Does anybody have any experience or tips when it comes to reorganizing an entire companies SharePoint system from the ground up?

I've been at my current company for close to a year now working in a "junior" sysadmin role, and ever since I've started I've found their SharePoint site to be a mess of group/individual permissions and never ending file paths, all in one big site. They've been using solely one site since 2021 and it currently has close to 1 million individual files. No individual sites per department, just one big ole site for the entire org.

Users are frequently submitting IT tickets requesting access to individual files, instead of requesting it from their managers. And management expects IT to give new hire employees all of the correct permissions when their accounts are being created. The whole thing is such a mess and it's now become my job to untangle it. Has anyone else ever dealt with something similar? Ideally I'd like to break it up to where each department has it's own site that is managed by their department heads, but I'm nervous about the process of moving files from one site to another and making sure everyone has the correct permissions.

https://redd.it/1v2uwfb
@r_systemadmin

HP support being really anal about battery replacements now?

Hi all,


Just a general question for anyone who deals with HP (or other vendor) support.

We run HP elitebooks in our fleet with their standard 3 year warranty. We've just purchased an additional year, but a number of our newer laptops (830 x360 g9/10 and 840 g9/10) have really shoddy battery life - usually an hour or two off charge.

Running HW monitor on them, they show a wear level of 25-35%, which seems pretty high for devices that get used for standard office/teams/powerpoint work.

I've logged a few jobs with HP previously, and they've been happy to just ship out a replacement battery and have me send the dead one back. Now, it seems they've tightened up their restrictions, and state that batteries are consumables and that 2-3 hours is acceptable for a device that's 3 years old.

The bossman doesn't think this is a good response, and wants HP to replace them under warranty or state their exact requirements for determining whether a battery gets replaced or not, which I have so far been unable to squeeze from them.


Has anyone else had similar issues dealing with HP or their vendor support? Or do you agree with them that batteries are consumable and just purchase new/spare ones outright?





https://redd.it/1v2vfzz
@r_systemadmin

Microsoft making passkeys default, if you use SMS as default 2fa

```

What is changing

Passkeys become the default authentication experience for users currently enabled for SMS or voice.

Microsoft-provided telecom delivery for SMS and voice will be retired. Customer-managed telecom providers configured through the Microsoft Security Store are not affected.

```

So SMS and voice are going to be sunseted. I'm happy with that. Any of y'all got a C-Level who refuses to use anything besides SMS?

I'm still not 💯 onboard with passkeys. My favorite is still TOTP. I've enabled it for a few accounts. Tbh, some of those were on total accident. Because I was just clicking popups without reading (personal gmail account).

https://redd.it/1v2y4tu
@r_systemadmin

not sure if cloud is actually cheaper anymore

we moved everything to the cloud about two years ago. it was a big project. lots of planning. everyone was excited about the flexibility and scalability.

fast forward to now and our monthly bill is almost double what we budgeted. sure we dont have to maintain hardware anymore but the costs just keep creeping up. weve tried optimizing instances and using spot instances where we can. still expensive.

starting to wonder if we should move some things back on-prem. or maybe look at alternative providers. i know aws and azure are the big ones but theyre also expensive. been looking at some smaller cloud providers too.

anyone else dealing with this. like is cloud actually cheaper or did we just trade one problem for another.

https://redd.it/1v2zrcp
@r_systemadmin

Windows Server in-place upgrades

I have been in the IT industry for 35+ years as a Systems Admin / Systems Engineer. I fully admit there are some things I do as a matter of being a bit old school… because they work. There were times way back in the dinosaur age where I tried the in-place Windows operating system upgrades and never quite had the warm and fuzzies about things running 100%. I’ve probably done more workstation upgrades and not so many server upgrades (actually had two completely blow up on me) so as a matter of practice I always do fresh new installs and reinstalled applications/roles and migrated user data. I am also one of those that do not mix roles on servers.

I have a project underway to migrate the rest of our Windows Server 2016 servers to 2022 (yes I know 2025 is out and am running it on less critical systems). I have a new guy in the DBA team pitching a fit to anyone that will listen because I won’t let him do an in-place upgrade. The other 2 DBA’s have no problem with it and have fished up their group of servers with zero issues. I am not concerned about shutting him up nor am I concerned about higher ups overriding me (My CIO flat out told the CEO that what I say goes when it comes to our systems). Rather, I am beginning to question if my old tail needs to get with the times. Has Microsoft gotten in place upgrades ironed out so well that it is a non-issue. What say you?


