SysAdmin Weekly #6
Balancing Uptime and Existential Dread Since........Forever
Welcome to your weekly dose of IT sanity, served piping hot! New here? All newsletter and podcast links are live and tracked at www.sysadminweekly.com
🧠 This Week’s Insight(s)
Between conference season heating up, nation-state threat actor takedowns, and philosophical debates about Light Mode, this week’s theme is all about finding balance. Tech is moving fast, AI is trying to automate you out of a job (again), and your eyeballs are probably fried from too many dark terminal windows. But don’t worry, you’re not alone. This week’s content is a buffet of tactical tools, security updates, soft skills, and mental health reflections to help you build resilience and technical muscle.
So, you make ask: “Andy, what do you mean about finding balance? There’s no balance to be found in the SysAdmin world!”.
When I say, “finding balance”, that could go for multiple things in this week’s edition. That could be balance between the new flashy tech that is AI agents, and the more stable, long-in-the-tooth tech like Hyper-V and Windows Server 2025. It could also be applied to the fact that SysAdmins are CONSTANTLY being pulled in several directions by competing priorities, so the links I provide on mental health and the concept of “Deep Work” could help bring some much-needed balance to your SysAdmin life as well.
Finally, the concept of “balance” could also be applied to business’s adoption of AI. SysAdmins MUST balance the cost of AI with the ROI it provides. Regardless of which angle resonates with you, make sure you take some time out of your busy SysAdmin schedule this week to find that balance.
And now… on to our regularly scheduled programming.
🎙️ Latest on the SysAdmin Weekly Podcast
🎧 How SysAdmins Can Get the Most from IT Conferences
With Andy fresh back from Infosec Europe, he and Paul break down how IT pros can actually get value from conferences. From sessions to swag to the awkward hallway networking and how to talk with vendors without being mobbed by salespeople, this episode walks through actionable strategies to make your next conference a career-builder, not just a free t-shirt hunt.
🎧 In Case You Missed It on SysAdmin Weekly
🎧 What’s New in Hyper-V for Windows Server 2025
Andy and Eric take a deep dive into what’s actually changing in Hyper-V with Windows Server 2025. Spoiler alert: it’s not dead, far from it actually! Whether you’re running production workloads or just tinkering in your home lab, this episode gives you the update you didn’t know you needed.
🎧 Sneak Peak of the Next Episode of SysAdmin Weekly
Our upcoming episode will feature Luke Orellana, an automation / SRE engineer from Microsoft. Andy and Luke will be talking about modern day DevOps and Infrastructure as Code, and more importantly, how AI Agents are changing the game. Episode will be live later this week, so be sure to subscribe to the podcast if you’re interested!
🔍 From AndyOnTech and Project Runspace
Just a Tech Guy with an Anxiety Disorder
This is a personal one. Andy relaunches The Anxious Techie, a publication centered around mental health and surviving IT life while managing anxiety. It’s not technical, but it’s real, raw, and maybe just what you need right now. Expect more to come on this front.
It’s OK to Like Light Mode
Eric from Project Runspace breaks from the tech trend herd and makes a compelling (and science-backed) case for Light Mode. Whether you prefer eye-searing brightness or terminal-themed gloom, there’s a healthy debate to be had.
🩵 Helpful Community Content
🏛️ The Azure Arc Gateway Explained
Flo Fox covers why Azure Arc Gateway matters for hybrid cloud setups and what it unlocks for sysadmins navigating cross-environment complexity.
🕵️ Copilot Studio Agents, and When Everything Is an Agent
Luise Freese unpacks the Copilot Studio “agent” terminology soup. Because when everything is an agent, nothing really is.
👁️ How AI is Coming for Network Engineers
NetworkChuck, on the show floor at Cisco Live, drops a spicy take on AI’s creeping role in network automation. What does this mean for human network admins? It’s not all doom, but it is a wakeup call.
📕 Deep Work for SysAdmins
You need this. Seriously. SysAdmins don’t get much quiet time. This piece walks through how to carve out actual focus time in a role that lives and dies by interruptions.
🫠 Why Debian Over Ubuntu or Mint?
A solid Reddit thread that cuts through distro confusion. (Spoiler: the OP chose Debian. The correct choice…… I am biased though…)
🎟️ Other SysAdmin Content from Vendors and Official Publications
📈 Maximize ROI from Azure OpenAI
Direct from Microsoft, this blog outlines where Azure OpenAI can make actual financial sense, not just buzzword bingo.
💻 macOS 15.5 Superguide
For the Mac admins in the crowd: this piece breaks down compatibility, features, and release cadence. A good one to bookmark.
🔊 Security Headlines for SysAdmins
Inside North Korea’s Remote IT Worker Tactics
A monster write-up from Microsoft tracking the Jasper Sleet threat group. Must-read content for anyone managing remote contractors or hiring unknown entities.
US Arrests Key Player in DPRK IT Scam
Big legal moves tied to the same threat group. This takedown could signal increased enforcement for cyber-fraud using remote workforce loopholes.
Microsoft Patching Delay Alert
Patch admins beware: updates may be delayed or misreported due to timestamp metadata issues. Double check those update deployments.
🛠️ Tool of the Week
Copilot Studio Usage Estimator
A handy video walkthrough from April Dunnam on how to use the Copilot Studio Estimator tool. If you’re trying to size up costs or usage before rollout, this gives you the visuals and math you need.
🧠 Fun Retro SysAdmin Fact
The original MacOS had no multitasking.
Back in 1984, the very first Macintosh System Software didn’t support multitasking at all. You could only run one application at a time. Want to use something else? Save your work, close it, and launch the next one. Now imagine running Slack, Outlook, Chrome, and VS Code that way. Yeah. No thanks.
☕ Wrap-Up
Stay curious, stay caffeinated, and remember anyone can reboot a server, but only a true SysAdmin can make it look intentional.
Share this edition with a fellow IT pro who needs a break from the ticket queue, or just a laugh between incidents.
See you next week,
--Andy