SysAdmin Weekly #2
This week in IT! Copilot tutorials, broken patching models, and the many definitions of the word "deprecate"!
Welcome to your weekly dose of IT sanity, served piping hot! New reader? All newsletter and podcast links are all live and tracked at www.sysadminweekly.com
🧠 This Week’s Top Insight
This week, we’re talking about what’s actually going away in IT. This ranges from WSUS finally riding into the sunset, to how the word “deprecate” is constantly misunderstood by engineers, marketers, and sometimes even major vendors. All amongst the usual useful community links!
🎙️ Latest on the SysAdmin Weekly Podcast
🎧 Episode 006 – The Demise of Windows Server Update Services
WSUS is on its way out — and we’re talking about what that means for patching workflows, hybrid infrastructure, and your mental health. Plus, we dive into Azure Arc–based hot patching and how Microsoft envisions your future patching strategy….. and its impact on your wallet.
Note that the show is also available on the following platforms in addition to the YouTube Link above:
What’s in the Next Episode?
In our upcoming episode of the SysAdmin Weekly Podcast, Andy Syrewicze and Eric Siron sit down and discuss the growing cloud repatriation movement that sees some organizations moving workloads BACK to on-prem due to cost, complexity, and a myriad of other reasons. Episode should be going live on June 4th!
🔍 From AndyOnTech and Project Runspace
🧠 Why You Should Be Considering Debian Linux in 2025
Andy makes the case for Debian SID, discussing its benefits, its downfalls, who it’s for, and why it should be on your Linux shortlist for 2025.
📉 What Does “Deprecate” Really Mean in IT?
Eric Siron from Project Runspace breaks down the difference between “deprecated,” “unsupported,” and “we warned you, kind of.”
🧵 Helpful Community Blog Posts
💼 Laid Off? Start Here.
I hate that we’re in a world where I need to include this, but felt it was important, given current events. Laid Off is a growing community founded by Melanie Ehrenkranz offering resources, job leads, and tech guidance for those recently affected by layoffs in the industry.
🧠 Copilot Studio Basics – by Sai Turlapti
A solid primer from Microsoft MVP Sai Turlapti for getting started with Copilot Studio and building basic AI-powered apps. Bookmark it.
🧰 Home Lab Setup Using Intel NUC
Jasmin Kahriman shares a straightforward guide to using Intel NUCs for lab environments, which are great for homelab beginners and space-conscious techies. Jasmin runs down the list of different types of NUCs and how to get started.
🎟️ SysAdmin Content from Official Sources
📺 Windows Server Summit 2025 (On-Demand)
Missed the live event? Catch up on new Windows Server features, hybrid management with Azure, and the future of on-prem, straight from Microsoft.
📘 Debian 13 “Trixie” Release Notes
With mention of Debian SID above, it seemed appropriate to link the release notes for the upcoming stanle release of Debian 13 “Trixie”. This one is straight from the source!
📰 Security Headlines for SysAdmins
ConnectWise Hit by Nation-State Level Cyberattack
If you’re an MSP or using ScreenConnect internally, take note. This may be tied to CVE-2025-3935, though attribution and technical details are still evolving. Will share more next week if details warrant it.
🛠️ Tool of the Week
Uptime Kuma is a nifty, self-hosted status monitoring tool that makes tracking uptime stupidly simple.
Whether you’re managing public services, a private lab, or your very serious home Minecraft server (no…really, they are important!), Uptime Kuma gives you clean dashboards, notification integrations (Discord, Telegram, email, etc.), and flexible monitoring options.
It’s open source, Docker-friendly, and actually fun to use.
Because if you don’t monitor your NUC cluster, who will?
🧠 Fun Retro SysAdmin Fact
Fun Fact:
The “ping” command was inspired by sonar and its creator, Mike Muuss, named it after the sound submarines make when bouncing a signal off something.
The original version of ping was written in December 1983… and some of us have been troubleshooting with it ever since.
📜 Source
☕ Wrap-Up
If WSUS is being deprecated, does that mean SCCM finally gets to retire and open a bakery like it always wanted?
Thanks for reading, and if you found something useful, forward this to another SysAdmin who deserves a break from alert and ticket fatigue!
I agree that SCCM days are numbered. It seems like Microsoft wants everyone to move towards provisioning PC’s instead of imagining them.