Is it Time to Move On, in Spite of This Job Market?
If the flair doesn’t fit, let me know and I’ll correct it.
FYI: I used AI to change the writing style of this post in the event one of my colleagues sees this. Call me paranoid I guess, but I'd rather not have to discuss this post with my HR department, as they come down pretty hard about this kind of stuff. Any comments I respond to will NOT use AI. Appreciate everyone's understanding.
TL;DR: workload and compensation feel misaligned. Trying to determine whether staying makes sense. If so, how do you cope with a difficult work environment until you find something better?
Hey r/sysadmin,
The last week forced some uncomfortable clarity for me. A long conversation with my partner surfaced how much my current role is bleeding into everything else: finances, mood, relationship stability, baseline stress. None of it in a good way.
I’ve been working in IT since 2022. Started in L1 support on a fixed contract, then moved into a helpdesk/junior admin position that was stable but stagnant—good people, no upward path. About two years ago I deliberately stepped down into a role below my skill level at a very large, well-known company just to get internal traction. That didn’t pan out, and between leadership decisions and a 1.5-hour commute, I exited. I landed in my current role just under a year ago, officially user support/junior admin.
The company is a remote-first startup based in a major HCOL/VHCOL tech city. We support somewhere in the 500–1000 user range, largely US-based with a meaningful overseas contingent and contractors. Intentionally vague for obvious reasons.
The IT team consists of three people, myself included. I’m paid a bit over $25/hour. I was hired fully remote, then moved to mandatory hybrid without any pay adjustment or commuter support.
Over roughly the last year and a half, I’ve effectively helped stand the department up from near zero. That has included vendor negotiations, covering management responsibilities when my boss is unavailable, building out an entire office solo on two weeks’ notice (including ISP selection and overseeing network installs), implementing a real ticketing system with defined SLAs, being functionally on-call without the noscript (including holidays), becoming the default networking/devops/noscripting resource on the team and the org-wide networking SME by default, and acting as the in-office escalation point for the executive team since my manager is out of state. There’s more, but that’s what comes immediately to mind.
The environment itself is rough. There’s no real MDM, imaging workflow, identity provider, or coherent security tooling. Hardware purchases skew cheap, which leads to repeated failures and constant frustration—ironically most visible with upper leadership. Joiners, movers, and leavers are entirely manual. Tooling decisions are driven almost exclusively by cost, not fitness or industry norms. My time is spent reacting, not building. Projects routinely stall because firefighting takes precedence, often triggered by leadership-side communication failures that we’ve flagged repeatedly.
Recently, management clarified that the promotion previously floated is effectively dead. The plan appears to be external hiring instead, with me expected to onboard that hire while continuing to support and train our third teammate. Without a promotion, the realistic upside is a sub-$1 COLA.
From a career perspective, my interest is Linux-heavy work—Linux engineering or DevOps. I’ve made informal connections with the DevOps group internally, but any structured shadowing or cross-training keeps getting deferred because daily outages and support issues take priority. At this point I’d even accept a conventional Windows admin role if it meant better pay and more actual technical ownership. Requests for on-the-clock upskilling time have been denied; I’ve been told learning needs to happen off-hours, with no funding support.
If I stayed long enough, there’s a nonzero chance of transitioning internally to DevOps—but only after IT
If the flair doesn’t fit, let me know and I’ll correct it.
FYI: I used AI to change the writing style of this post in the event one of my colleagues sees this. Call me paranoid I guess, but I'd rather not have to discuss this post with my HR department, as they come down pretty hard about this kind of stuff. Any comments I respond to will NOT use AI. Appreciate everyone's understanding.
TL;DR: workload and compensation feel misaligned. Trying to determine whether staying makes sense. If so, how do you cope with a difficult work environment until you find something better?
Hey r/sysadmin,
The last week forced some uncomfortable clarity for me. A long conversation with my partner surfaced how much my current role is bleeding into everything else: finances, mood, relationship stability, baseline stress. None of it in a good way.
I’ve been working in IT since 2022. Started in L1 support on a fixed contract, then moved into a helpdesk/junior admin position that was stable but stagnant—good people, no upward path. About two years ago I deliberately stepped down into a role below my skill level at a very large, well-known company just to get internal traction. That didn’t pan out, and between leadership decisions and a 1.5-hour commute, I exited. I landed in my current role just under a year ago, officially user support/junior admin.
The company is a remote-first startup based in a major HCOL/VHCOL tech city. We support somewhere in the 500–1000 user range, largely US-based with a meaningful overseas contingent and contractors. Intentionally vague for obvious reasons.
The IT team consists of three people, myself included. I’m paid a bit over $25/hour. I was hired fully remote, then moved to mandatory hybrid without any pay adjustment or commuter support.
Over roughly the last year and a half, I’ve effectively helped stand the department up from near zero. That has included vendor negotiations, covering management responsibilities when my boss is unavailable, building out an entire office solo on two weeks’ notice (including ISP selection and overseeing network installs), implementing a real ticketing system with defined SLAs, being functionally on-call without the noscript (including holidays), becoming the default networking/devops/noscripting resource on the team and the org-wide networking SME by default, and acting as the in-office escalation point for the executive team since my manager is out of state. There’s more, but that’s what comes immediately to mind.
