Anyone managed to get Cisco SmartNet for gear bought from the gray market?

Hey everyone,

Curious if anyone here has gone through this before.

We’re a small IT team running a few Catalyst 9300s and ISR 4Ks. Our local Cisco partner keeps telling us to buy everything new through them — otherwise “no SmartNet, no support.” The thing is, the quotes we’re getting are painful, and our budget isn’t keeping up with Cisco’s licensing changes.

I found a supplier outside our region offering brand-new, sealed Cisco gear. They claim everything’s legit — registered serials, no refurb, no grey tags — and they even offered to share serials for verification before purchase.



So here’s the question:

Has anyone actually been able to register SmartNet for gear that wasn’t bought through a local authorized Cisco partner? Does Cisco really reject SmartNet for gray market hardware, or is it up to the partner handling the request?



Not looking to do anything shady - just trying to keep the network healthy without breaking the bank.

Would love to hear from anyone who’s dealt with this recently.

https://redd.it/1o6adz7
@r_systemadmin

evilginx2 detection - Check by Cyberdrain

Looks like the team over at Cyberdrain have released a browser extension that's open source and works to detect evilginx2.


Even supports branding if you want to integrate it into your own stack. All done locally on the device.

GitHub - CyberDrain/Check: Check is an advanced open source browser extension by CyberDrain that provides real-time protection against Microsoft 365 phishing attacks. Designed for enterprises and managed service providers, Check uses sophisticated detection algorithms to identify and block malicious login pages before credentials can be compromised.

https://redd.it/1o6aepp
@r_systemadmin

Just now bombed my HPE6-A86

Hello,

I just now failed my Aruba Exam, I learned with the study guide from the previous exam and had a Course 2 months ago to prepare for the Certification.
How would you recommend to me to learn for it, I failed with 50 percent.
There were questions that I had never seen before and didn't really understand. It was my first real Exam besides ITIL that I did.

https://redd.it/1o6bctf
@r_systemadmin

Veeam - Multiple Critical Vulnerabilities (CVSS 9.9) Resolved in latest B&R patch

https://www.veeam.com/kb4771

Looks like the worst of the vulnerabilities (CVE-2025-48983 and CVE-2025-48984) only affect domain-joined Veeam servers, which is not a best practice.

https://redd.it/1o6cwgr
@r_systemadmin

Microsoft Issues - Teams/Outlook/Sharepoint?

I know there was an outage around 4 5 days back, looks like we are still getting some weird issues.

In particular.

\- When trying to get into sharepoint files across different locations it states invalid, will randomly start working again after a certain amount of time

\- Teams messages/photos not sending and just stuck on spinning?


Anyone else experiencing any of the issues, I am based in europe.

https://redd.it/1o6dorv
@r_systemadmin

Vulnerabilities Resolved in Veeam Backup & Replication 12.3.2.4165 Patch

Here are the details.

https://www.veeam.com/kb4771


https://redd.it/1o6ejfg
@r_systemadmin

AI Rant

Ok, it's not like I didn't know it was happening, but this is the first time it's impacted me directly.

This morning, before coffee of course, I over hear one of my coworkers starting OneDrive troubleshooting for a user who does not have OneDrive. While they can work with OnrDrive in a quazi-broken state, it will not fix the actual problem (server cannot be reached), and will get annoying as OneDrive is left in a mostly broken state. Fortunately I stopped her, verified that I was right and then set her on the correct path. But her first response was "But AI said..."

God help me, This woman was 50+ years old, been my coworker for 8 years and in the industry for a few more. Yet her brain turned off *snaps finger* just like that… She knew this user, and that whole department, does not even have OneDrive and she blindly followed what the AI said.

Now I sit here trying to find a way to gracefully bring this up with my boss.

https://redd.it/1o6h3ta
@r_systemadmin

Drywall….