EDIT: One more detail I forgot to mention. While I know it is not as critical today as it was back in the Windows NT or even Windows 2000 days, the previous SA built their golden image template without sysprepping the image. out of the 400 servers we have running, 92 all have the same SID. these are mostly the 2016 servers. I am trying to clear them out.

https://redd.it/1v2z2xi
@r_systemadmin

MS recommends AGAINST in place upgrades for domain controllers

I've seen some posts discussing in place upgrades and domain controllers. MS recommends against it for Server 2025.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/get-started/upgrade-in-place?tabs=media

Don't use in-place upgrade for servers that run Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). Although an in-place upgrade is technically possible, it doesn't deliver the AD performance and feature improvements included in Windows Server 2025 and later. Instead, use a clean OS install to promote new domain controllers and demote the older ones. For more information, see Upgrade domain controllers to a newer version of Windows Server.

https://redd.it/1v32qvb
@r_systemadmin

How do you send notice of scheduled maintenance to all sectors and users ?

Good morning everyone,

I realized that my beautiful notices, frequently sent to all sectors at the organization in which I work....

...well, they are never read by anyone!!

.

.



I often write to the sector email (thinking that it was useless to send the same warning communication to ALL employees, since NOT all employees work with the different software which is often subject to scheduled maintenance).

I then discovered that that email of mine is NEVER forwarded by the Sector itself to its employees (... possibly affected by my communication).

Since there are around 400 employees here - and not all of them work with the same software - in your opinion what alternative would be more efficient to warn every sector and every user that on "a certain day" the software (with which they work) will be down for maintenance?

.

.



At the moment I have used a mailing list to notify all the sectors, but as already mentioned, each sector never disclosed the same communication to its employees.

https://redd.it/1v38ufl
@r_systemadmin

OVH won't let me delete my account and support is a complete joke

I am beyond furious right now. I created 2 OVH accounts a while back. I literally NEVER used them. No resources added, no projects created, nothing. Zero usage.

I decided to just close them to keep things clean, but guess what? You CANNOT close your account on OVH.

Apparently, OVH automatically assigned random services/projects to my unused accounts (like vRacks and Public Cloud projects) without notifying me, and now their broken system blocks account deletion because of "active services."

I’ve been stuck in support ticket hell for OVER TWO WEEKS trying to get these accounts wiped under GDPR.

Here is the circus I've been dealing with:

Canceling a basic service takes 7 DAYS?? Support told me a vRack service had to be canceled first and that it takes a full week just to delete. What year is this?!
Their UI is completely broken. The GDPR deletion page threw errors, and the system kept telling me to manual-delete things that I couldn't even delete through their manager interface.
Their support agents give conflicting advice. One tells me to click links to delete Public Cloud projects, another says they'll delete it manually, another tells me to wait a couple of weeks for a "specialized team" to step in.
THE ULTIMATE JOKE: Today I finally get an automated message saying: "Unfortunately, despite our efforts, we are unable to delete your account at this time. It looks like some actions are still in progress and blocking its deletion..."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? The actual owners and developers of the platform cannot delete an unused account from their OWN system due to "technical issues"?! They literally built the system and claim they are powerless to delete user data!

They clearly don't give a damn about GDPR or basic customer support. I have deleted every possible service, settled $0 invoices, answered every ticket, and I am still stuck in a loop of copy-pasted support templates and automated rejection emails.

Has anyone actually managed to force OVH to close an account, or do I need to go straight to a Data Protection Authority (DPA) complaint at this point?

https://redd.it/1v39hn3
@r_systemadmin

Anyone else getting tired of people asking what PC they should buy?

I mean, I get it. I work in IT, so I probably know a thing or two about computers. And I really don't mind helping out.

My problem is that these people usually have absolutely zero understanding of technology or how any of it works. It's usually frustration with their 10-year-old laptop that hasn't had a proper update in just as long, and pretty much everything on it is completely screwed. Now they're finally ready to spend a decent amount of money on a new device that they expect to guarantee stability and speed.

The truth is, almost any reasonably modern device will give you exactly that, and it's actually pretty hard to go wrong. It's also true that every device will eventually become a pain in the ass if it's maintained the same way as the previous one. And while there are some differences that make one manufacturer better than another, It's sort of irrelevant for the your average casual office user.

