Microsoft has recently announced that Basic Authentication in Exchange Online SMTP AUTH will be disabled in September 2025. In this post, I will discuss the implications of this announcement and provide guidance on what steps you can take to ensure your email applications and devices remain functional.

There are several reasons why Windows Update may fail or not work, including malfunctioning services, damaged Windows updates, insufficient free disk space, or faulty Windows devices. This article will walk you through seven methods to troubleshoot Windows Update.

The Kubernetes project recently announced the release of version 1.30, named Uwubernetes. The name "Uwubernetes" is a portmanteau of "Kubernetes" and the "UwU" emoticon, which indicates happiness or cuteness. In this article, I’ll discuss the new key features.

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Long Term Support), codenamed "Noble Numbat," was released in April 2024 and introduced several new features across various aspects of the operating system.

For security reasons, it makes sense to replace the recovery password used to unlock an encrypted drive each time with a new one. This new password will be automatically stored in Active Directory with the appropriate BitLocker configuration. However, the old keys remain in the AD and can be deleted.

In a previous post, I shared a bash script that enables you to effortlessly create an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) from an EC2 instance in AWS. The bash script introduced in today's post allows you deregister an AMI and delete all associated snapshots in AWS.

When organizations implement a lockout policy, it is common for users to lock themselves out and require assistance from the helpdesk. In such cases, helpdesk personnel without administrator rights require permission to unlock user accounts. This can be achieved through delegation.

If you are virtualizing critical workloads, you want to ensure they do not fail if a host goes offline. All common platforms offer the capability to operate VMs in a high-availability cluster. Proxmox allows you to install a cluster even in the free version.

Proxmox Virtual Environment (VE) 8.2 includes new functionalities such as an automated installation tool for more straightforward setup on bare-metal servers, a migration wizard for VMware ESXi virtual machines, and a switch to an nftables-based firewall for enhanced security. It also introduces LXC device passthrough for containerized workloads and advanced backup settings to optimize resource utilization during backups. These updates are part of a broader release that updates core technologies and system components.

An essential step towards automating the Windows setup process is replacing the system drive's interactive partitioning with a script. Microsoft's examples for this purpose rely on batch files and Diskpart. However, installing PowerShell in Windows PE allows for a much more elegant solution.

Microsoft will retire the Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) application impersonation role in Exchange Online in May 2024. Applications widely use this role in Exchange Online as it enables them to impersonate users in the tenant to perform actions on behalf of the users. You must migrate all your applications from using this role to other options. This article will explore Microsoft's reasoning behind this move and the current alternatives.

With all the changes in VMware’s offerings, sysadmins and businesses are looking for alternatives to reduce expenditure or have more control over their infrastructure. Proxmox is a free enterprise-ready alternative to VMware ESXi with optional commercial hypervisor and backup support. Many organizations have refrained from migrating from VMware to Proxmox due to the high costs associated with migration. The new Proxmox import wizard simplifies the migration process.

The instructions in this post outline how to execute arbitrary code with administrator privileges on the Windows logon screen before the user signs in.

In a previous post, I covered Podman Desktop, an alternative to Docker Desktop. Today, I will look into Podman 5.0, the latest iteration of Red Hat's free open-source container engine. The new release brings significant enhancements, including revamped container engine code for Windows and macOS, native Apple Hypervisor support, and streamlined image building for Podman farms. Let's explore the new Podman 5.0 features and improvements.

The remediation of CVE-2023-24932, discovered in May 2023, is taking longer than Microsoft's initial timeline. This flaw allows attackers to bypass Secure Boot and disable security features like BitLocker. The April 2024 update introduces a new fix that admins should thoroughly test because it has significant ramifications and will be automatically activated in October.

Azure App Service Automatic Scaling is a new feature that intelligently manages the number of instances of a web application. It analyzes real-time HTTP traffic and scales out (adds instances) or scales in (removes instances) to match demand. The most significant advantage of Automatic Scaling is that it simplifies web application management, offering a less complex approach than services like Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS) or Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), which often require detailed rule definitions.

Active Directory and Entra ID (formerly known as Azure AD) have their own password policies to prevent users from using weak and insecure passwords. While these policies can be combined, the level of protection achieved through this approach is still limited.

Microsoft 365 has deprecated the search-mailbox cmdlet, a decision that has faced considerable resistance from numerous Exchange Online administrators. In this post, I aim to examine the consequences of this cmdlet's removal and discuss viable alternatives and potential solutions.

GitHub Actions workflows for GitHub Pages just became generally available. GitHub Pages is a service that lets you host static websites on GitHub directly from your repositories. GitHub Actions is a continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) platform provided by GitHub that allows users to automate their build, test, and deployment pipelines. This article takes you through using custom workflows to deploy static websites to GitHub Pages with GitHub Actions workflows.