2.5 Admins 299: RMAggravation

2.5 Admins 299: RMAggravation

Author: The Late Night Linux Family May 14, 2026 Duration: 27:41

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.

 


Ever wondered what happens when two seasoned system administrators and a producer who knows just enough to be dangerous get together for a weekly chat? That’s the premise behind 2.5 Admins, a refreshingly honest tech podcast from The Late Night Linux Family. Hosts Allan Jude and Jim Salter bring their deep, real-world expertise to the table, while Joe Ressington-the “0.5” who can configure a Samba share on a good day-keeps the conversation grounded and relatable. Each episode feels like eavesdropping on a lively breakroom discussion, where the latest headlines in technology are dissected not with sterile analysis, but with the practical, sometimes weary perspective of people who keep the digital lights on. You’ll hear them tackle listener-submitted admin questions, offering solutions that are tried and tested rather than purely theoretical. This isn’t about hype or buzzwords; it’s about the tools, headaches, and occasional triumphs that define life in IT. The chemistry between the hosts makes complex topics accessible, and the blend of professional insight with Joe’s every-user viewpoint creates a uniquely balanced listen. If you’re looking for a tech podcast that feels like talking shop with knowledgeable friends, this is it.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 100

2.5 Admins
Podcast Episodes
2.5 Admins 288: HDD Tourism [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:38
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 t…
2.5 Admins 287: Dual Arguators [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:44
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…
2.5 Admins 286: Windows Crashed [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:41
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 f…
2.5 Admins 285: example.com.oops [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:41
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 patreo…
2.5 Admins 284: BooTooth [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:08
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 set…
2.5 Admins 283: FSOD [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:10
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…
2.5 Admins 282: Fragile DNS [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:51
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…
2.5 Admins 281: Lead The Target [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:37
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 fe…
2.5 Admins 280: Bad Parking [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:25
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 Supp…
2.5 Admins 279: Short One [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 7:21
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.