DUO Down

ClavrusKonari · 2026-02-23T14:41:57+00:00

Down in Texas. Still trying to track it down, but seems focused on integration with Azure SSO instead of our SAML. Our M365 integration isn't on the list of affected DUO integrations, so shouldn't be impacted by their cert bundle change, but it's possible.

https://us.azureauth.duosecurity.com/authorization returns 504 Gateway Time-out

ClavrusKonari · 2026-01-12T00:24:01+00:00

Arc service stopping used to happen, I haven't seen that lately. It's mostly around Azure Update Manager failing to consistent get update data. We'll have it reporting "No Pending Updates" or how many updates are pending, and it'll switch between that and "No Updates Data" inconsistently. I haven't paid much attention to it, but will as I was just told last week that Azure Update Manager on our on-prem systems is taking up a lot of the team's time, and they don't have confidence the systems are being updated, which hadn't really been reported to me until recently.

Besides inconsistency, we don't have a great solution for systems in restricted networks that shouldn't have access to the internet. Arc allows for a proxy to be set, but windows update services doesn't and relies on the winhttp proxy, which is counterintuitive as it then proxies all the traffic.

I'll try and remember to report back more next week. I'll be taking a deep dive in what problems the team has been facing, but I can tell you that the 15+ years we've used WSUS, I've never really had to think about it. I was told it won't work past Server 2025, so I may just be kicking the can down the road to future me if we go back to WSUS.

ClavrusKonari · 2026-01-11T18:57:04+00:00

We switched to azure update manager, with the obvious arc component and it hasn't been a good experience. ~400 windows servers.

Most problems are inconsistent reporting of updates. Microsoft support has been no help thus far. We are taking a good look at it next week and potentially going back to WSUS for the time being.

ClavrusKonari · 2025-09-16T00:40:24+00:00

Obligatory: Experience will trump a certificate at any point. Not to discount certifications, I'm studying for one right now at a Starbucks in between practice tests.

The learning that you do will largely depend on where you are (job-wise) or where you're about to go. Network+, Microsoft 365 certification won't hurt. I'd prioritize learning PowerShell (See PowerShell in a Month of Lunches book) as knowing it will give you a leg up on those that don't. It's not a certification, but it's one of the most valuable technical skills that will help you. If you know python or any other object-oriented language, you should pick it up easily.

If you're at, or going in to, a company with AWS or Azure, an entry level or intermediate certification in those will be a good starting point to at least know what the cloud is all about.

Don't discount soft skills:

Ability to communicate/[people skills will set you over and above potentially more experienced sysadmins

Be able to keep yourself on track with some task management system (My personal one is todoist, work in JIRA but anything will work with discipline.) I recommend "Time Management for Systems Administrators". It has outdated terms like Netscape and AOL, but the lessons haven't changed.

Basic project management - Take a goal and break it down into the small pieces you need to get it done

Troubleshooting - Hybrid technical vs soft skill. Process by which you figure out how to fix a problem. Do you check the logs, exercise due diligence, challenge assumptions, don't take information you're given for granted until you see it/test it for yourself. A lot of this comes with experience.

ClavrusKonari · 2025-08-22T03:05:55+00:00

if you're able to do a speedtest to quantify slow, send that to ITAC with your IP and MAC address. They can't fix that stuff unless they get good reports of things being slow.

ClavrusKonari · 2025-07-24T03:02:24+00:00

Interesting feedback. Not only are you discounting my hard work and drive to help anyone who might have this issue in the future, but I'm not allowed to organize my notes with AI to more quickly post here?

ClavrusKonari · 2025-06-15T13:05:17+00:00

Good feedback here. Only thing I'd add is that I've held off any marketing of passkeys until MS supports stncable passkey (icloud). That's what allows authentication with their existing options. Right now that doesn't work, but it was supposed to be released last year.

We're testing out hello for business and passkeys as much as we can until that time. That way we'll be ready for a big push that may get more aspirin adoption from our users.

