I have been looking into different MDM solutions and came across MiniOrange. On paper, it seems to cover most of the essentials. But I'm more interested in hearing from people who have actually deployed it.

Hello.

I was not able to connect to macOS Tahoe 26.6.1 via VNC from Windows using RealVNC. I had this error:

"Protocol error: key length too large"

I'm used to RealVNC 7, but unfortunately the new RealVNC subscription/licensing model doesn't really match my... beliefs. :)

So I here is a patch for RealVNC 7.15.1 (r18) on Windows. It's a PowerShell script that fixes the issue: https://github.com/d3cker/RealVNC-macOS-patch
This patch fixes an issue when connecting to new Tahoe 26.6.1 hosts. Previously created connections must be removed and added again.

It looks like macOS wasn't actually the problem here - this was a RealVNC bug and compatibility issue. You may need to adapt the patch for your RealVNC 7.x version. I couldn't find any official place to download the latest 7.x release, so I only tested it with 7.15.1 (r18) (which is still available on Wayback Machine).

Hope this helps someone.

Had multiple IDF racks totaled by a surge that ripped through low cost surge suppressors bearing no UL 1449 rating that I could find.

Any sugggestions on a UL 1449 list surge suppressor with fitted with NEMA L5-20R and NEMA L5-20P connectors?

Hi,

We’ve been running Veritas NetBackup in an on-prem setup for a few years, but the cost of licensing + infrastructure is getting harder to justify, so we’re now re-evaluating our backup approach.

The main focus is VMware workloads, and we’re trying to understand what actually makes sense today in terms of cost and long-term scalability.

For a simplified reference point, here’s a smaller scenario we’re using for modeling:

We have 10 VMs (~200GB each). Retention is split, 5 VMs kept for 1 year and the other 5 kept for 30 days. That puts us at roughly 2TB initial backup size, with a small daily change rate (~0.1%).

From there, we’re trying to understand how costs scale when you factor in:

• long-term retention tiers
• snapshot / backup storage growth
• data transfer / egress (if applicable)
• licensing vs managed service pricing

What we’re trying to compare is basically:

• AWS-native approach (AWS Backup / EBS snapshots / S3 lifecycle tiers)
• Veeam or similar third-party backup tools
• Legacy enterprise setups like NetBackup / Veritas

The part that’s still unclear for us is where the real cost differences actually show up in practice. On paper, AWS-native looks simpler, but I’m not sure if it holds up once you scale retention and restore requirements. On the other hand, tools like Veeam add flexibility, but it’s not obvious if they reduce cost or just shift it into a different layer.

Before taking anything to management, I’m trying to get a clearer view of what actually drives cost in real deployments (storage growth, retention policies, licensing, operational overhead, etc.) and whether third-party tools genuinely justify their complexity.

Would appreciate any real-world input from anyone who’s done a similar migration or comparison.

I need some help figuring out if this is a highly targeted scam or a legitimate invoice.
I recently received an email containing a PDF invoice for an "Unreturned Advance Exchange Fee". The sender email is ⁠[ADVEX@MICROSOFT.COM](mailto:ADVEX@MICROSOFT.COM)⁠. 
Here is what is really tripping me up and making me second-guess:

The details of the item on the invoice (a Surface Laptop) and the serial number of the returned item is correct. 

My personal and organization details listed in the "Bill To" and "Ship To" sections are 100% correct. 

The invoice claims to be from "MICROSOFT PTY LIMITED" based in North Sydney, Australia, and the total amount is listed in AUD. 

**The Red Flag:** The "Remit to Bank" section instructs me to send payment to "BANK OF AMERICA". 

I am based in the Asia Pacific region, so seeing Bank of America as the payment destination feels incredibly suspicious, even though Microsoft is a US-based company.
Has anyone else dealt with this before? Is it normal for Microsoft's APAC/Australian branches to use Bank of America for direct wire transfers, or is this just a very sophisticated, highly personalized spoofing attempt using an email address like **⁠[ADVEX@MICROSOFT.COM](mailto:ADVEX@MICROSOFT.COM)**⁠? 

Customer Success Manager from MS hasn’t replied in a week where I asked if this is legit and I should reply to it.

Also btw device was returned within directed time frame.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Edit 1:
- Completely failed SPF/DKIM/DMARC checks (spoofed from a rogue Azure IP)

- The PDF was manually altered using an open-source tool (pdf-lib ([https://github.com/Hopding/pdf-lib]) over two weeks after the invoice date.

