Has anyone successfully reduced helpdesk tickets with in-app support?

We're exploring ways to deflect repetitive helpdesk tickets for basic usage questions in our enterprise apps, which we've identified as recurring issues. Most of what we're seeing is users getting stuck mid-task because onboarding didn't stick or the SOPs live outside the application.

We're evaluating more contextual in-app guidance and self-service support as a form of performance support and learning in the flow of work, rather than pushing more documentation or live training. The goal is better user adoption and fewer tickets for routine how do I do this?

For those who've implemented a digital adoption platform or something similar, did you actually see measurable ticket deflection? Were you able to connect adoption metrics or user behavior tracking to changes in support volume, or did it mostly shift the burden elsewhere?

https://redd.it/1rrr7c8
@r_systemadmin

Intermittent mail delivery to wrong user despite correct "To" address

The Problem:

We migrated to hosted exchange platform after experiencing the same issue on the previous service provider.

We are experiencing a critical but intermittent issue where emails intended for a specific recipient are being delivered to the wrong user’s mailbox, despite the "To" field showing the correct email address.

Key Symptoms:

• Intermittency: Most emails deliver correctly, but a small percentage "cross wires" and land in an unrelated user's inbox.

• Correct Metadata: The headers and "To" field on the received mail show the intended recipient, not the actual recipient who received it.

• Inconsistent Trigger: There is no clear pattern (e.g., specific sender or time of day) for when these misroutings occur.

No rules setup on outlook

Any ideas?

https://redd.it/1rru1zt
@r_systemadmin

Is it normal that the effort/salary ratio is that bad for IT-Managers and for other departments?

Hi everyone,

for context, I am now at 6 YoE and live in Europe. I started as an intern, then as a helpdesk tech, sysadmin and for a year now I'm a cloud admin focused on M365/Azure. I am always looking a bit into the future regarding my career and such and I noticed there are sorta 2 ways: senior technician or management.

But what I noticed looking around, not just IT-Managers but majority of managers in general in other departments, that the amount of effort they have to put into their work and the responsibility they have, is so astronomically higher than what they are paid for, that its just not worth it. My current boss for example has 20x the emails, the calls and the responsibility than I do, yet I am 99% sure he earns 50% more than me tops. Even if double, it wouldn't be worth it for me considering even if he cloned himself twice it wouldnt be enough. So far the only proper path I have seen is going towards being a senior cloud dude.

Am I just seeing bad examples around, or am I seeing the whole thing wrong? I mean, I am passionate about technology in general and love my job and would be even interested in more managerial roles, but I also dont want to get squeezed dry for not much more money as the majority of the people I know that went into burnout were managers of some sort.

https://redd.it/1rrtb8b
@r_systemadmin

Looking for good UPS replacement for Dell 3750W

Ever since I started at my present place of employment in 2014, we have had two Dell 3750W UPS units, which now are in need of replacing. Up until now, they have been reliable, but I have never been impressed with the event notifications, which are always vague and non-helpful.

Looking for input on similar 5000VA units from Eaton, APC, etc.

Thanks in advance!



https://redd.it/1rrz8dg
@r_systemadmin

Thickheaded Thursday - March 19, 2026

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/1rxwalk
@r_systemadmin

Patch your gear - Max severity Ubiquiti UniFi flaw may allow account takeover

For the UniFi folks https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/ubiquiti-warns-of-unifi-flaw-that-may-enable-account-takeover/

https://redd.it/1ry39us
@r_systemadmin

First UniFi With a 10.0 CVE, Now ScreenConnect 9.0 CVE

UniFi: 10.0 NVD - CVE-2026-22557
ScreenConnect: 9.0 NVD - CVE-2026-3564

Nobody has said it yet (not that I've heard), but this would be how I assume adversarial AI systems enter the arena. Hopefully these were security researchers using tools to bug hunt & claim bounties, but two major players in the same week - makes me wonder.

As I've been telling friends and clients, the rate of small intrusion to network takeover is accelerating. The window to respond is closing. Historically, a foothold gave enough time to detect, triage, & remediate, at attack team/human operation cycles. Humans vs humans, you've got (some) time.

My hypothesis/assumption here, but that rate is probably thrown out the window. A small breach + rapidly iterating attacks against all internal services will turn up the next weakness in the chain, until full access is accomplished.

These AI systems are like a 50-Cal Rifle, you use them to punch a hole into the network, and the attack pours through that hole.

For defenders, you can't be constantly on guard, can't be constantly ready to "fire back" or deploy time/energy chasing down everything that makes the system throw an alert.

Maybe I'm just a bit burned out, but two days in a row my evenings have gone to shit, as I'm digging through logs and reading up on the next problem to tackle tomorrow - and meanwhile keeping clients advised of what's going on, and still trying to leverage remote support via tools that are BROKEN because of the PATCH - effing ScreenConnect - no notice no comms - not a care in the world to share it with PAYING CUSTOMERS.