Going through a remodel. Contractor promised to use barrier, filtration and notify me when they were working on the server room. Everything coated in dust and sucked through everything. How screwed am I?

https://redd.it/1o6j8qk
@r_systemadmin

Company is increasing employee count four fold- what are some 'musts' for evolving IT practices / implementing new policies and/or platforms?

Basically just the topic noscript- what are some innovating approaches to new systems, policies, employee/customer engagement that a small IT team can think about when a company is expanding like this? What sort of things have you guys implemented that made a big impact to the work force, got you pats on the back, etc.?

Thanks for your time!

https://redd.it/1o6mkkd
@r_systemadmin

Production manager says MFA is causing production personnel to get distracted on their phones—he wants alternatives or MFA disabled

Production manager says when employees pull out their phones to accept MFA requests, they get distracted by notifications and spend more time on their phones that what he sees as acceptable. When employees are called out, they blame MFA for having their phones out. He's gone straight to the CEO, who is overreactive to productivity complaints.

They are asking IT if we can disable MFA for these employees, or make it so a phone is not required. Why are management issues always turned into tech issues? It sounds to me like there is a lack of discipline in that department.

CEO luckily understands the ramifications of disabling MFA, so he is not urging us to do so, but the production manager is still insisting something must be done.

https://redd.it/1o6q0qr
@r_systemadmin

How are you transferring PC files from old to new PCs in 2025?

Is OneDrive sync the easiest way to do this, or is there another tool that moves things over without too much hassle?

edit: how about apps/programs?

https://redd.it/1o6q5x3
@r_systemadmin

Randomly SSD not found - users get PXE boot prompt, reboot "solves" this

I seem to be seeing a rash of these across laptop models, more on ThinkPads than anywhere else over the past 6 months or so. The issue seems to be the SSD is not seen at boot causing the laptop to attempt to PXE boot. Power cycling the laptop seems to resolve this, but it eventually comes back. Laptops seem to have no other issues. Once running, they run fine.

I had been hoping it was a firmware issue that would be resolved, but it's still happening several months after we first started seeing it. Laptops are all new, ie within a year to 18 months old. Vendors (Lenovo, Dell) want to swap the SSD and start fresh. Users are hesitant because of downtime and needing to use spares that are 3-4 years old, so painfully slow by comparison.

Before we start replacing SSDs, has anyone else run into this and have you found a fix?

https://redd.it/1o6p5g6
@r_systemadmin

USA-based Admins: How do you negotiate a wage?

I am moving to the USA. I have a job offer that's median-low for "IT Engineer" (Win+Linux+AWS). What I don't know about is benefits. Do you negotiate that too?



i.e.
They might offer good Vision+Dental but poor medical (drugs?).

So do you counter-offer to improve those things too?

How does the average non-dev negotiate your salary?

https://redd.it/1o6oxg8
@r_systemadmin

Need office hoteling software recommendations (desk booking conflicts)

Our company went "hybrid" a couple of months ago (downsized our office space by 40% but they still expect everyone to come in most of the time) but desk booking conflicts are proving to be a bit of a problem.

I've been tasked with finding some kind of ‘office hoteling’ software (which I think is just a fancy term for desk booking? Please correct me if I’m wrong!)

I've been Googling but frankly getting a little overwhelmed, so wanted to ask what are you all using? 

Ideally we’d like something that either integrates with Slack or has a mobile app to make this more convenient for folks.

https://redd.it/1o70s3v
@r_systemadmin

How do I permanently fix "trust relationship failed" errors on domain-joined laptops connecting via VPN?

Looking for some help with a recurring issue that's been driving us nuts. We're an MSP and have a client with a relatively simple setup, but we keep hitting the same problem.

The client has a single office with a Windows Server 2019 Domain Controller. They've got 4 desktop PCs and 4 laptops. Two of the laptops are for hybrid workers, and the other two are for fully remote employees who never come into the office. Remote users connect back via SoftEther VPN.