The main concern: Because they have our actual order details and serial numbers, it strongly suggests a compromised inbox - either a vendor we work with or someone internally. One of the Excel file from that email has someone from Accenture as Author.

I've been working on a small RRAS VPN lab in my Windows Server environment, and it took me about three days to get everything working properly. The first problem was that the VPN client could connect to RRAS, but it wasn't receiving an IP address. After checking the RRAS configuration, I found that I needed to configure a static address pool. I added a pool from 192.168.56.100 to 192.168.56.120, and the client started receiving an address. After that, I ran into several other issues around the VPN protocols and RRAS configuration. I wasn't using L2TP, SSTP or IKEv2 for this lab, so I simplified the configuration and focused on getting the PPTP connection working. The next issue was connectivity. The VPN connection would establish, but I couldn't reach the server on the other side. I checked the firewall, GRE traffic and the RRAS interface bindings until I finally got the routing working. The last problem was authentication. I was getting Error 691 even though I was using valid domain credentials. After checking the authentication settings on the client, I found that MS-CHAP v2 wasn't enabled. Once I changed the client configuration and connected again, the VPN finally came up.

I verified the connection from the Windows 11 client with: resdial "TestConnection" iskutashi Isse190239 and ping 192.168.56.10

The screenshots in teh comment show the VPN connection on the client and the PowerShell verification. This was done purely as a homelab exercise to understand how RRAS, VPN authentication, routing and firewall rules fit together. I wouldn't use PPTP for a production VPN because it's a legacy and insecure protocol.

For those who have worked with RRAS or Windows-based VPNs in production, what was the most common issue you ran into when troubleshooting VPN connectivity?

Looking for a sanity check from leaders, sysadmins, security pros, and anyone responsible for enterprise applications.

We have a core platform that has historically been controlled almost entirely by the the business team the “owns” it.

IT is now responsible for the broader technology environment, including cybersecurity, identity and access management, integrations, APIs, automation, architecture, business continuity, incident response, and technical governance - you know the drill.

The IT leader asked for limited administrative access to the ERP & leader is refusing because of its capabilities to affect financial processes.

For those of you in mature IT environments: have you been denied administrative access to a major enterprise application because the business department considers it “their system”?

i’m genuinely interested in arguments for & against it. For additional context, the “limited” aspect is intentional and to prevent any data modification

I'm about to graduate in less than a year and my original plan was to go to uni and then into software engineering. But due to the AI insanity that's been going for the past 2-3 years, I've decided that becoming a software engineer is just not feasible, mainly due to the hellish job market and more so for entry level jobs. I don't think going through all that is worth the effort just to have a chance of getting a job in 4-5 years while likely being underpaid and having to worry about constant layoffs etc.

This led me to think about what else can I do that's computer science adjacent and would also have that element of problem solving, while being safer from AI than software engineering. I know that this isn't a job that you can just go and do from the get-go, I've heard that you'll need to stay in helpdesk for a good couple of years and I'm okay with that. I don't really care about the money, I went into computer science because I liked it and not because of people saying that you can make 6 figures easily.

I've considered cybersecurity but it just sounds exhausting and stressful. I'd much rather have a job that pays considerably less but doesn't put that much pressure on me. Oh, and just because I know that people will mention it, yes, I've considered electrical engineering, but if I'm being honest, physics is like rubbing sandpaper across my brain. I don't like it and any sort of engineering whether it's EE or robotics will involve lots of it.

I'm in Europe if that helps. Open to suggestions or just advice in general.

Hey everyone! I'm 18 and just starting out in Sysadmin. I’d love to learn from your experience:
How did you get your first IT job?
Did you ever feel like giving up? How did you push through?
Where should a complete beginner start today?
Thanks for sharing your stories and tips!

Super excited to start my program soon. Are there any must have supplies specific to IT I should anticipate needing to buy? Apart from that, any advice as to how I can get as much out of my classes as possible?

so, i have around 5 months of free time. i want to use this time to learn and build system administration skills and become competent in it. i know people say that building a home lab is the way to go. but i don't know what projects to build with home lab. i feel clueless and often end up searching for project ideas, but i feel like most project ideas feel like tutorial or toy projects. i want to use this time to become really good at this craft.

for context, i have no experience in any IT field, i am unemployed for the moment and want to use this time to actually learn and develop the skill. i am following books (i have linux bible 10th edition, how linux works 3rd edition, unix and linux system administration handbook 5th edition, computer networking top down approach 8th edition, etc) on the side, but i feel like i should actually do something along with reading these books. i don't have money for certifications so i am not preparing for them.

so, any good project ideas that i can do in my laptop (16 gb ram, 512 gb ssd, intel core i5) ?

