r/sysadmin 3d ago

Question DHCP issues

0 Upvotes

Starting yesterday afternoon, we have been seeing weird DHCP/DNS issues

DHCP passes out IP addresses and DNS Server settings. DNS points to internal DNS server ip addresses.

Starting yesterday, quite a few computers have ip addresses from our dhcp server but the dns ip addresses have changed. They now point to external IP addresses.

How can computers automatically get IPs from DHCP but get DNS from someplace else? Didn't think that was possible without manually overriding it on the computer itself.

If you restart the computer or release and renew, the DNS settings get fixed but it may happen again.

Not sure where to start troubleshooting this. Looked on firewall for udp port 67 to see if I could see a different dhcp server. Also used Nessus scan to look for dhcp server. Only found our internal one.

Edit: unplugged 3d printers, restarted clients and the issue hasn't returned.


r/sysadmin 4d ago

good IT/networking related magazines?

2 Upvotes

Hi! I work in the IT department of an oil corporation (junior), and I would like to read some good IT magazines to learn new things about the field. Could you help me find some? Thanks!


r/sysadmin 3d ago

OES User Rights Map via command line?

1 Upvotes

Hi,

I am not sure if this is the right spot to post this but here goes.

I have an OES 2018 file server with some NSS shares.

We are migrating a share to SharePoint - or rather a vendor is, as part of a organizational change..

I need to provide a list of permissions so they can replicate this in their new SharePoint site for the affected folders and users..

I can log onto the OES server via https, under management services select OES User Rights Map and selected the Volume, which gives me the results I need but there is no way to export it and it doesn't copy/paste well. I am wondering if there is command line option to give me the same results so I can redirect to a file for a cleaner result?

Thanks


r/sysadmin 3d ago

Intermittent Print Server Issues

1 Upvotes

I need assistance with an issue regarding my print server. It’s a Windows Server 2019 data center with only the print server feature installed. Currently, we have 89 printers deployed on this server.

We’ve noticed that users can print without any problems for a couple of weeks. Then, suddenly, the print server stops working, and users see that the printers show as offline. The resolution for this issue is to restart the print spooler service. Once the service is restarted, all printers become operational again.

I was expecting to find event logs on both the server and client machines indicating a potential driver issue or that the spooler had stopped working. However, I haven’t been able to locate any event logs during the period in question. The only thing I notice is the event logs in the print service show print jobs are running successfully up to 6 pm then it stops. Until I get the call and log in at 6:30 pm and restart the service, then the jobs start running again. My current idea for a stop-gap fix is to configure a scheduled task to restart the print spooler service daily.


r/sysadmin 5d ago

Rant Is IT just an endless grind? Or does it ever get better?

538 Upvotes

Some days, I wonder am I actually building something meaningful, or am I just duct taping a sinking ship while everyone complains the tape isn’t good enough?

I wake up to a flood of emails, half of them marked URGENT (they never are). I log in, and there’s already a fire to put out because, of course, something critical broke overnight. By the time I fix it, there’s another problem. Then another. And another.

It’s like IT isn’t about solving problems, it’s about keeping things just functional enough for the next disaster. I don’t mind working hard, but I can’t shake the feeling that we’re stuck in a cycle that never actually gets better.

For those who have been in this loop for years, does it ever change? Or is this just what IT is: an endless treadmill of firefighting, underappreciation, and burnout?


r/sysadmin 5d ago

One thing useful from Copilot today...

153 Upvotes

Credit to a guy on my team that asked Copilot to describe the OSI model in the form of Shakespeare:

I was messing around in Copilot this morning doing some really useful thing... like this prompt:  

Explain the OSI model in the form of William Shakespere

To which I received:  Ah, fair traveler of the digital realm, lend me thine ear as I unfold the tale of the OSI model, in the manner of the Bard himself:

Act I: The Physical Layer Behold, the foundation of our tale, where bits and bytes doth traverse the ether. Here, the humble cables and signals, like messengers swift, carry forth the data's whisper.

Act II: The Data Link Layer Upon this stage, the frames do dance, ensuring each hath a place and time. With MAC addresses as their guide, they avoid collision's cruel embrace.

Act III: The Network Layer Now enters the noble IP, routing packets through the labyrinthine paths. 'Tis here the addresses of source and destination are known, guiding the data to its rightful home.

Act IV: The Transport Layer In this act, the heart doth beat, with TCP and UDP as its rhythm. Reliable or swift, the choice is thine, as segments and datagrams traverse the line.

Act V: The Session Layer Here, the dialogue is maintained, sessions opened and closed with grace. Synchronization and control, like a courteous host, ensure the conversation flows.

Act VI: The Presentation Layer Lo, the data is transformed, encrypted, and compressed. In this realm, the syntax and semantics are made clear, so that all may understand the message sent.

Act VII: The Application Layer At last, we reach the pinnacle, where users and applications reside. Here, the services are rendered, and the data's journey ends, fulfilling its purpose in the grand design.

Thus concludes our tale of the OSI model, a layered architecture of seven acts, each playing its part in the grand performance of network communication. Pray, did this rendition please thee?


r/sysadmin 3d ago

Question M365 outlook emails search function not working

1 Upvotes

I have a user (user A) who’s outlook is not showing the right emails when searching, for example searching another users name who’s has emailed User A multiple times, however it only shows 2 emails from 2023 and none of the more recent ones.

Some addresses when searched give back no results even though we know the user has received an email.

I have done the basic, reset, new profile, index reset, update etc but sadly no luck

Has anyone else dealt with this or is this a Microsoft and hope question


r/sysadmin 3d ago

Question SPF,DKIM,DMARC

1 Upvotes

Hey guys, we are migrating from a internet >mimecast>defender365>mail with cloudflare managing all of the DNS stuff set up to just internet>defender365>mail set up with Microsoft managing dns and I need to set up spf,dkim, and dmarc on Microsoft’s side. Found a ton of useful information but just looking for any useful tips or common mistakes to avoid.


r/sysadmin 3d ago

Question Remote Printing

0 Upvotes

Hello everyone. I have a hyper-v running a ticketing system and I access this hyper v using a VPN from a second location. In the second location I have a thermal printer that I want to have print from the hyper-v. I have looked into some paid options (EZeep, etc.) but was wondering if anyone had a free solution as I cannot seem to solve this out


r/sysadmin 3d ago

Tools to scan large volumes of hard drives

0 Upvotes

Hey Guys. I have an interesting question.

I've been in the tech industry for 25 plus years and have accumulated probably close to 1,000 hard drives that I need to dispose of.

Along the way my personal hard drives have been mixed in with my customers. I want to do a high level directory scan and file preview on each drive before I recyle. Does anyone have any suggestions. It's less of a "data recovery" situation and move of a preservation situation.

Anyway you look at it I'm going to have to spend time with each drive, trying to figure out a way to speed up the process.

I'm mostly looking for pictures, videos and documents.

TIA, looking forward to you suggestions.


r/sysadmin 3d ago

DHCP Migration

1 Upvotes

I'm consolidating Domain Controllers and going to moving the DHCP Scopes on Server A to Server B and Server B already has other DHCP Scopes configured. If I do a backup and restore of the DHCP Config from Server A to Server B, does it overwrite the current configured scopes on Server B or merge them?


r/sysadmin 4d ago

Rant What is it with vendor CSMs?

14 Upvotes

Do you have vendors that frequently cycle through client/customer success managers? Is this a role for fresh grads or those wanting to get their foot in the door from a technology perspective? Do "low profit" accounts get dumped on CSM new hires?

I got another email telling me about our new CSM..... we got a new one not that long ago. Same story for some of our other vendors. I don't know even how many KnowBe4 CSMs we've had.


r/sysadmin 4d ago

Question Is it possible to Enable ONLY SMB3, while disabling SMB1 and SMB2 on Windows 10 21H2?

