Linux Server Admin with Fexingo: Sysadmin, Bash, and Server Engineering

Episode 79 of Linux Server Admin with Fexingo digs into network bonding — combining multiple physical NICs into a single logical interface for failover and increased throughput. Lucas and Luna walk through the main bonding modes: active-backup for simple redundancy, balance-xor and 802.3ad for load balancing, and balance-alb for adaptive load balancing without switch support. They explain how to configure bonding using the /etc/network/interfaces file and the ifenslave package, verify the bond status via /proc/net/bonding/bond0, and test failover by unplugging cables. The episode covers real-world use cases including critical server uplinks, virtualization hosts, and storage networks. Specific commands and config examples are given throughout. By the end, listeners will know how to set up a bonded interface that survives a NIC or cable failure without dropping connections.

#LinuxServerAdmin #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Sysadmin #ServerEngineering #Bash #NetworkBonding #NICTeaming #LinuxNetworking #ActiveBackup #8023ad #LACP #LoadBalancing #Failover #ifenslave #UbuntuServer #RedHatEnterpriseLinux #DataCenter

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

Episode 78 of Linux Server Admin with Fexingo dives into VLAN tagging on Linux servers using systemd-networkd. Lucas and Luna walk through a real-world scenario: a multi-tenant web host needing to isolate customer traffic without buying new hardware. They explain how to configure 802.1Q VLANs on a single physical interface, assign IPs, and verify connectivity — all with systemd-networkd's clean .network and .netdev files. No more legacy ifcfg scripts or manual vconfig commands. By the end, you'll know how to carve a single NIC into multiple logical networks in under ten minutes.

#Linux #Sysadmin #SystemdNetworkd #VLAN #8021Q #ServerAdmin #Networking #Bash #MultiTenant #NetworkIsolation #Technology #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #LinuxServer #Systemd #NetworkConfig #DevOps #ITInfrastructure

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

In this episode of Linux Server Admin, Lucas and Luna dive into running containers without root privileges using Podman and Linux namespaces. You'll learn how Podman differs from Docker in its daemonless architecture, how user namespaces map container root to an unprivileged host user, and why this matters for security in multi-tenant environments. Lucas walks through a practical example of deploying a web server in a rootless container, while Luna discusses the trade-offs—like port binding above 1024 and volume mount permissions. The episode also covers using fuse-overlayfs for image layers in user namespaces, and how to integrate rootless Podman with systemd for persistent services. Whether you're a sysadmin hardening your server or a developer running containers on a shared system, this episode gives you the concrete steps to eliminate the container runtime as an attack surface.

#Linux #Sysadmin #Podman #RootlessContainers #Namespaces #ServerSecurity #Technology #LinuxServerAdmin #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Containers #DockerAlternative #UserNamespace #FuseOverlayfs #Systemd #ServerHardening #MultiTenant #ContainerSecurity

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

In this episode of Linux Server Admin with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dive into full-disk encryption for Linux servers using LUKS (Linux Unified Key Setup). They explain why disk encryption matters for data-at-rest protection, walk through a practical example of encrypting a secondary drive on Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS, and discuss key management options including passphrases, keyfiles, and TPM-based unlocks. They also cover performance considerations, backup strategies for LUKS headers, and how to integrate encrypted volumes into automated server deployments. Whether you're securing cloud instances or on-premises hardware, this episode gives you a concrete workflow to protect sensitive data. Lucas and Luna keep it grounded with real commands and specific file paths, avoiding vague security advice.

#Linux #ServerAdmin #DiskEncryption #LUKS #DataSecurity #Cryptsetup #UbuntuServer #TPM #KeyManagement #Encryption #Sysadmin #DataAtRest #LinuxSecurity #ServerHardening #Fexingo #FexingoBusiness #Technology #TechPodcast

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

In this episode of Linux Server Admin with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna walk through nftables, the modern replacement for iptables on Linux servers. They cover the key differences, a concrete migration example, and practical tips for managing firewall rules with nftables. Lucas explains the nftables syntax, sets, and maps, and shows how to migrate common iptables rules to nftables. Luna asks about performance, debugging, and integration with firewalld. This episode is ideal for sysadmins who want to move from iptables to nftables for better performance and simpler rule management.