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

Weekly 'I made a useful thing' Thread - March 20, 2026

There is a great deal of user-generated content out there, from scripts 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 scripts 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/1ryq9z5
@r_systemadmin

When directed to ignore compliance and\or stop asking for written change request. How\Have you handled it?

When operating at a director or manager level in an institution and you have your CFO or President or CFO backed by the President\\CEO, come to you directly and tell you to elevate a user to an elevated privilege, or remove endpoint protection, or some other crazy directive.

I'm sure most of us would say we need the directive in writing, explaining we need this for audit\\change logging, and this is established best practice, and hope that would put an end to it.

However I experienced a first today, I was told that when I ask for the directives in writing it makes it look like I'm trying to shelter myself from any legal or business repercussions if their decisions\\request result in a disaster. I was told bluntly "that is not the case, as the sole IT Director I would shoulder 100% of the responsibility legally and professionally I would be destroyed". They then followed up with that I need to stop asking and just do when directed. I pushed back I made it clear I have to have logs, I need to make sure we can audit if something breaks and that without written directives if I get audited it might go from "they made a mistake" to "they are trying to steal or hurt the company"

Yes I know red flag GTFO, I'm trying, but can anyone actually confirm if that statement is legit? I'm reaching out to an employment lawyer but there has to be someone here that can see this or know someone that could weigh in with expert level views and either confirm or deny.

Thanks in advance and yes this is real, it happened, and I've been in the business for decades, never saw this

https://redd.it/1ryjc2r
@r_systemadmin

Anyone buying new servers this year?

With ram and every server being expensive, what has happened to people's projects? Has things gone on hiatus? Recently got a quote for servers, they were $40k per pizza box, but we got a quote close to $200k each this year, a 5x increase.

https://redd.it/1rym7kp
@r_systemadmin

Salaries (Europe only) - IT 2026

role:

salary:

location:

experience/scope:

benefits:

https://redd.it/1ryr9gu
@r_systemadmin

IT Contract work

Company i worked for for the last 23 years was acquired by another company last October. after endless meetings to transfer knowledge they are finally ready to fully take over the environment. My current official role is IT Director but i see myself more of IT Manager/sysadmin jack of all trades ... After having a meeting yesterday with head of IT for the new company, they proposed contract work on a monthly basis (no long term commitment). Needed time is 5 hours per month. New company is based in Austria and I'm based in Canada. The ask is following:

1. what is appropriate dollar amount per hour to ask?

2. does month to month contract makes sense or should i insist on something longer, perhaps minimum 6 month commitment?



https://redd.it/1ryu1qh
@r_systemadmin

M365/EXO Error creating new resource mailbox (Cannot convert a primitive value to the expected type)

It seems I can't create new resource mailboxes (room or equipment calendar) in M365 EXO. I'm seeing the error:

"Error executing request. An Azure Active Directory call was made to keep object in sync between Azure Active Directory and Exchange Online. However, it failed. Detailed error message: Cannot convert a primitive value to the expected type 'Edm.Int64'. See the inner exception for more details." etc. DualWrite (Graph) RequestId: xxx The issue may be transient and please retry a couple of minutes later. If issue persists, please see exception members for more information."

Well, this hasn't worked for hours now. Anyone seeing this? We're pure EXO shop, no on-prem Exchange.. I assume mailbox creation events should be visible in Purview audit log, but nothing there, not even errors.

I should note that modifying existing resources works fine. For example, changing display name for a resource changes it in Entra too, I can see 'Microsoft Substrate Management' process doing its job.

Nothing relevant in M365 admin center service health section... I'm in north EU.

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

Excessive Authentication Prompts after applying KB5078752

Anyone else seeing this? We applied KB5078752 to our domain controllers on Monday evening and starting Tuesday we're seeing users getting password prompts, generally from Outlook. The prompts would generally indicate a locked out account but this is not the case. It doesn't seem to be all users but certainly a large portion of them. We're running a hybrid Exchange environment.


No stale Kerberos tickets, no cached bad credentials. We're at a loss here as of now.

https://redd.it/1ryv6rd
@r_systemadmin

Difficulty communicating with C-level traveling in China. Any ideas?

We currently have a C-level role traveling in China who weve lost contact with a few days ago.

Originally they were able to use Teams per normal but a few days in they lost access to all MS systems. From there we were able to coordinate getting WeChat setup using internal messaging in an app we develop, but after a day of communication that way it appears they have lost access to that internal system and to WeChat as well. There's word that they were banned from wechat but Im not sure how that got back to us.

