I do if my computer has a virus"? See my Reddit history for that. I know about Hyper-V and have used it to build a microsystem of 2 DCs and 1 file server on azure...like I have some sort of complex where I know a lot of technical stuff, but I can't even relax. My manager even told me "relax, calm down and don't kill yourself". He's really cool.
It's a typical first day where I'm getting acquainted and there's nothing to do, but there's a lot to do. I know I can do it all if I'm patient. I'm also socially anxious from my last job where I had multiple managers and end users harassed me despite being the "lifesaver." I'm still traumatized from that and my manager can feel it, but he invited me to lunch and let me know:
"You have a less than zero chance of getting fired. You're the smartest interviewee I've had in months. He told HR in front of my face to take off any job postings about this job because I had my doubts and brought it up with him. I should be comfortable, and all the coworkers are ok. No bad vibes unlike day 1 in my previous role (support analyst).
edit: I was micromanaged to all hell in myprevious job and this role is the exact opposite. I have freedoms I never even knew existed.
https://redd.it/1kwtavg
@r_systemadmin
Do you use a standing desk for coding often? is it uncomfortable?
My current desk wobbles af and it's driving me crazy trying to do IT work while my screen is subtly shaking. I'm pretty sure that hunching to stabilize things is why my back's been killing me. And my friend told me to get a new standing desk but I'm so not convinced.
I know all the talk about 'sitting is the new smoking' but for real? standing just totally screws with my focus. I can barely get work done. And I never see anyone actually using them it's always just regular desks. Feels more like hyped thing!
Can't we just like sit normally and hit the gym? but my sciatica still forces me to do something. Any better recs? Thanks
https://redd.it/1kwp4fl
@r_systemadmin
How many people do you share an office with?
I currently am growing more frustrated at having to share an office with 3 other full time staff members. Another sysadmin, network security and network admin, all with varying personalities, stinky microwavable leftovers, shouting and whistling habits.
What's the norm outside my little bubble? I wfh one day a week on alternate shift 12:00Pm-8Pm
https://redd.it/1kwmnwd
@r_systemadmin
Phishing through OneDrive / SharePoint on the rise?
Surely, it's nothing new, but lately we are getting a lot of shared documents through SharePoint from some of our clients, which point to a clear as day phishing PDF pointing to officefiles.microsoftonedriveonline.com or whatsoever.
Should be a clear case of compromised accounts? What you usually do with those mails? Contact the sender?
https://redd.it/1kwktzq
@r_systemadmin