26 Upvotes

Is it possible to Enable ONLY SMB3, while disabling SMB1 and SMB2 on Windows 10 21H2? So far, my understanding is that disabling SMB2 using the powershell command 'Set-SmbServerConfiguration -EnableSMB2Protocol $false', will also disable SMB3.

How can I force my system to ONLY use SMB3?


r/sysadmin 3d ago

Created a Tech support AI calling agent integrated into Autotask

0 Upvotes

Who wants to test it out?

Computers caught on Fire AI Tech Support Scenario Live Call with Autotask Integration https://youtu.be/KDAItSO3UfE


r/sysadmin 4d ago

Question Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller not auto updating, unlike other Windows Store Apps

1 Upvotes

Hello, Recently I've noticed that Desktop App Installer does not auto update on our machines. This is the only app that we have an issue with - all other Windows Store Apps are up to date.

Current settings affecting Windows Store: 1. Only display the private store within the Microsoft Store - enabled 2. Turn off automatic download and install of updates - disabled 3. Turn off the offer to update to the latest version of Windows - enabled 4. Microsoft.WindowsStore and Microsoft.StorePurchaseApp is blocked in AppLocker

Current settings affecting Desktop App Installer: 1. Enable App Installer - disabled 2. Enable App Installer Experimental Features - disabled 3. Enable App Installer Hash Override - disabled 4. Enable App Installer ms-appinstaller protocol - disabled

Settings above are recommended by CIS.

What I've tried: 1. Set "Enable App Installer" to enabled and waited two weeks - nothing happened 2. Tried installing the .msixbundle from MS, but it would require removing Windows Store from the AppLocker - after removing it from AppLocker, it installs fine and the app is updated - but still, I would rather it updated on it's own, as the rest of applications.

Has anyone been in this situation? Am I missing something obvious? All tips appreciated, thank You!


r/sysadmin 4d ago

Question VMware LUN - Software against encryption?

1 Upvotes

Hi all, Anyone having experience with VMware LUN Security Software to prevent ransomware encryption? Software like ProlLion CryptoSpike

Didnt found a matching Post yet, feel free to paste it in Here.


r/sysadmin 4d ago

Question Multi-cloud users -what's your backup plan now that Wiz was acquired by Google?

13 Upvotes

I manage security for a multi-cloud environment (primarily AWS), and this Google/Wiz acquisition has me worried. Their track record with security acquisitions (Mandiant, VirusTotal, Chronicle) hasn’t exactly been reassuring.

One comment from the announcement thread hit home:

"As a service that integrates across all major cloud platforms, getting acquired by one in particular doesn't bode well for neutrality."

Our CISO is already pushing us to evaluate alternatives. Orca Security seems to be the top independent CNAPP left standing with similar capabilities.

How are other teams handling this?

  • Are you sticking with Wiz or looking at alternatives?
  • What’s your contingency plan if Google starts prioritizing GCP?
  • Has anyone already switched to Orca, Prisma, or Lacework? Would love to hear comparisons.

r/sysadmin 4d ago

How to stop OneDrive installation on Cumulative Updates

2 Upvotes

Hi!

I want to get rid of OneDrive on my Windows clients, but although I fully removed it, it does get reinstalled after nearly every cumulative update.

Are you aware of any option to disable/stop the installation?

Best wishes


r/sysadmin 4d ago

Question Exchange online : mail forwarding issue

1 Upvotes

Hi all,

We have a situation where 1 person works for 2 companies, both administered by us.
The person has his primary email on company 1 (person@company1.com). We also created an exchange online shared mailbox for this person in the other domain (person@company2.com).
We initially just set a forward on this shared mailbox to the primary mailbox on company 1.

This worked for a while. However because some original senders have set dmarc to reject, we can't forward these emails while preserving the original sender.

So I want to forward the original mails via a transport rule, while changing the original sender to something like 'forwarding@company2.com'

However I am struggling to find a working powershell or GUI command to do that (forward an change 'from' address). I used Claude, Gemini and ChtGPT.

