SysAdmin on Eric The IT Guy

Why RLC Pro? Enterprise Linux Built on Rocky

Fri, 29 May 2026 09:53:57 -0500

I wrote this piece for CIQ making the case for RLC Pro, what it is, who it serves, and why the foundation it is built on matters before you get to any of the enterprise features.

Rocky Linux Introduces a Security Repository and Why That Matters

Thu, 14 May 2026 09:00:00 -0500

I wrote this for Rocky Linux: an opt-in security repository that bridges the gap when a public exploit lands before upstream has a fix.

AI and the Human in the Loop | IT Guy Show Ep. 022

Tue, 12 May 2026 06:00:00 -0500

Episode 22 of The IT Guy Show is a milestone for me, and not just because the number is round. Karl Abbott was my very first guest back on episode one, and he came back for what turned into one of…

CopyFail (CVE-2026-31431): Kernel Patches Now Available for Rocky Linux

Mon, 11 May 2026 09:00:00 -0500

I put this out for Rocky Linux: patched kernels are available for 8.10, 9.7, and 10.1 addressing CopyFail. Update and reboot now.

Bootc in the Wild | Fedora Podcast Ep. 054

Tue, 21 Apr 2026 06:00:00 -0500

Episode 54 of the Fedora Podcast is out, and this one digs into something I am genuinely curious about for my own homelab: what does bootc look like when someone is actually running it day to day…

Flock to Fedora 2026: What to Expect in Prague

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 08:06:00 -0500

Flock to Fedora 2026 is heading back to Prague this June, and on episode 53 of the Fedora Podcast, Noah and I sat down with Justin Wheeler and Emma from the Fedora design team to talk through…

Deploy RLC Pro on Microsoft Azure Marketplace

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 20:53:06 -0500

I wrote this deployment guide for CIQ covering how to get RLC Pro running on Microsoft Azure, from the Marketplace listing to a production-ready Enterprise Linux environment.

From Fresh Install to AI Inference in Under 4 Minutes

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 10:17:17 -0500

Getting a GPU box ready for AI workloads is way harder than it should be, and we proved that live on the CIQ Webinar Series on April 2nd.

CIQ Portal Launch: Deploy Enterprise Linux Your Way

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 21:06:00 -0500

I wrote the launch post announcing the CIQ portal going live at portal.ciq.com, covering what it is, who it’s for, and how to go from registration to your first download in under a minute.

Migrate from RHEL to RLC Pro Without Re-Architecting

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 21:09:04 -0500

I wrote this guide for CIQ covering how to convert a running RHEL system to RLC Pro, without rebuilding servers or re-certifying your application stack.

What Enterprise Linux Should Actually Be | CIQ Webinar

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 12:59:00 -0500

Rocky Linux is everywhere, and for good reason. But community is not always enough, and this webinar is where Brady Dibble and I got into exactly what changes when you need a vendor behind your Linux…

The Problem with Subscriptions | The IT Guy Show Ep. 19

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 09:00:00 -0500

I open 2026 with a reality check on subscription fatigue and kick off a new arc on building a personal homelab.

Proactive Linux Security: How RLC Hardened Goes Beyond Patching

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 12:10:00 -0600

Reactive security is table stakes at this point, and it is not keeping up. I sat down with Nathan Blackham, Brady Dibble, and Sultan Alof from CIQ to talk about what it actually looks like to build…

KernelCare: How Teams Stay Secure Without Reboots

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 09:00:00 -0600

I wrote this for TuxCare to explain, step by step, how KernelCare applies kernel patches to running memory so teams stay secure without rebooting.

Reality-based Approach to LinkedIn Jobs | The IT Guy Show Ep. 17

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 09:00:00 -0500

Job search coach Jeffry Ullman and I dig into a reality-based approach to landing your next role through LinkedIn.

Life as a SysAdmin with Nate Lager | The IT Guy Show Ep. 14

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 09:00:00 -0500

A wide-ranging chat with Nate Lager about the sysadmin life, from burnout and bash scripts to automation and authenticity.

How I Became a SysAdmin | The IT Guy Show Ep. 13

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 09:00:00 -0500

A solo look back at how I broke into system administration and how the sysadmin role has changed over the years.

GitOps for the Linux Administrator | The IT Guy Show Ep. 10

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 09:00:00 -0500

Christian Hernandez explains GitOps in plain terms for Linux admins, comparing it to traditional sysadmin practice and where to start.

Run AI Locally on Fedora with Ollama: Live Ops 005

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 15:49:00 -0600

I wanted to run AI locally on Fedora using an Nvidia GPU I had sitting in my Dell PowerEdge R730 — and an hour and a half later, I actually got it working. Here’s what the road looked like.