They are supposedly returning in a few days and barring some form of foul play these sort of trips will likely be a regular occurence moving forward.

We've had some critical payroll related communication get held up because of this, resulting that payroll will be a full week late, presuming no foul play and them returning on time to approve it.

We're US based, any ideas for keeping some sort of communication channel alive on subsequent trips?

Edit:

The issue affecting payroll is unusual, and it would normally not have been a problem for them to be out of communication. We're hit with both simultaneously which is what is causing the pressure here.

Edit 2:

From what I gather from this thread, communication using a US based SIM should work. We believe they left their US phone at home and got a temp once they landed, but that is speculation at this point with the lapse in communication. Even so, from what it sounds like most channels should still normally work and there must be something else going on. Since discussion has hyper-focussed on the payroll issue, which is a seperate problem we're addressing, and less so on the communication issue, I'm flairing this resolved.

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

What are you using to remote control computers?

Hello

We're a company of about 400 people. We don't have a proper solution in place to remote control (see and control the screen) of the user computers.

We've been using Quick Assist but it's a pain in the ass if you need to do anything as admin.

TeamViewer is a no go because it supports unattended access.

We need to be able to push it with Company Portal to multiple PCs.

What are my fellow system admins using to get Service Desk onto other people's computers?

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

How bad is the laptop supply chain?

For the past several weeks, I absolutely cannot find AMD Ryzen 370 or 375 laptop chips -- for example, configurations with those CPUs have completely disappeared from the lenovo.com store. We also cannot get our normal VARs to ship those chips.

Some other configurations are still available, but prices seem to have gone up significantly.

We have a resorted to buying small quantities whenever we find a sale. Pretty inefficient, but we are saving the business money.

I'm curious if you've seen similar things, especially in larger Enterprises? We are relatively small and do not have strong relationships directly with the OEMs.

https://redd.it/1ryzea5
@r_systemadmin

Azure Outage?

Anyone else having issues connecting to Azure VMs or having host pools dropping and coming back up constantly?

https://redd.it/1ryz7en
@r_systemadmin

Slow opening Start Menu on Windows Server 2025 Terminal Servers fixed with registry key

So this has been annoying some of us Citrix and Terminal Server admins using Windows Server 2025: The Start menu takes a few seconds to open the first time after logging in. A user on the Citrix subreddit (all credit to him for not giving up and then sharing the solution for free) got a solution from Microsoft support using a registry key. I've already tried it, and the response time is much better now:

>Path: HKLM:\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\StartMenu
Value: PrelaunchOverride
Type: REG_DWORD
Data: 1

Hope this is helpful for some of you too.

https://redd.it/1rz2u2d
@r_systemadmin

Am I Getting Fucked Friday, March 20th 2026

Brought to you by r/sysadmin 'Trusted VAR': u/SquizzOC with Trusted Telecom Broker u/Each1Teach1x27 for Telecom and u/Necessary_Time in Canada

PMs are welcome to answer your questions any time, not just on Fridays.

This weekly thread is here for you to discuss vendor and service provider expectations, software questions, pricing, and quotes for network services, licensing, support, deployment, and hardware.  

Required Info for accurate answers:

* Part Number
* Manufacturer/vendor
* Service Type and Service Location (DM Service Location)
* Quantity (as applicable)

All questions are welcome regarding:

* Cloud Services - Security, configurations, deployment, management, consulting services, and migrations
* Server configs
* Storage Vendor options, alternatives, details,
* Software Licensing - This includes Microsoft CSPs
* Single site and multi-location connectivity – Dedicated internet access, Broadband, 5G
* Voice services- SIP, UCaaS, Contact Center
* Network infrastructure - overlay software, segmentation, routers, switches, load balancing, APs
* Security - Access Management, firewalls, MFA, cloud DNS, layer 7 services, antivirus, email, DLP….
* POTS replacement lines

https://redd.it/1rz0uci
@r_systemadmin

Leaving MSP life for internal IT. Same work, twice the pay

I’m wrapping up my last couple weeks at an MSP and just accepted an internal senior infrastructure role.

What’s bothering me isn’t even the move itself it’s the pay gap. The new role is offering almost twice what I’m making now… for essentially the same responsibilities.

At the MSP, I’ve been handling infrastructure, security, client environments, training new hires; all the usual “this is definitely more than your title” type of work. You stay busy, you get good exposure, but the compensation never really catches up to what you’re actually doing.

Then you interview somewhere internal and realize this is just normal pay on the other side. I’m not even trying to complain, it just puts things into perspective. MSPs are great for learning, but it’s hard to ignore how long you can sit there underpaid while taking on more and more responsibility.

Anyway, looking forward to the change and finally being able to focus on one environment instead of reacting to a new fire everyday.

https://redd.it/1rzd9gu
@r_systemadmin