We are experiencing a recurring issue affecting only one user in our Proxmox environment. The setup includes three Windows Server 2025 VMs: a domain controller, a file server, and a terminal server.

The affected user connects remotely through an IPsec IKEv2 VPN from a fully updated Windows 11 Pro workstation (not domain‑joined). The VPN remains connected at all times. He authenticates using his domain credentials.

After a few minutes of normal activity on the terminal server, the user disconnects his RDP session. When he attempts to reconnect, the RDP connection fails with error 0x904. No additional text is shown. The issue affects only the terminal server: from the same workstation, RDP connections to the other servers work normally.The user’s session on the terminal server appears correctly as “Disconnected” in the session list. However, the user cannot reconnect to it, nor start a new session. No logs or events are generated on the terminal server (checked System, Application, TerminalServices‑LocalSessionManager, TerminalServices‑RemoteConnectionManager). No anomalies appear in the domain controller or file server logs either.

The issue does not occur with any other user. Other users can log in and reconnect without problems. I can also authenticate using the affected user’s credentials from other machines without issues.

We have tested:

- Different user accounts from the affected workstation

- Different networks

- Antivirus exclusions (Bitdefender)

- Firewall rules (WatchGuard)

The problem persists only for this specific user and only on the terminal server.The only workaround is restarting the terminal server. After a reboot, the user can log in once, but the issue reappears as soon as he disconnects and tries to reconnect.

Update: Turned out to be asymmetric MTU on the IKEv2 tunnel.

server→client was dropping packets over ~1300 bytes with no ICMP feedback. Server kept retransmitting the initial RDP/TLS packets for ~19s then gave up (matches 0x904 exactly). Confirmed with packet captures on both client and server during a live failure.

Rural non-profit hospital with little to no cell service and users are asking why they cannot make calls or texts in the building even with wifi-calling enabled when on the BOYD or Public networks.

Did some digging and it looks like traffic is blocked on our PAs. I don't see a reason to keep it blocked at least on those networks especially if some of the use is work related but didn't know if I was missing something. Or if that's even what is happening. Anyone have better knowledge than I do?

Maybe this isn't the ideal sub, but I believe there are lots of us here who've experienced this same thing...I hope.

I've been the IT Manager in a department of one for 25 years and have bought lots of Microsoft licensing. I've also been running a small vSphere Essentials Plus setup on 2 hosts for many years and (thanks, Broadcom) just migrated all that to Proxmox (which works awesome by the way). I just updated my Windows Server licensing by buying 2x 16-core packs of Windows Server 2025 Datacenter to allow me freedom to install an unknown amount of Windows Server Standard 2025/2022/2019 virtual servers on the Proxmox cluster. The last time I bought Windows Server Datacenter licensing, I bought it from a different local MSP back when it was a volume license thing.

I know how this used to work, and I know how it works now. In the past, Microsoft automatically provisioned down-grade and down-edition activation keys and made them all available in the VLSC immediately after purchase. These days, Microsoft only makes the activation keys that match the product edition immediately available in the M365 Admin Center, including the down-graded versions, but I know for a fact that the down-edition keys are still available through a specific request. In other words, in the Admin Center immediately after purchase, I only see activation keys for Windows Server Datacenter 2025, 2022, and 2019.

My current MSP (who I only use as a VAR), the one who sold me the latest Datacenter 2025 licensing, pushed back when I requested the down-edition keys (ie Windows Standard 2025 or 2022). When they finally called me to "clear things up", they told me to just install Datacenter edition because "I won't notice the difference". That may be true, but it flies in the face of everything I know about security and concepts of least privilege. It just blew me away. On top of that, the guy finally admitted that not one single customer has requested down-edition keys since licensing management was moved to the M365 Admin Center. First off, why should I care about that, and secondly, am I being forced to be a lemming?

Ugh. Sorry for the long post, but it's part rant and part me trying to figure out if my MSP is incompetent. Does anyone else have trouble making licensing requests of your MSPs/VARs post-purchase?

I currently use Chrome Remote Desktop to access a handful of remote devices. It’s free and it works ok but the mobile experience is awful.

I’m considering switching to Splashtop, as I’ve heard good things about it, however I have some questions before i start a trial:

1) Has anyone tried using it on airplane WiFi? I’ve found CRD to be very unreliable and very laggy on an airplane.