You don't have to be a genius to recommend some ridiculously expensive, overpowered machine that guarantees great performance, but what's the point of having someone spend a fortune on an advanced laptop if all they're going to do is use Word and read the news?

What I usually do when colleagues or acquaintances ask me is keeping it as simple as it gets: Lenovo ThinkPad, Core i5, SSD. No overthinking, no reinventing the wheel.

Still be prepared to become the scapegoat the moment their new laptop decides to misbehave. And sooner or later, it will, because some people simply aren't meant to own a computer.

https://redd.it/1v3d3pd
@r_systemadmin

What’s disappeared from your sysadmin workflow over the years?

We make rack cabinets, so we spend a lot of time thinking about the physical side of IT.

But that physical side has changed enormously over the last fifteen years, and a lot of it happened quietly.

Nobody talks about the last time they burned a driver CD. Or the era when a new server meant a physical trip, not a console session. Setting IRQs. Terminating your own cables because that was just part of the job. Keeping a stack of blank media by the desk. Actually walking to a machine to see why it wasn't responding. None of it disappeared with an announcement. One day you just realise you haven't done it in years.

What’s something you used to do constantly that’s completely disappeared from your work now? And is there anything you actually miss?

https://redd.it/1v3e8t1
@r_systemadmin

And you thought HP printers were bad...

We have a MICR printer that is having static IP issues. I reached out to the manufacturer, because their manuals do not provide any information about static IP setup, and they informed me that because we do not have a support agreement for that serial number on the device, they can't provide any information or do any troubleshooting. The office space scene is real!

https://redd.it/1v3g48b
@r_systemadmin

When do you say enough is enough?

Hey all,

I have been in IT about 4 1/2 years now starting from helpdesk to systems administration. I have been doing the sysadmin part for about 2 years now and have slowly but surely accumulated services over time to the point where I have over 30 different systems I regularly have to maintain. From endpoint management to life safety to VDI to Entra my scope has slowly gotten larger over time. Here lately I keep feeling more and more burned out due to all these services that are supposed to be a temporary re-assignment for a hire that will never come on board.

I have also been looking at other jobs especially in the endpoint management space where I would be making almost double my salary on the high end and a 50% increase in salary on the low end. I do like where I work and I do like what I do its just becoming all too much being a Swiss army knife sysadmin.

To some of you guys who have been in the career field longer or have made moves to other places what signaled to you that it was time to find something else? I realize that I am still early in my career so this may just be part of the job that I am going to have to get used to.

TL;DR: What made you decide to leave a job for another in sysadmin work?

https://redd.it/1v3gqdv
@r_systemadmin

Remove central authentication

Today, the director of IT at your company says to you “We’re going to remove all that centralized IPA+2fa authentication from all of our servers, and go back to using Ssh keys, because it takes too long for me (yes the director) to login to a server.” The same auth that you and your team added, for all the reasons. What do you do?

https://redd.it/1v3j518
@r_systemadmin

US / CA Ubuntu regional mirrors down?

We noticed this morning that ca.archive.ubuntu.com is not resolving to an IP. Confirmed using OpenDNS CacheCheck:

 CNAME us.archive.ubuntu.com

 NO_RECORD 

Anyone know what's up?

Edit: I see https://status.canonical.com/ says security.ubuntu.com is down as well.

https://redd.it/1v3lze0
@r_systemadmin

Helpful chart on determining if your business needs 8 Gbps internet.

Brightspeed has created a nice graph to help you decide if your business needs 8 Gbps internet speeds. 😂

Here's the original article.

https://redd.it/1v3oqnz
@r_systemadmin

Window (days) between server patching/restarts

We're working off of a 35 day window between server restarts (and patching). Sometimes we run short like this month and have servers alert that their uptime is greater than 35 days.

What is your server restart window/patching window? How many days between restarts do you allow before you force a restart?

https://redd.it/1v3qr27
@r_systemadmin

Did someone kill a dog or was there a data breach?

So I just got a UPS delivery that required an adult signature, and I'm thinking while singing for it, "I didn't order anything the past few days." But the package has my name on it. So be it.

I open the package and find a consolation note about the loss of my dog "Gracie" along with a cedar box containing what I assume is Gracie's cremains.

Wut? The package had my name on it. I have, nor have ever had a dog named "Gracie". Time to work backward. Stick with me.