The environment itself is rough. There’s no real MDM, imaging workflow, identity provider, or coherent security tooling. Hardware purchases skew cheap, which leads to repeated failures and constant frustration—ironically most visible with upper leadership. Joiners, movers, and leavers are entirely manual. Tooling decisions are driven almost exclusively by cost, not fitness or industry norms. My time is spent reacting, not building. Projects routinely stall because firefighting takes precedence, often triggered by leadership-side communication failures that we’ve flagged repeatedly.
Recently, management clarified that the promotion previously floated is effectively dead. The plan appears to be external hiring instead, with me expected to onboard that hire while continuing to support and train our third teammate. Without a promotion, the realistic upside is a sub-$1 COLA.
From a career perspective, my interest is Linux-heavy work—Linux engineering or DevOps. I’ve made informal connections with the DevOps group internally, but any structured shadowing or cross-training keeps getting deferred because daily outages and support issues take priority. At this point I’d even accept a conventional Windows admin role if it meant better pay and more actual technical ownership. Requests for on-the-clock upskilling time have been denied; I’ve been told learning needs to happen off-hours, with no funding support.
If I stayed long enough, there’s a nonzero chance of transitioning internally to DevOps—but only after IT
stabilizes. Realistically, that’s several years out. I’m already disengaged. Over the past month I’ve genuinely preferred the idea of warehouse work to logging in, but bills make that a non-option.
I tend to overinvest in work because I want to take pride in what I do. Historically that’s tipped into overwork. I’m actively pursuing therapy and other supports to bring stress back under control and, more importantly, repair the strain this job has put on my relationship. My partner has pointed out changes in me—more withdrawn, more tense, quicker to anger. They’re not wrong. I’ve mostly felt boxed in by the market, by rising costs, and by the perceived risk of leaving.
I am applying elsewhere, despite the current hiring climate and regional impact from tech layoffs.
For those who’ve been in a similar position—waiting on an exit with no clear timeline—what did you do to stay functional in the meantime?
Appreciate any perspective. This subreddit has quietly been one of the more useful anchors I’ve had while navigating this field.
https://redd.it/1q2e9kp
@r_systemadmin
I tend to overinvest in work because I want to take pride in what I do. Historically that’s tipped into overwork. I’m actively pursuing therapy and other supports to bring stress back under control and, more importantly, repair the strain this job has put on my relationship. My partner has pointed out changes in me—more withdrawn, more tense, quicker to anger. They’re not wrong. I’ve mostly felt boxed in by the market, by rising costs, and by the perceived risk of leaving.
I am applying elsewhere, despite the current hiring climate and regional impact from tech layoffs.
For those who’ve been in a similar position—waiting on an exit with no clear timeline—what did you do to stay functional in the meantime?
Appreciate any perspective. This subreddit has quietly been one of the more useful anchors I’ve had while navigating this field.
https://redd.it/1q2e9kp
@r_systemadmin
Reddit
From the sysadmin community on Reddit
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M365 Persisting Signatures
I am trying to clear all user’s mailbox signatures, but it is not syncing.
We have CodeTwo (tenant side) but users have been adding additional signatures or sign offs which show up before.
I cleared SignatureText, SignatureHtml, SignaturesList, SignatureName, SignatureHtmlBody, DefaultSignature, DefaultSignature, DefaultSignatureOnReply, and set all the AutoAddSignature and UseDefaultSignature settings.
I’ve set on the local AD for corporate so old Outlook signatures were cleared.
The issue is with OWA, and mobile devices. I’ve attempted having the roaming setting off and on. I’ve allowed 24 hours on either setting as well.
Does anyone have any advice? This seems like it should be fairly simple but oh boy does it not feel like it.
https://redd.it/1q2g8l7
@r_systemadmin
I am trying to clear all user’s mailbox signatures, but it is not syncing.
We have CodeTwo (tenant side) but users have been adding additional signatures or sign offs which show up before.
I cleared SignatureText, SignatureHtml, SignaturesList, SignatureName, SignatureHtmlBody, DefaultSignature, DefaultSignature, DefaultSignatureOnReply, and set all the AutoAddSignature and UseDefaultSignature settings.
I’ve set on the local AD for corporate so old Outlook signatures were cleared.
The issue is with OWA, and mobile devices. I’ve attempted having the roaming setting off and on. I’ve allowed 24 hours on either setting as well.
Does anyone have any advice? This seems like it should be fairly simple but oh boy does it not feel like it.
https://redd.it/1q2g8l7
@r_systemadmin
Reddit
From the sysadmin community on Reddit
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ebpf fim for linux
I wrote this utility to perform `File Integrity Monitoring` of critical files on a linux system.
In current state, it captures, create, update & deletion. What stands out is unlike capturing every event, the binary does in-kernel filtering to ignore certain actions such as `read`, `stat` by users `root` or app users who regularly access those files.
In addition to this, when users switch to root/app users to access the files, those actions are captured too. The performance penalty compared to other userspace monitoring tools is minimal as ebpf runs in kernel.
This is all configurable via a config file like below::
A sample log trial::
GH repo :: https://github.com/harshavmb/fim-ebpf
I hope you find this tiny utility helpful.
https://redd.it/1q2qrr4
@r_systemadmin
I wrote this utility to perform `File Integrity Monitoring` of critical files on a linux system.
In current state, it captures, create, update & deletion. What stands out is unlike capturing every event, the binary does in-kernel filtering to ignore certain actions such as `read`, `stat` by users `root` or app users who regularly access those files.
In addition to this, when users switch to root/app users to access the files, those actions are captured too. The performance penalty compared to other userspace monitoring tools is minimal as ebpf runs in kernel.
This is all configurable via a config file like below::
monitored_files:- /tmp/testfile- /etc/passwd- /etc/shadowignore_actions:- read- statignore_users:- rootA sample log trial::
2025/08/18 07:22:09 Monitoring started. Ctrl+C to exit.2025/08/18 07:22:37 Event: PID=1745080 UID=6087179 (6087179 (harsha)) CMD=touch FILE=/tmp/testfile FLAGS=00000941 ## actual user2025/08/18 07:22:54 Event: PID=1745108 UID=0 (0 (root) [Login: 6087179 (harsha)]) CMD=touch FILE=/tmp/testfile FLAGS=00000941 ## even after sudoGH repo :: https://github.com/harshavmb/fim-ebpf
I hope you find this tiny utility helpful.
https://redd.it/1q2qrr4
@r_systemadmin
GitHub
GitHub - harshavmb/fim-ebpf: A lightweight eBPF program to monitor file creation and modification events on Linux. This tool leverages…
A lightweight eBPF program to monitor file creation and modification events on Linux. This tool leverages eBPF (Extended Berkeley Packet Filter) to trace file operations directly from the kernel, p...
Sysadmin/Sysengineer --> Devops Engineer
As noscript says is this the current best future proofing for this role? Get some cloud / K8s certs while maintaining Systems engineering level stuff? I actually quite like K8s and did get the KCNA certification and am studying off and on for CKA while also knowing I should work on gaining something like AZ-104 just in case I ever need to find a new role. Times are odd and its kind of hard to read the future right now.
Most of my formal education / certs are based on cyber security, Networking, Linux and vmware. I have Comptia cloud+ but acknowledge thats a pretty high level overview certificate of the theory of cloud systems.
https://redd.it/1q2szp5
@r_systemadmin
As noscript says is this the current best future proofing for this role? Get some cloud / K8s certs while maintaining Systems engineering level stuff? I actually quite like K8s and did get the KCNA certification and am studying off and on for CKA while also knowing I should work on gaining something like AZ-104 just in case I ever need to find a new role. Times are odd and its kind of hard to read the future right now.
Most of my formal education / certs are based on cyber security, Networking, Linux and vmware. I have Comptia cloud+ but acknowledge thats a pretty high level overview certificate of the theory of cloud systems.
https://redd.it/1q2szp5
@r_systemadmin
Reddit
From the sysadmin community on Reddit
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Best practices for photo evidence from field work (often offline)?
I’m curious how others handle photo documentation from field or site work.
In our case, photos are often required as evidence for installs, changes,
or audits — but many locations have poor or no connectivity.
Typical pain points:
\- Photos scattered in phone galleries
\- Manual renaming and sorting later
\- Hard to tie images back to tickets or work orders
\- Offline sites where cloud tools don’t work
What’s your actual workflow?
Do you:
\- Dump everything into folders later?
\- Attach photos to tickets afterward?
\- Use any tools that work properly offline?
Looking for real-world practices, not vendor recommendations.
https://redd.it/1q2sxhe
@r_systemadmin
I’m curious how others handle photo documentation from field or site work.
In our case, photos are often required as evidence for installs, changes,
or audits — but many locations have poor or no connectivity.
Typical pain points:
\- Photos scattered in phone galleries
\- Manual renaming and sorting later
\- Hard to tie images back to tickets or work orders
\- Offline sites where cloud tools don’t work
What’s your actual workflow?
Do you:
\- Dump everything into folders later?
\- Attach photos to tickets afterward?
\- Use any tools that work properly offline?
Looking for real-world practices, not vendor recommendations.
https://redd.it/1q2sxhe
@r_systemadmin
Reddit
From the sysadmin community on Reddit
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Microsoft 365 support can't fix a simple name change?
I've changed a users first name 3 weeks ago in AD. It was synced and visible in all M365 portals. GAL shows also correct name. No trace of the old name. Like all the name changes before that one.
But when using the search in Outlook or Teams (Desktop, Web, Mobile App) you can't find the user when typing the new first name. Yes even after clearing all caches, using private tabs, signing out and in, running around the building.
If you search by alias, last name or old name, it lists the user with the old first name. Looks like some server side search caching issue.
Opened a ticket over 2 weeks ago at Microsoft and after the regular random powershell commands, it's now just the support agent updating me everyday that there is no news to the case.
Last time I had an Intune issue which is only solvable by opening a ticket (it's explicitly noted in the docs) it took them a month. In the end opened a thread on reddit and some Microsoft guy saw it and escalated it. So I hope for the same now.
https://redd.it/1q2vvs8
@r_systemadmin
I've changed a users first name 3 weeks ago in AD. It was synced and visible in all M365 portals. GAL shows also correct name. No trace of the old name. Like all the name changes before that one.
But when using the search in Outlook or Teams (Desktop, Web, Mobile App) you can't find the user when typing the new first name. Yes even after clearing all caches, using private tabs, signing out and in, running around the building.
If you search by alias, last name or old name, it lists the user with the old first name. Looks like some server side search caching issue.
Opened a ticket over 2 weeks ago at Microsoft and after the regular random powershell commands, it's now just the support agent updating me everyday that there is no news to the case.
Last time I had an Intune issue which is only solvable by opening a ticket (it's explicitly noted in the docs) it took them a month. In the end opened a thread on reddit and some Microsoft guy saw it and escalated it. So I hope for the same now.
https://redd.it/1q2vvs8
@r_systemadmin
Reddit
From the sysadmin community on Reddit
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Weekly 'I made a useful thing' Thread - January 02, 2026
There is a great deal of user-generated content out there, from noscripts and software to tutorials and videos, but we've generally tried to keep that off of the front page due to the volume and as a result of community feedback. There's also a great deal of content out there that violates our advertising/promotion rule, from noscripts and software to tutorials and videos.
We have received a number of requests for exemptions to the rule, and rather than allowing the front page to get consumed, we thought we'd try a weekly thread that allows for that kind of content. We don't have a catchy name for it yet, so please let us know if you have any ideas!
In this thread, feel free to show us your pet project, YouTube videos, blog posts, or whatever else you may have and share it with the community. Commercial advertisements, affiliate links, or links that appear to be monetization-grabs will still be removed.
https://redd.it/1q1utbi
@r_systemadmin
There is a great deal of user-generated content out there, from noscripts and software to tutorials and videos, but we've generally tried to keep that off of the front page due to the volume and as a result of community feedback. There's also a great deal of content out there that violates our advertising/promotion rule, from noscripts and software to tutorials and videos.
We have received a number of requests for exemptions to the rule, and rather than allowing the front page to get consumed, we thought we'd try a weekly thread that allows for that kind of content. We don't have a catchy name for it yet, so please let us know if you have any ideas!
In this thread, feel free to show us your pet project, YouTube videos, blog posts, or whatever else you may have and share it with the community. Commercial advertisements, affiliate links, or links that appear to be monetization-grabs will still be removed.
https://redd.it/1q1utbi
@r_systemadmin
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Patch Tuesday Megathread (2025-12-09)
Hello r/sysadmin, I'm u/AutoModerator, and welcome to this month's Patch Megathread!
This is the (mostly) safe location to talk about the latest patches, updates, and releases. We put this thread into place to help gather all the information about this month's updates: What is fixed, what broke, what got released and should have been caught in QA, etc. We do this both to keep clutter out of the subreddit, and provide you, the dear reader, a singular resource to read.
For those of you who wish to review prior Megathreads, you can do so here.
While this thread is timed to coincide with Microsoft's Patch Tuesday, feel free to discuss any patches, updates, and releases, regardless of the company or product. NOTE: This thread is usually posted before the release of Microsoft's updates, which are scheduled to come out at 5:00PM UTC.
Remember the rules of safe patching:
Deploy to a test/dev environment before prod.
Deploy to a pilot/test group before the whole org.
Have a plan to roll back if something doesn't work.
Test, test, and test!
https://redd.it/1phyxbt
@r_systemadmin
Hello r/sysadmin, I'm u/AutoModerator, and welcome to this month's Patch Megathread!
This is the (mostly) safe location to talk about the latest patches, updates, and releases. We put this thread into place to help gather all the information about this month's updates: What is fixed, what broke, what got released and should have been caught in QA, etc. We do this both to keep clutter out of the subreddit, and provide you, the dear reader, a singular resource to read.
For those of you who wish to review prior Megathreads, you can do so here.
While this thread is timed to coincide with Microsoft's Patch Tuesday, feel free to discuss any patches, updates, and releases, regardless of the company or product. NOTE: This thread is usually posted before the release of Microsoft's updates, which are scheduled to come out at 5:00PM UTC.
Remember the rules of safe patching:
Deploy to a test/dev environment before prod.
Deploy to a pilot/test group before the whole org.
Have a plan to roll back if something doesn't work.
Test, test, and test!
https://redd.it/1phyxbt
@r_systemadmin
Reddit
Sysadmin
A reddit dedicated to the profession of Computer System Administration.
What is your org’s "Users per Sysadmin" ratio? Currently drowning at 1:200
Hey everyone,
I’m curious to see where everyone else is at with their staffing levels. Lately, it feels like our department is playing a permanent game of whack-a-mole. We are currently sitting at a ratio of 1 IT admin for every 200 employees.
https://redd.it/1q2wo09
@r_systemadmin
Hey everyone,
I’m curious to see where everyone else is at with their staffing levels. Lately, it feels like our department is playing a permanent game of whack-a-mole. We are currently sitting at a ratio of 1 IT admin for every 200 employees.
https://redd.it/1q2wo09
@r_systemadmin
Reddit
From the sysadmin community on Reddit
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Sysadmin/Sysengineer --> Devops Engineer
As noscript says is this the current best future proofing for this role? Get some cloud / K8s certs while maintaining Systems engineering level stuff? I actually quite like K8s and did get the KCNA certification and am studying off and on for CKA while also knowing I should work on gaining something like AZ-104 just in case I ever need to find a new role. Times are odd and its kind of hard to read the future right now.