#LinuxServerAdmin #Sysadmin #Bash #ServerEngineering #LinuxFirewall #NFTables #IPTables #Networking #Security #LinuxSecurity #ServerSecurity #Firewall #LinuxNetworking #LinuxAdmin #ServerAdmin #Technology #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

In this episode of Linux Server Admin with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dive into SSH key-based authentication and server hardening. They walk through generating Ed25519 key pairs, disabling password authentication, configuring sshd for key-only access, and implementing fail2ban to block brute-force attacks. The discussion covers practical steps like using ssh-copy-id, setting proper permissions on ~/.ssh, and testing configurations safely. Lucas explains why Ed25519 keys are preferred over RSA for modern servers, and Luna shares a real-world case where a client's server was compromised due to weak SSH passwords. The episode also touches on advanced topics like SSH certificate authorities for fleet management and the principle of least privilege. Perfect for sysadmins looking to lock down Linux servers against unauthorized access. No prior episode has covered SSH hardening in this depth.

#SSHHardening #LinuxServer #KeyBasedAuthentication #Ed25519 #Fail2ban #ServerSecurity #SysAdmin #Bash #Linux #CyberSecurity #Technology #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #ITSecurity #DevOps #Infosec #OpenSSH #ServerHardening

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

In episode 73 of Linux Server Admin with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dive deep into AIDE (Advanced Intrusion Detection Environment) for Linux server file integrity monitoring. They explain how AIDE creates a baseline database of file checksums, permissions, and metadata, then compares current state to detect unauthorized changes. Using a real-world example of a compromised web server, Lucas walks through initializing the AIDE database, running manual checks, and automating daily scans with systemd timers. They discuss tuning AIDE for performance on large filesystems, excluding noisy directories like /tmp and /proc, and integrating alerts with syslog or email. Luna raises the challenge of database drift during legitimate updates and how to handle re-initialization securely. The episode closes with a comparison of AIDE vs. Tripwire, and a practical recommendation for lean security monitoring on production servers.

#Linux #ServerAdmin #FileIntegrityMonitoring #AIDE #LinuxSecurity #IntrusionDetection #Sysadmin #ServerHardening #Compliance #Bash #Systemd #LinuxServer #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Technology #Cybersecurity #DevOps #Infosec

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

In this episode, Lucas and Luna walk through a real-world scenario where a Linux server fails to boot after a botched kernel update. Lucas explains how to break into rescue mode via the GRUB boot loader, mount the root filesystem read-write, chroot into the broken environment, and roll back the offending kernel package. He also covers how to rebuild the initramfs when drivers are missing, using dracut and mkinitcpio. Luna asks about handling servers without physical console access, and Lucas shows how to configure a serial console fallback so you can rescue a headless machine over SSH during early boot. The episode closes with a quick warning about the importance of testing rescue procedures before you need them. This is practical, step-by-step guidance for anyone who manages Linux servers and wants to be prepared for the inevitable boot failure.

#LinuxServerAdmin #ServerRescue #GRUB #KernelUpdate #BootFailure #Initramfs #Chroot #Dracut #Mkinitcpio #SerialConsole #Sysadmin #Recovery #Technology #Linux #ServerEngineering #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #TechPodcast

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

In this episode of Linux Server Admin with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dive into the world of Linux control groups version 2 (cgroups v2). They explain why cgroups v2 is now the default on most modern distributions, how it differs from the older v1 interface, and walk through a practical example of limiting CPU and memory usage for a resource-hungry database process. The hosts discuss the unified hierarchy, the no-internal-process constraint, and how to use systemd slices for persistent resource controls. They also share real-world scenarios where cgroups v2 saved a production server from OOM kills and improved overall system predictability. Perfect for sysadmins who want to better manage multi-tenant servers or container workloads without unnecessary complexity.

#Linux #Sysadmin #ServerEngineering #cgroupsV2 #PerformanceTuning #ResourceManagement #Systemd #ControlGroups #Technology #Podcast #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #OpenSource #Kernel #Ubuntu #RHEL #Containerization #ProductionServer

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

In episode 70 of Linux Server Admin with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna dive into Linux server audit logs for incident response. They walk through a real-world scenario: detecting an unauthorized SSH key addition on a production server using auditd rules, ausearch, and aureport. Lucas explains how to set up watches on critical files, interpret audit events, and generate a concise timeline of attacker activity. The show covers practical commands and tips for sysadmins building a forensic-ready logging setup, including avoiding common pitfalls like log noise and missing context from PID reuse. By the end, you'll know how to answer the key question: 'what happened, when, and how?'

#LinuxServerAudit #Auditd #IncidentResponse #Sysadmin #Security #Forensics #Bash #ServerHardening #Linux #TechPodcast #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Ausearch #Aureport #SSHKeyMonitoring #LogAnalysis #ThreatDetection #Technology

Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo