Sysadmin

In Part 1, we built a minimal Linux system using BusyBox and a prebuilt kernel. You got a shell running inside a container, mounted pseudo-filesystems, and saw the boot sequence from init to prompt. That was the “hello world” of custom Linux. Now we’re doing the real thing. Today we’re going to compile our own kernel from source, configure only the hardware support we actually need, and compress it to under 10MB. Then we’ll rip out that hand-written init script and replace it with systemd — the same init system that runs on virtually every modern Linux distribution. Finally, we’ll get a real service running (OpenSSH) so you can actually log into your custom system remotely. ...

If you’ve been administering Linux servers for a while, you’ve probably developed a love-hate relationship with it. You know how to configure services, debug networking issues, and keep systems running. But somewhere deep down, you’ve wondered: what actually holds this thing together? I don’t mean “how does systemd work” (nobody truly knows). I mean: what happens between hitting the power button and seeing a login prompt? Today, we’re going to build our own minimal Linux system from scratch. And because I’m not a sadist, we’ll test it using Docker containers - spin it up in seconds, tear it down just as fast. ...

The Mistakes I Made (And Why They Led Me to Build My Own Password Manager) Every IT professional has a graveyard of mistakes behind them. Most of us just don’t talk about them until we’re several drinks in at a conference, or until we’re writing a blog post that we hope will save someone else the same pain. ...

The Call I Didn’t Want to Get Three weeks after leaving my job as the only IT person at a mid-sized company, my phone rang. It was Mike, the guy they hired to replace me. “Hey, uh, do you remember that backup script you set up? The one that runs on Sundays? It’s throwing an error and I can’t find where it’s configured.” ...

The Log File Problem Nobody Talks About It’s 2 PM on a Friday. Your application is throwing errors. Your manager is hovering. And you’re staring at a 50GB log file wondering where the hell to even start. Every sysadmin has been there. You know the answer is somewhere in those logs, but finding it feels like looking for a specific grain of sand on a beach. While blindfolded. In the dark. ...

The Problem Every Sysadmin Knows Too Well It’s 3 AM. Your phone buzzes with a critical alert. Production is down, customers are angry, and your manager is asking questions you don’t have good answers to. Sound familiar? You’re not alone. According to a recent survey, 78% of sysadmin emergencies could have been prevented with better proactive monitoring. But here’s the thing: most monitoring solutions are overkill for what you really need. ...

AI for IT Troubleshooting: Real-World Use Cases AI isn’t just hype — it’s helping sysadmins solve problems faster and smarter. In this post, we share real-world examples of AI-powered troubleshooting and how you can start using these tools today. Where AI Actually Helps (And Where It Doesn’t) Before we dive into specific use cases, let’s be honest about what AI is good at and what it’s terrible at. I’ve seen too many people treat ChatGPT like an oracle that never lies, and equally too many dismiss it entirely because “it hallucinated an Ansible module that doesn’t exist.” Both extremes are wrong. ...

Zero Trust for Small Teams: Practical Steps Zero trust isn’t just for big enterprises. In this post, we break down how small teams can adopt zero trust principles with practical, budget-friendly steps. What Zero Trust Actually Means (Without the Buzzword Salad) Let me save you some time: zero trust does not mean “trust nobody and buy our product.” That’s what vendors want you to think. Here’s what it actually means at its core — never assume that anything inside your network is safe by default. ...

Sysadmin Myths Busted: What Actually Works in 2026 Forget what you heard in 2015. In this post, we bust the most common sysadmin myths and show you what actually works today. From automation fears to cloud confusion, get the facts and actionable tips for modern IT. Why These Myths Refuse to Die I’ve been doing this job for over a decade now, and I keep running into the same tired advice at conferences, on Reddit, and in the break room. Some of these myths come from a place of fear — nobody wants to be replaced by a script. Others come from vendor marketing that wants you to believe the cloud solves everything if you just spend enough. And some? Pure laziness dressed up as “we’ve always done it this way.” ...

Stop Doing Things Manually: 5 Scripts That’ll Make You Look Like a Genius Look, I’ll be honest with you. Last week I caught myself manually checking disk space on 15 servers. FIFTEEN. Like some kind of caveman clicking through Server Manager while my coffee got cold. That’s when I remembered why I got into this job in the first place - to make computers do the boring stuff so I don’t have to. If you’re still doing repetitive tasks manually, this post is for you. ...