Most of my formal education / certs are based on cyber security, Networking, Linux and vmware. I have Comptia cloud+ but acknowledge thats a pretty high level overview certificate of the theory of cloud systems.
https://redd.it/1q2szp5
@r_systemadmin
As noscript says is this the current best future proofing for this role? Get some cloud / K8s certs while maintaining Systems engineering level stuff? I actually quite like K8s and did get the KCNA certification and am studying off and on for CKA while also knowing I should work on gaining something like AZ-104 just in case I ever need to find a new role. Times are odd and its kind of hard to read the future right now.
Most of my formal education / certs are based on cyber security, Networking, Linux and vmware. I have Comptia cloud+ but acknowledge thats a pretty high level overview certificate of the theory of cloud systems.
https://redd.it/1q2szp5
@r_systemadmin
Reddit
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What’s going on with Fortinet lately? It feels like every week there’s another critical CVE..
Anyone else concerned about the recent Fortinet CVEs?
https://redd.it/1q2bl3r
@r_systemadmin
Anyone else concerned about the recent Fortinet CVEs?
https://redd.it/1q2bl3r
@r_systemadmin
Reddit
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Filtering Connection Audit Log filling up too fast
We have auditing enabled on Windows Domain Controllers and the Security log is getting absolutely flooded with Event IDs 5156 / 5157 / 5158
It’s logging around 50 events per second, so the Security log fills up fast.
Our SOC is complaining that this volume is blowing up SIEM storage and EPS limits and honestly I get their point.
Before we start turning knobs blindly, I wanted to ask people who’ve actually dealt with this in real environments:
Is it generally safe or reasonable to disable these audit events on Domain Controllers?
If we do turn them off are we creating a real detection blind spot, or is this mostly noisy data that’s better covered by EDR.
Appreciate any advice.
https://redd.it/1q3434z
@r_systemadmin
We have auditing enabled on Windows Domain Controllers and the Security log is getting absolutely flooded with Event IDs 5156 / 5157 / 5158
It’s logging around 50 events per second, so the Security log fills up fast.
Our SOC is complaining that this volume is blowing up SIEM storage and EPS limits and honestly I get their point.
Before we start turning knobs blindly, I wanted to ask people who’ve actually dealt with this in real environments:
Is it generally safe or reasonable to disable these audit events on Domain Controllers?
If we do turn them off are we creating a real detection blind spot, or is this mostly noisy data that’s better covered by EDR.
Appreciate any advice.
https://redd.it/1q3434z
@r_systemadmin
Reddit
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If you're asking for help, you need to make it easy to help you
If you're asking me for help, do the leg work to make completing your request easy. It's common decency and it's professional.
I can't imagine ever going to anyone for help and just dumping every aspect on that person. It's completely unprofessional. If I go to someone for help - I've gathered the information and done all pre-work so all the person I'm going to needs to do is their piece. They don't need to reach out to Johnny for information x, they don't need to coordinate y. I've already done those things.
An exec submitted a request on Christmas Eve just before I was logging off on two contractors' behalf and she needed it ready by the start of business on 1/1. I completed the request because the holiday shrunk everyone's availability and I wanted to pad time in case of anything unexpected.
I send this exec something they can literally copy and paste in an email to the contractors. It's two steps - Go here, then do y.
This exec responded today asking if I can meet with the contractors to go through the steps on Monday. Which annoyed me because it means she hadn't even emailed them yet and it's two steps. Send them the instructions I gave you, if they have questions or an issue, have them reach out... It's that easy. There's no need to schedule a meeting.
The kicker is - I agreed to meet with them on Monday and she immediately says, "Great, go ahead and schedule a meeting with them and coordinate all of the details."
These are your people and you're asking for my time... You coordinate the meeting, look at my calendar and put a time on there. Don't ask me to do every little aspect of this. Own your end...
And it's disrespectful to my time. Why did I make it a point to get it done on Christmas Eve if you weren't going to send out the information
In the end, I just emailed the contractors the instructions and told them to reach out with questions or issues and more information would come Monday on the remaining two pieces I cannot complete.
https://redd.it/1q26dkw
@r_systemadmin
If you're asking me for help, do the leg work to make completing your request easy. It's common decency and it's professional.
I can't imagine ever going to anyone for help and just dumping every aspect on that person. It's completely unprofessional. If I go to someone for help - I've gathered the information and done all pre-work so all the person I'm going to needs to do is their piece. They don't need to reach out to Johnny for information x, they don't need to coordinate y. I've already done those things.
An exec submitted a request on Christmas Eve just before I was logging off on two contractors' behalf and she needed it ready by the start of business on 1/1. I completed the request because the holiday shrunk everyone's availability and I wanted to pad time in case of anything unexpected.
I send this exec something they can literally copy and paste in an email to the contractors. It's two steps - Go here, then do y.
This exec responded today asking if I can meet with the contractors to go through the steps on Monday. Which annoyed me because it means she hadn't even emailed them yet and it's two steps. Send them the instructions I gave you, if they have questions or an issue, have them reach out... It's that easy. There's no need to schedule a meeting.
The kicker is - I agreed to meet with them on Monday and she immediately says, "Great, go ahead and schedule a meeting with them and coordinate all of the details."
These are your people and you're asking for my time... You coordinate the meeting, look at my calendar and put a time on there. Don't ask me to do every little aspect of this. Own your end...
And it's disrespectful to my time. Why did I make it a point to get it done on Christmas Eve if you weren't going to send out the information
In the end, I just emailed the contractors the instructions and told them to reach out with questions or issues and more information would come Monday on the remaining two pieces I cannot complete.
https://redd.it/1q26dkw
@r_systemadmin
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How come many job applications still ask for MCSA, MCSE Certifications?
Rarely ever do I see Azure Hybrid Administrator in a job advert.
Its such a red flag that so many companies dont realize these have been expired. If anything it makes me think that they're discriminating and looking for seniors with expired certs for entry/mid roles.
https://redd.it/1q380kk
@r_systemadmin
Rarely ever do I see Azure Hybrid Administrator in a job advert.
Its such a red flag that so many companies dont realize these have been expired. If anything it makes me think that they're discriminating and looking for seniors with expired certs for entry/mid roles.
https://redd.it/1q380kk
@r_systemadmin
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LSI Megaraid Card Failing, Foreign Configuration not working on new card
I have a LSI Megaraid SAS 9260-8i card that I'm assuming is failing. It started dropping offline which has become more and more prevalent with a fatal,3 firmware error. I've tried updating the firmware (same, latest one) and throwing more cooling at it but same issue.
Replacing the card with LSI MegaRAID SAS 9270CV-8i shows the foreign configuration with all 8 drives from the RAID 6 as (Foreign) Unconfigured Good, but it errors on trying to import the configuration.
I've been back to the 9260-8i and have had it stay online and performed a successful consistency check and then saved the configuration, but that also will not load on the 9270CV-8i, and importing the foreign configuration also fails.
Is there something I am missing here? the 9270CV-8i has RAID 6 unlimited. The only thing I'm currently unsure about is the BBU on the 9270CV-8i isnt registering but I've yet to troubleshoot that. I'm not sure if that would prevent loading the config of the old raid array. Also I've been using MegaRAID Storage Manager and tried once in the WebBIOS (within an UEFI Bios Menu), not sure if it's worth trying LSI StorCLI.
https://redd.it/1q38aqu
@r_systemadmin
I have a LSI Megaraid SAS 9260-8i card that I'm assuming is failing. It started dropping offline which has become more and more prevalent with a fatal,3 firmware error. I've tried updating the firmware (same, latest one) and throwing more cooling at it but same issue.
Replacing the card with LSI MegaRAID SAS 9270CV-8i shows the foreign configuration with all 8 drives from the RAID 6 as (Foreign) Unconfigured Good, but it errors on trying to import the configuration.
I've been back to the 9260-8i and have had it stay online and performed a successful consistency check and then saved the configuration, but that also will not load on the 9270CV-8i, and importing the foreign configuration also fails.
Is there something I am missing here? the 9270CV-8i has RAID 6 unlimited. The only thing I'm currently unsure about is the BBU on the 9270CV-8i isnt registering but I've yet to troubleshoot that. I'm not sure if that would prevent loading the config of the old raid array. Also I've been using MegaRAID Storage Manager and tried once in the WebBIOS (within an UEFI Bios Menu), not sure if it's worth trying LSI StorCLI.
https://redd.it/1q38aqu
@r_systemadmin
Reddit
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"Private Health Data" of 120,000 New Zealanders breached and extracted.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360920441/private-health-records-surface-dark-web-after-manage-my-health-hack
TL;DR ManageMyHealth, an NZ medical portal used by some doctors, suffered a cyber breach. Samples online show personal health information like names, test results, letters, and scans. ManageMyHealth confirmed it happened but says it is limited to the “Health Documents” part of the system (which is HUGE).
As a former user of ManageMyHealth (my local doctor moved to a different but similar local system years ago) simply saying it was only “Health Documents” is downplaying the scale of what the attacker had access to. When I used it “Health Documents” included every single prenoscription I got, scans of appointment summaries with other doctors, all of my x-rays/CTs/MRIs, and 71 pages of my entire health and phycological history going back to when I was 4 which was imported when I moved to this local clinic 10 years ago.
Even though I have been moved off this system I am still not sure if my data was included. ManageMyHealth has not contacted anyone specifically and only publically admitted the breach days after it was reported.
Write up by New Zealand based software dev /u/utf9k
https://utf9k.net/blog/managemyhealth-data-breach-recap/
https://redd.it/1q39w3v
@r_systemadmin
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360920441/private-health-records-surface-dark-web-after-manage-my-health-hack
TL;DR ManageMyHealth, an NZ medical portal used by some doctors, suffered a cyber breach. Samples online show personal health information like names, test results, letters, and scans. ManageMyHealth confirmed it happened but says it is limited to the “Health Documents” part of the system (which is HUGE).
As a former user of ManageMyHealth (my local doctor moved to a different but similar local system years ago) simply saying it was only “Health Documents” is downplaying the scale of what the attacker had access to. When I used it “Health Documents” included every single prenoscription I got, scans of appointment summaries with other doctors, all of my x-rays/CTs/MRIs, and 71 pages of my entire health and phycological history going back to when I was 4 which was imported when I moved to this local clinic 10 years ago.
Even though I have been moved off this system I am still not sure if my data was included. ManageMyHealth has not contacted anyone specifically and only publically admitted the breach days after it was reported.
Write up by New Zealand based software dev /u/utf9k
https://utf9k.net/blog/managemyhealth-data-breach-recap/
https://redd.it/1q39w3v
@r_systemadmin
Stuff
Private health records surface on dark web after Manage My Health hack
Private health records, linked to the Manage My Health ransomware attack, appear to have surfaced on the dark web.
Loftware NiceLabel now requires active maintenance just to reactivate a perpetual license after PC re-image
Posting this as a heads-up for anyone using NiceLabel (Loftware), especially small shops.
I purchased a NiceLabel Designer Express perpetual license in 2023. Recently I had to re-image the same PC due to software conflicts causing system crashing that I couldn't repair.
After reinstalling, NiceLabel informed me that:
Deactivating / reactivating the license now requires an active Service Maintenance Agreement (SMA)
Without SMA, they will not release or reset the license, even for a same-machine reinstall
Support’s position is that license rehosting is considered a “support action,” so maintenance agreement is required, even though the license itself is perpetual. They directed me to another site to get a quote.
I’m pushing back and requesting a one-time courtesy reset, but wanted to share this so others aren’t surprised:
Always deactivate before re-imaging or moving install. (File > About and click Deactivate License)
Expect license recovery to be gated behind paid maintenance
We also had an issue in 2024 with a motherboard that needed to be replaced due to a defective PCIe slot and that instance also required support assisted license reactivation but it was at the time serviced by Loftware support without issue nor any mention of SMA.
Zebra Designer Pro appears to be a reskinned version that might be a better alternative as I didn't see any info regarding paid SMA required just to manage a license install.
https://redd.it/1q39qdo
@r_systemadmin
Posting this as a heads-up for anyone using NiceLabel (Loftware), especially small shops.
I purchased a NiceLabel Designer Express perpetual license in 2023. Recently I had to re-image the same PC due to software conflicts causing system crashing that I couldn't repair.
After reinstalling, NiceLabel informed me that:
Deactivating / reactivating the license now requires an active Service Maintenance Agreement (SMA)
Without SMA, they will not release or reset the license, even for a same-machine reinstall
Support’s position is that license rehosting is considered a “support action,” so maintenance agreement is required, even though the license itself is perpetual. They directed me to another site to get a quote.
I’m pushing back and requesting a one-time courtesy reset, but wanted to share this so others aren’t surprised:
Always deactivate before re-imaging or moving install. (File > About and click Deactivate License)
Expect license recovery to be gated behind paid maintenance
We also had an issue in 2024 with a motherboard that needed to be replaced due to a defective PCIe slot and that instance also required support assisted license reactivation but it was at the time serviced by Loftware support without issue nor any mention of SMA.
Zebra Designer Pro appears to be a reskinned version that might be a better alternative as I didn't see any info regarding paid SMA required just to manage a license install.
https://redd.it/1q39qdo
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Reddit
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WFH SysAdmin/Service Manager to Google Datacenter Technician?
I currently work in an extremely high stress sys admin/service manager position at a small MSP with a lot of clients, making 115k a year including bonus.
I've come across a role at Google paying roughly between roughly what I'm making up to 150k as a Datacenter Technician for Global Operations. I understand this job noscript is a step down, but it does require 6 years of experience with servers and because of this I don't view it as your typical entry level datacenter tech role.
They are offering salary, equity, bonus, and benefits -- I presently only have salary and bonus. I also see strong appeal in them being military friendly, as I've been seriously considering scratching an itch that never went away before it's too late -- they offer differential pay for guardsmen on deployment or training and are generally supportive of the idea.
Aside from the stress level with this current position, I foresee AI taking my job away from a large bulk of people and would like to hopefully plan for this future by finding a new avenue on the side of things that is actively supporting the taking of those jobs rather than disappearing -- datacenters.
It sounds like the safe way to go, less stressful job, as well as a bump in salary if I could get the 150k + benefits, bigger bonus, and equity, but I fear my bet on the future of sysadmin work may be wrong, and then I'll be left in a position with less upward growth.
Is this a step down with everything considered, am I being ridiculous, or is this a reasonable direction to take?
https://redd.it/1q3bvbd
@r_systemadmin
I currently work in an extremely high stress sys admin/service manager position at a small MSP with a lot of clients, making 115k a year including bonus.
I've come across a role at Google paying roughly between roughly what I'm making up to 150k as a Datacenter Technician for Global Operations. I understand this job noscript is a step down, but it does require 6 years of experience with servers and because of this I don't view it as your typical entry level datacenter tech role.
They are offering salary, equity, bonus, and benefits -- I presently only have salary and bonus. I also see strong appeal in them being military friendly, as I've been seriously considering scratching an itch that never went away before it's too late -- they offer differential pay for guardsmen on deployment or training and are generally supportive of the idea.
Aside from the stress level with this current position, I foresee AI taking my job away from a large bulk of people and would like to hopefully plan for this future by finding a new avenue on the side of things that is actively supporting the taking of those jobs rather than disappearing -- datacenters.
It sounds like the safe way to go, less stressful job, as well as a bump in salary if I could get the 150k + benefits, bigger bonus, and equity, but I fear my bet on the future of sysadmin work may be wrong, and then I'll be left in a position with less upward growth.
Is this a step down with everything considered, am I being ridiculous, or is this a reasonable direction to take?
https://redd.it/1q3bvbd
@r_systemadmin
Reddit
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Farewell VMware and thanks for the fish
We are migrated off of VMware. Current contract expires at the end of February but we used the holiday extra downtime to push this through. Very weird feeling for me.
I was hired as an intern while still in school by a small company. Company had a lot of technical debt in both software and hardware. It was my boss as a one-man IT shop and myself as an intern to try and handle the phone and initial triage. While my boss tried to tackle the software issues he told me "I've heard of this new thing called VMware." and tasked me with trying to figure out if it would help us deal with consolidating old hardware. So while I wasn't answering a call or doing basic helpdesk items I read about VMware. At the time we had four full height racks with shelves in them and they were all full of old desktops that had been turned into 'servers'. After reading things and going to him with what I found he got a used IBM X345 and VMware GSX Server 3 (still have the box: https://imgur.com/a/9n0MMND ). I consolidated a bunch of old systems so we could throw all the old random hardware and have been a VMware shop ever since.
I am still with the same company which has grown a lot. We have 12 physical hosts and we are officially off of VMware. Broadcom, you suck and I hate you.
https://redd.it/1q3eshf
@r_systemadmin
We are migrated off of VMware. Current contract expires at the end of February but we used the holiday extra downtime to push this through. Very weird feeling for me.
I was hired as an intern while still in school by a small company. Company had a lot of technical debt in both software and hardware. It was my boss as a one-man IT shop and myself as an intern to try and handle the phone and initial triage. While my boss tried to tackle the software issues he told me "I've heard of this new thing called VMware." and tasked me with trying to figure out if it would help us deal with consolidating old hardware. So while I wasn't answering a call or doing basic helpdesk items I read about VMware. At the time we had four full height racks with shelves in them and they were all full of old desktops that had been turned into 'servers'. After reading things and going to him with what I found he got a used IBM X345 and VMware GSX Server 3 (still have the box: https://imgur.com/a/9n0MMND ). I consolidated a bunch of old systems so we could throw all the old random hardware and have been a VMware shop ever since.
I am still with the same company which has grown a lot. We have 12 physical hosts and we are officially off of VMware. Broadcom, you suck and I hate you.
https://redd.it/1q3eshf
@r_systemadmin
Made a tool to visualize and monitor traffic on self-hosted services (Traefik/Pangolin compatible)
Hi redditors,
I wanted to share a project I built to try to solve a problem I've had since I started my self-hosting hobby.
Like many, i think, i expose some services to the internet for personal use, and I started with reverse proxies like Traefik or NPM. However, I never felt like I had good visibility into who was connecting or trying to access my domains and services.
I recently switched to Pangolin (which uses Traefik as reverse proxy), but I still felt something was missing: a dedicated log parser with a dashboard (i’ve also exposed some api’s endpoint). Since I couldn't find exactly what I needed, I decided to build it myself.
It's a log parser that, at the moment, can be used with:
\- Pangolin (really easy to configure with docker compose)
\- Traefik installations
I am always looking for people who want to contribute or propose ideas for improvement. Please feel free to open an issue if you have any feedback.
If anyone wants to use it or just check out the repository, here is the link: https://github.com/k0lin/loglynx(https://www.reddit.com/submit/?sourceid=t31q3l4cy)
https://redd.it/1q3ldln
@r_systemadmin
Hi redditors,
I wanted to share a project I built to try to solve a problem I've had since I started my self-hosting hobby.
Like many, i think, i expose some services to the internet for personal use, and I started with reverse proxies like Traefik or NPM. However, I never felt like I had good visibility into who was connecting or trying to access my domains and services.
I recently switched to Pangolin (which uses Traefik as reverse proxy), but I still felt something was missing: a dedicated log parser with a dashboard (i’ve also exposed some api’s endpoint). Since I couldn't find exactly what I needed, I decided to build it myself.
It's a log parser that, at the moment, can be used with:
\- Pangolin (really easy to configure with docker compose)
\- Traefik installations
I am always looking for people who want to contribute or propose ideas for improvement. Please feel free to open an issue if you have any feedback.
If anyone wants to use it or just check out the repository, here is the link: https://github.com/k0lin/loglynx(https://www.reddit.com/submit/?sourceid=t31q3l4cy)
https://redd.it/1q3ldln
@r_systemadmin
GitHub
GitHub - K0lin/loglynx: LogLynx: Advanced log analytics platform for Traefik reverse proxy. Real-time monitoring, geographic insights…
LogLynx: Advanced log analytics platform for Traefik reverse proxy. Real-time monitoring, geographic insights, performance tracking, device analytics, and comprehensive REST API. Built with Go. - K...