I check my Gmail for the business' name on/in the package because UPS sends alerts on packages headed my way, and sure enough two days ago the SENDER and UPS sent an email to me stating the cremains were on the way.

So, to the point of why the r/sysadmin subreddit. How the hell did I receive cremains for a dead dog, complete with email notification from the sender (two separate but related pieces of ID)?

It seems unlikely that a pet cremation service is buying data and then, WHOOPS, "Sorry I sent Gracie to some guy you don't know. Good luck getting those cremains back!", but I've been in IT for nearly 30 years and there is just one simple truth:

You can't fix stupid.

https://redd.it/1v3ul1j
@r_systemadmin

IT and AI is killing my brain

I know our jobs require a lot of knowledge in general as well as cause ADHD. (especially in helpdesk roles), but has anyone else started feeling like tech and AI have started to wreck havoc on our brains? I feel like I've hit a threshold this year where I've ingested so much information from AI, work projects and personal projects, that I've grown so accustomed to not retaining it internally. This job and current state of tech feels like it's changing my brain and how it works at a fundamental level, and it's contributing to a very negative feeling for me overall. Sorry for the rant, just want to know I'm not alone.


12yr Network Engineer in Enterprise cloud software.

*Adamantly against any personal data in the cloud*

https://redd.it/1v3w26l
@r_systemadmin

The network I'm currently dealing with

Had a call today from a new client that users couldn't access their servers. We got brought in recently because they were unhappy with the previous IT provider and are quickly figuring out why...

Hadn't had much of a chance to poke around there yet, but nothing like a trial by fire right?

Head down there, and everything looks ok at a glance until I realize that the desktops are on a different subnet than the servers and they can't ping through.

Ok, so routing problem, no big deal. Where's the firewall?

Oh there isn't one... it's 2 different cable models plugged directly into the switches.

What we thought was the router is actually a 10 year old Asus gamer router that's being used as a ghetto wireless AP and is sitting next to their rinky-dink UPS that isn't even plugged in.

After an hour of trying to untangle the spaghetti we discover an unmanaged switch in the back room that has 3 network drops plugged into it creating a loop. Cleared that up, and that at least kinda gets the internet working.

Then we discover that each modem has a unique IP range, and one of those is Public IP space for another continent that happens to start in 192. Oddly though as we test release/renewing we find 3 subnets with DHCP, not just 2.

That's when they told us that the server in question was actually in another building nearby.

That building has its own 2 modems in the same kinda config with a bunch of daisy chained unmanaged netgear switches. When they needed connectivity with the two buildings they spun up a Ubiquiti PtP and bridged both buildings directly to the existing switches on both sides. So there's actually 4 unique networks all on the same flat switches.

Turns out all the servers and industrial controllers have static IPs. Desktop wise whenever something didn't work they were told by the previous IT people to just keep rebooting until they presumably got a DHCP lease from the correct network and stuff started to work.

After some digging with the users we find out the reason it broke was there had been a power outage and all the devices dynamic IPs had changed. Since the phones stopped working they called the ISP to figure that out and their techs had come down and just started unplugging cables until they got the phones to work.

A while later when the staff realized the servers didn't work they started to panic and moved around a bunch of cables themselves, plugging in cables that were previously dangling out of the wall assuming that was the problem.

shakes head slowly and painfully

Now that I got all this mess working again with duct tape and bailing wire, you'll have to excuse me while I go back in there like Hank Scorpio with a flame thrower and gleefully burn this network down and start over.

https://i.imgur.com/hgBQPKa.png

https://redd.it/1v3y4qm
@r_systemadmin

Bored as Sysadmin

Work for a small firm and came into a mess of different laptops, no DR, no automated installs and no MDM for iOS and Windows. Now it is all setup, I find myself being bored and just being stuck doing more Microsoft stuff for my boss.

Currently working on Sensitivity labels and stuff in Purview but I literally have gotten rid of most if not all problems in the business, people know how to deal with spam and suspicious emails and tickets are literally people asking me to do some niche specific behaviour with PDF links in a web browser.

Computer and iOS are literally "Here is your Device login and I will sync it from the server" and then poof, all the apps get installed, SSO where possible and that is it.

I am looking for work now hopefully with a bit of Linux sprinkled in as I run a bit of a ProxMox homelab.

My question is, do others share my position? Bored at work, and due to the org or leadership there is just no need for more complicated and interesting tech.

https://redd.it/1v3wn8x
@r_systemadmin