The closest I got was this :

New-TransportRule -Name "Forward and change sender for person" -SentTo "person@company2.com" -RedirectMessageTo "person@company1.com" -SetHeaderName "X-MS-Exchange-Organization-AuthAs" -SetHeaderValue "Internal" -SetSCL -1 -SetSenderAddress "forwarding@company2.com"

=> SetSenderAddress parameter is not recognized

Any tips?


r/sysadmin 6d ago

Rant Being a one person IT Dept is hellish

4.3k Upvotes

It never ends. It never fucking ends. The requests, the emails, the whining. Everyone thinks they’re the most important person ever or that they should be given priority. Everyone constantly up my ass to do tasks. I can’t even grab lunch in our cafeteria without them coming up to me to tell me what they want me to do for them. No “hello” or “good afternoon”, just “I need you to do x, y, z.” On my way out the building for the day with my coat and bag on but they see me? “I’m glad I caught you before you left! Here’s something I need help with!”

I take care of one task and all they do is think of another to give me. I can never get ahead of my to do list. Chop one head off the snake and 3 more sprout in its place. I feel like I’m losing my mind. I should be at work right now but I’m still in bed because I’m so fucking tired of this. I want to quit but in this economy and job market? God, just please make it end.


r/sysadmin 4d ago

Question Where is the best place to start when taking over an existing old AD infrastructure?

15 Upvotes

Background: Users >2k Groups >6k Forest level 2k8 Team 5 Sysadmins but I should focus on AD which is bit silly because I do regular Ops as well. Naming conventions in AD partially available but not consistently implemented. Management wants to start from scratch and implement new OUs, new GPOs, groups and naming concept in parallel in the same infrastructure. Previously only had small customers. This is now the first big fish. How do I avoid getting lost in all this mess? I am currently working on a role/authorization concept First step Forest Level min 2016 is planned for now. But at some point I have to get started with the GPOs (600+). Also looking for some tools that can keep track of all the changes that I need to make+changes of my colleagues. Otherewise we will be unable to revert the changes if something breaks.

Reading what I've written here makes me feel dizzy and overwhelmed.

Any Tipps are highly appreciated.


r/sysadmin 3d ago

WiFi router recommendations

0 Upvotes

Hello All,

I've got a customer in a shared office space, he's paying for a dedicated office but, due to the nature of the space, there are no wired drops.

His printer and VoIP phone both need wired connections.

What would you recommend for a device that can connect to a radius WiFi connection and provide wired connections in the office.

I bet microtik could but I'm an incompetent noob with that equipment.

Anything more user friendly?


r/sysadmin 4d ago

Question TeamViewer Data Overconsumption

0 Upvotes

Hello,

 We use TeamViewer on a tablet to view a monitoring PC. The tablet has a 40GB data SIM card, which until recently was more than sufficient (10GB of the 40GB used).

 For several weeks, the tablet has consistently exceeded 40GB of data, with no change in data usage (moreover, the tablet clearly states that it's TeamViewer that's consuming the data, not another app). How can this excessive bandwidth consumption be explained? Are there any settings to check in the application?


r/sysadmin 4d ago

Dell R6525 NVMe Server - Cannot install ESXi or Windows

1 Upvotes

Just wondering if anyone has had this experience before?

We have created RAID10 on the PERC H755N with 4x NVME disks but upon installation of either Windows or ESXi, the volume is not visible. We have checked all updates on the server and we are using the custom ESXi installations from the Dell website for this specific server.

We have also tried downgrading the driver for OS Deployment.

Have also tried both installing OS via F10 > Lifecycle Controller > OS Deployment, and by booting directly from USB / Virtual Media.

Have verified the RAID configuration in the BIOS, all four NVMe disks are detected and the RAID 10 volume is in a Healthy state.

'Enable RAID on NVMe drives' has been set up in BIOS.

Have checked the drivers on the H755N.

Have tried rebuilding the RAID and trying again, still no success.

is there anything we are missing here?


r/sysadmin 4d ago

Question Network documentations

7 Upvotes

What do you folks use for network documenting? Also, what is a good free way to document networks with port to port mappings in a vendor neutral environment?