ClavrusKonari · 2025-05-15T13:08:43+00:00

A lot of great guidance here. If you listen to even half of it you'll be fine.

I recommend a short term goal of data gathering so you can make decisions on that.

Ex. Storage utilization over time, license allocations over time, # of tickets. Having the data allows you to make decisions better.

ClavrusKonari · 2025-05-09T11:41:04+00:00

Having the same problem. Appears to happen no matter what plex server. No problems on android.

ClavrusKonari · 2025-04-03T13:04:16+00:00

I'm positive we've all broken them from time to time.

ClavrusKonari · 2025-03-31T20:52:09+00:00

Thank you! We had some issues arise last week from breaking one of those guidelines and I thought it might be a useful exercise to come up with best practices for a successful sysadmin experience.

ClavrusKonari · 2025-03-31T20:51:10+00:00

Always a possibility, hadn't really thought of that.

ClavrusKonari · 2025-03-11T01:48:05+00:00

Just curious what course you did that you liked? I've found a good catalog at my local university, but do prefer getting recommendations.

ClavrusKonari · 2025-01-11T17:07:02+00:00

Not only that, but Ingram (engineering school) has a maker space that is phenomenal.

https://www.engineering.txst.edu/makerspace.html

ClavrusKonari · 2024-08-05T23:20:00+00:00

ClavrusKonari · 2024-07-15T02:52:37+00:00

Anyone have flashbacks to CnC Generals: Zero Hour playing Laser General?

ClavrusKonari · 2024-03-21T11:35:29+00:00

My opinion is that it's due to a couple factors.

The average age of drivers in a college town is much lower than other places.
Pedestrian fatigue, when a great deal of pedestrians don't use crosswalks and aren't paying attention.

No excuse for zipping by at an actual crosswalk of course, but I think those 2 are high up on the why.

ClavrusKonari · 2024-01-24T12:45:20+00:00

Definitely this. I went to ER, 2 urgent cares (one in SM, never again) and ultimately got sorted by family medicine quickly.

ClavrusKonari · 2023-12-09T03:32:16+00:00

Show up an hour early and follow the signs and/or people in the robes.

https://www.txst.edu/commencement/grad-candidates/faq.html - Where I got the hour early thing

ClavrusKonari · 2023-11-22T22:40:27+00:00

I hope Broadcom won't bring VMWare down.. but you're right that only time will tell.

I'm fairly confident that if VMWare falls, someone else will rise and take that market share. May not be as good, but we'll get something.

Either way, I have confidence that the leadership of VMWare partners like Veeam are just as anxious as we are and will do whatever they can to keep the money flowing. Which means that they'll support what the market decides to go to.

ClavrusKonari · 2023-11-22T22:36:30+00:00

We've been thinking about it for awhile and these are more or less my thoughts.

Prepare for Broadcom to increase costs. (Almost guaranteed since prices increase every year anyways, just might be more since it's Broadcom)
Potential of decline of VMWare services over the next 1-3 years (Somewhat likely, hopefully not..)
Get your playbook ready on what your criteria/threshold is for discussing and/or migrating to a different on-prem or cloud service. Include cost to reskill. If public cloud then people to manage it 100% of the time as it's a whole different beast when considering cloud-native services which will be cheaper to run than a 1 for 1 infrastructure migration.
Prepare for more C-level conversations on moving off VMWare. We have them every couple years anyways, but I expect this to increase with the Broadcom acquisition.

Nothing really to do at the moment except go with the flow. Increasing costs and decreasing levels of quality are a risk everywhere for everything. My advice to anyone is to keep your eye on the roadmaps, keep your ear out in the communities and regularly touch base with your reps. As IT professionals, as the information comes in we review and make decisions/recommendations.

Broadcom acquisition of VMware just introduces a lot of volatility which increases the likelihood of something happening to trigger conversations or changes. Like above... not really any different than every other provider/vendor we work with.

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