Here's the issue: only the laptops are getting the "The trust relationship between this workstation and the primary domain failed" error. The desktops? Never have this problem.

What's really strange is that it happens both when laptops are connected via VPN and sometimes even when they're on the same WiFi network as the DC in the office.

When it happens, sometimes a reboot fixes it. Other times users just wait and hope it sorts itself out. If a user brings their laptop back to the office, plugging into ethernet sometimes helps. When none of that works, we end up unjoining and rejoining the domain, which obviously isn't a real solution.

I'm looking for what we should actually be checking to solve this permanently. What causes the trust relationship to break specifically on laptops? Is there something about the VPN connection or laptops going to sleep that breaks the secure channel?

Any diagnostic steps or configuration changes we should be looking at?

https://redd.it/1o6xoav
@r_systemadmin

Microsoft 365 Online blocks its own emails as spam, because of their "Advanced Filter". How to stop this.

Emails from quarantine@messaging.microsoft.com are blocked. Reason is "Detection technologies: Advanced filter" which Microsoft doesnt let you edit or show how it works. Just says "advanced machine learning"

How can they block their own emails as spam?

https://redd.it/1o75v8g
@r_systemadmin

25H2 and WSUS

Hi all.

Anyone here still using wsus like we do? :)

Did you receive 25H2 enablement package to it?

We did not, just full blown 3,5GB install package.

https://redd.it/1o75mbc
@r_systemadmin

Windows 10 LTSC 2021 End of life? What the hell, Microsoft?

Just got into the office, and immediately saw that some of our LTSC 2021 Machines show the ESU Message in Windows Update, telling me we are out of support and should update asap or buy ESU. This is a sick joke, right? Last time i looked, we have got a few years still - also it didn't report any updates for last patchday.

Thanks Microsoft, this is fun.

Anybody else having issues?

EDIT: Guys, this is about LTSC, which is supported for quite some years still. Not about Enterprise, Pro or Home.

https://redd.it/1o77q40
@r_systemadmin

IT issues at orgs outside your control

My brother in law works for a place where he has crazy stories about his IT department. Usually its just laughable things that I can shake my head at and make myself feel superior because "i would never do it that way" or "that's so easy to fix".

But sometimes im left scratching my head in utter confusion.

They recently had a "firewall breach". IT has told everyone that from now on they're only allowed to have one browser tab open at a time. Multiple reminders have been sent.

That's a new one for me. No extra explanation given either.

The only thing I can think of is they're concerned about what a non-visible tab is doing in the background. Nothing else makes sense to me.

So if you want to remain safe only use one browser tab at a time.

https://redd.it/1o78nkd
@r_systemadmin

Windows Release Health Messages

I read every single Windows Release Health message that Microsoft emails. When relevant, I make colleagues and occasionally some guys in discord aware of things of note, but just about never post them in this community.

It also occurs to me that a huge amount of this community is not subscribed to Windows Release Health messages.

On several occasions over the last few months, I've read these messages, become aware of an issue, and then (days later) saw posts from highly frustrated system administrators that struggled for a day or two with that exact issue because they were not aware of what MS published.

I am wondering if it would do some good to post these here in r/sysadmin with regularity.

For example: Just this morning, MS has released a message indicating that currently directory sync will fail on Server 2025 for AD security groups exceeding 10,000 members. I can't imagine anyone using AD security groups that large, but I now imagine I'll see a post in the near future where my failure to imagine was someone else's reality.

As a PSA: Windows Release Health

If you're an enterprise user, you can log into the admin console and subscribe to these under Health -> Release Health

https://redd.it/1o7dmey
@r_systemadmin

Only buying tools that are "AI"

Hi guys,
our management just came up with a new WTF policy that says all new tools considered must be "AI-powered". This means that tools that do not use AI should be excluded from the selection if there is an alternative with AI. Anyone else dealing with this?

https://redd.it/1o7em4c
@r_systemadmin