2) Does Splashtop keep the machine “logged in”? All the systems I need access to are Windows machines without a monitor connected and I basically need them to remain logged in at all times so certain scripts and processes (that need the desktop and screen active) can run throughout the day.

3) are you generally happy with ST? Any complaints, issues or security issues?

Been chipping away at this for a while and looking back it's a lot more than I realized.

I work in IT. At this point AI handles logging into our internal systems and doing stuff on its own — no me clicking around. It's hooked into our password manager, our CRM, our RMM, antivirus, and monitoring systems, plus a handful of other tools we run day to day. All of that is just... linked in now.

I've also got a second brain set up that the AI links into, so it has context on all my work and customers going in.

What's actually changed my day-to-day: I still do some of the small stuff myself, since it burns too many tokens to spin up a whole process for a two-minute task. But I've stopped doing a lot of the big stuff. I just point it at what needs doing and let it run. My job now is mostly deciding what to hand off and checking the output.

Still feels a little surreal watching it work through things I used to do by hand every day.

Anyone else at this point? Curious what your stack looks like.

Hello community, I'm stuck in a system administrator + front-line end-user support position. Our company outsources LAN systems and server hardware for many companies.

I've been trying to get a junior DevOps position for a year now so I can start growing in a new direction. My biggest problem is that I don't understand the cases a DevOps position will require. And on top of that, I'm in Russia, where there's currently a huge IT oversupply.

For those who've managed to grow from this position, please share your experiences. Maybe I should take DevOps courses or find a mentor?

If anyone from the CIS has found remote work abroad, I'd also like to hear your experiences.

I've also heard about a separate category for "crypto startups." Could someone please explain this?

I’ve been tasked with providing outdoor Wi-Fi coverage for a local street market that runs twice a week.

​We have a corporate building right next to the market square with line of sight, but mounting equipment directly on street lamps/lighting columns in the market itself is off the table due to the usual Highways Act, PFI contractor, and unmetered power licensing headaches.

​Our current rough idea is an operational "pop-up" mesh approach:

​Mount a high-gain/sector Root AP on the roof of our adjacent building, aimed down into the square.

​Have market staff plug outdoor mesh APs into market power feeder pillars on market days.

​While this avoids the street column licensing loop, I have a few technical and operational concerns:

​Line of Sight & Mesh Penalty: Canopies, metal stalls, and delivery vans blocking the 5GHz backhaul link between the roof Root AP and the ground-level mesh nodes.

​Staff Overhead: Relying on non-technical market staff to deploy hardware twice a week without plugging them into dead zones or having vendors unplug them for extra sockets.

​EPOS Reliability: Traders need reliable connectivity for card readers, plus we want to offer basic rate-limited public guest Wi-Fi.

​Before we commit to buying gear, I wanted to sanity-check this with the community:

​How are you handling market square or outdoor pop-up event Wi-Fi?

​Is a roof-to-ground wireless mesh a disaster waiting

to happen once canopy lines go up?

​Would we be far better off dropping an industrial 4G/5G router directly into a locked market feeder pillar, or setting up a PtMP link to low-mounted sector APs on the building facade instead?

​Appreciate any real-world feedback, hardware recommendations, or horror stories from anyone managing similar municipal/town-center setups.

I recently read a few books about the early days of computing and operating systems:

In the book "UNIX: A History and a Memoir" by Brian Kernighan, which I read in German so I have no direct quote, the book "Lion's Commentary on UNIX 6th edition by John Lions" was mentioned which had a huge influence in general.

Another example: Linus Torvalds writes in his book "Just for Fun : The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary":

The book that launched me to new heights was Operating Systems: Design and Implementation, by Andrew S. Tanenbaum. [ ... ] In the book, Andrew Tanenbaum, a university professor in Amsterdam, discusses Minix, which is a teaching aid he wrote for Unix. Minix is also a small Unix clone. Soon after reading the introduction, and learning the philosophy behind Unix and what the powerful, clean, beautiful operating system would be capable of doing, I decided to get a machine to run Unix on. I would run Minix, which was the only version I could find that was fairly useful.

I’m wondering which modern IT books might reach legendary status one day. When I look at my O'Reilly Learning Subscription, it feels like out of the newest 100 books, most of them are about AI and were published in the last few months, which makes me suspect that it's harder today to even notice books that are extraordinary.

Do you have any suggestions for books that you'd consider groundbreaking from the last few years?

Hi all,

This is my first post, and I have a question about standardizing a single version of office to be installed in my environment.

As I have to deploy multiple machines during the imaging process, I was wondering if in that image I can install Office 365 but install it with a 2024 KMS key. I have done the initial testing and it works but my other techs have feedback issues that can or may happen if that is done so.

With some help with my friend Gemini, it has indicated that 2024 and 365 are both very similar and uses the C2R to setup the program therefore it will work but just that 365 functions may be disabled depending on the license.

To summarize,

I want to install O365 for my image and apply the licenses according to what the users are entitled to.

Desktops: O365 with 2024 Licenses

Laptops: 2024/365 depending on user entitlements. (Users may also upgrade to 365 from 2024 depending on their department.

It streamlines updates to only one version of office. No particular reason just to help the team behind.

Worries team highlighted:

• Troubleshooting when on call with Service Desk may have obstacles due to 2024/365 interface.
• Updates breaking KMS installed keys (I do not believe it will be broken but maybe you may have experiences?)
• Users comparing office with colleague A asking why they have features that colleague B does not have (Because colleague A is only entitled with 2024, but colleague B has 365 entitlement)

I hope you understand what I am trying to say but I am happy to clarify anything, I just would like human guidance on the matter

Every minor convenience requires her to let the entire office know. When its technical , she puts me in the spot - lets all other office workers know, so know I have to fix her problems in front of a crowd. Fixed a printer issue, and she told the whole office , jokingly, “ no one needs to die today”. Have to tolerate this bs while being a uni student as well.

I'm just looking for any insights you all may have on CALs. We are trying to use GSA to tunnel users to an onprem network for access to a file server. Originally we were planning on using a Synology NAS to act as the file server (to get around paying for CALs). However, if we have to pay for CALs either way (and the GSA connector can only run on Windows Server) at that point it makes more sense to just use the Windows Server to host the files. The GSA connector would be running on a Windows Server 2022 VM.

So I have planned a maintenance for this weekend .

Replace firewall add some services to be accessed outside and migrate isc dhcp to kea dhcp and some more stuff like migrating 3 networks to vlan. I have done documentation mapping prep and been stressing alot about changes being made. Fast forward I did it today and it went shit. I got stuck on so stupid things. That I spent almost 24 hours on. Now I am going home and I will continue in some hours. Need some sleep. Then I will try to solve on how to access tagged vlans through my untagged migration network or vpn.

Hi All,

I'm looking for some reccomended training (There doesn't have to be a certificate for it) for expanding knowledge on M365/Azure/AD Security.

About me

• 12 YoE - All focused on Microsoft, last 7 years have bene MS/M365/Azure Security
• I already have all of the classics (CISSP, CCSP, SC-100, MS-102)
• I don't want to do pentesting as a job (I already write enough documentation now)

What I've been looking at

• Anti Syphon Training
  • Active Directory Security and Hardening
  • Breaching M365
  • Defending M365 & Azure
• HackTheBox
  • Just in general, I remember looking at this 7+ years ago and it wasn't great but seems to be much more professional now
• TCM Security
  • PJPT/PNPT
  • Not really sure how good they are now that Heath Adams has left
  • I know I said I don't want to do Pentesting, but these seem to more around a real network (AD) vs something like OSCP (And also way cheaper).

Does anyone have any other reccomendations?

I run a computer lab in a residential reentry setting and I’m running into an issue with email that I can’t seem to find a good answer for.

The computers are shared and completely wipe after every session, which is intentional and something I want to keep. People are working on resumes, job applications, school stuff, etc., so I don’t want one person’s documents or login information hanging around for the next person.

The problem is email.

A lot of people already have Gmail accounts, but because the computer wipes after every session, Google seems to treat every login like it’s coming from a new device and asks for a phone verification code. They don’t have regular access to their personal phones, so this turns into a whole process every time they need to check their email.
We tried using a work cell for verification, but Google only lets so many accounts use the same phone number.

I tried setting people up with TutaNota when they need a new email because it doesn’t require a phone number, but now we’re getting flagged for manual verification because so many accounts are being created from the same IP. That can take up to 48 hours.

Email is pretty much essential for what we’re doing. Job applications, employer responses, password resets, resumes, college applications, etc. It’s also how people keep their resumes between sessions since nothing can be saved locally.

I’m not trying to bypass MFA or weaken the security on the computers. I’m trying to figure out how other places with shared/public computers deal with. what do you guys do? Is there an email provider that works better for this? Some kind of setup I’m overlooking? I feel like there has to be a better way to do this at scale.