Building a Golden Image | Live Ops 003

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 09:04:00 -0600

The goal was simple: build a reusable Fedora golden image homelab template I can clone whenever I need a new server. Nothing about it was simple.

RHEL Hypervisor Homelab Setup: Live Ops 003

Thu, 23 Jan 2025 14:33:00 -0600

A Dell PowerEdge R730 that’s been sitting in the rack collecting dust finally has a job: and this stream is the whole messy process of giving it one.

WordPress Migration to Homelab: Live Ops 002

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 09:55:00 -0600

The WordPress migration homelab project that started as a quick detour turned into a two-hour deep dive — because nothing in the homelab ever goes exactly to plan.

Rebuilding My Matrix Server From Scratch (Live Ops 001)

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 09:31:00 -0600

I fired up a livestream to do something I’ve been putting off way too long: bringing my self-hosted Matrix server back from the dead, live, in real time, with no safety net.

Managing Content Views & Subscriptions | Up and Running with Red Hat Satellite 02

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 09:00:00 -0500

Richard and I make Satellite useful by adding systems and packages, setting up repositories, content views, host groups, and activation keys.

Mastering User and Group Management on Linux

Mon, 19 Aug 2024 21:33:00 -0500

As a long-time SysAdmin, one of the core tasks I’ve always had to tackle is managing users and groups on Linux systems. Whether you’re running a personal server or managing an entire fleet of Linux…

Introduction and Installation | Up and Running with Red Hat Satellite 01

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 09:00:00 -0500

The first episode of our Satellite miniseries, where Richard Rios and I stand up a Red Hat Satellite server from scratch, live.

Controlling Chaos with Red Hat Satellite | RHEL Presents Ep. 77

Thu, 02 May 2024 09:00:00 -0600

Pete Sackett joins Brian and me to break down Red Hat Satellite, from patching and life cycle to content management, and how far it has come since version 5.

Apple Vision Pro | IT Guy's first impressions

Tue, 30 Apr 2024 12:01:00 -0500

The Apple Vision Pro stands to be one of the next innovations that changes how we use technology. Is it there yet? Not quite, but read on to see what I discovered.

Access RHEL Subscriptions Trials & More | RHEL Presents Ep. 75

Thu, 04 Apr 2024 09:00:00 -0600

Rich Dorito joins Brian and me to explain what a Red Hat subscription actually is, how to access trials, and why the whole experience got so much cleaner.

Stratis Unleashed | RHEL Presents Ep. 74

Thu, 21 Mar 2024 09:00:00 -0600

Bob Hanlon and Billy Holmes join Brian and me to unpack Stratis on RHEL, why it is a storage management tool and not a file system, and how it grew up.

Getting Started with Linux and I.T. Careers

Fri, 26 Jan 2024 12:07:13 -0600

I get asked on a regular basis how I got my start in Linux; over the last couple of days, I put together my most comprehensive list yet and I wanted to share it with all of you!

Integrations and Notifications | Modernizing RHEL Management 08

Tue, 12 Sep 2023 09:00:00 -0500

How to route Insights events into email, Slack, ServiceNow, Splunk, and webhooks so RHEL fleet signals show up where your team already works.

Managing Costs | Modernizing RHEL Management 07

Wed, 06 Sep 2023 09:00:00 -0500

The business side of Insights: subscription watch for tracking what you have bought and used, plus resource optimization to right-size your cloud spend.

Three Services to Operationalize RHEL | Modernizing RHEL Management 04

Wed, 16 Aug 2023 09:00:00 -0500

Three operational Insights services in one episode: Advisor recommendations, custom Policy checks, and Drift comparisons between systems and baselines.

Packaging: Managing Flatpak Applications | Into the Terminal 77

Fri, 04 Aug 2023 09:00:00 -0500

Installing and updating apps from Flathub and other remotes.

CentOS Linux Management Compared to Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Wed, 02 Aug 2023 09:00:00 -0500

A former CentOS admin’s honest comparison of daily life on CentOS versus RHEL, covering subscriptions, support, Image Builder, Insights, Satellite, and Ansible.

Management Techniques 101 | Modernizing RHEL Management 01

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 09:00:00 -0500

The kickoff episode where John Spinks and I set the baseline on what Red Hat Insights is and how to get your systems connected.

RHEL for Edge with OnLogic | RHEL Presents Ep. 59

Wed, 14 Jun 2023 09:00:00 -0500

RHEL Presents 59 with OnLogic on RHEL for Edge in the field.

Enable SysAdmin Community | RHEL Presents Ep. 54

Wed, 22 Mar 2023 09:00:00 -0500

RHEL Presents 54 on the Enable Sysadmin community.

Security: Configuring Sudo Access | Into the Terminal 62

Fri, 17 Mar 2023 09:00:00 -0500

Writing safe rules with visudo and sudoers.d.

RHEL at the Edge | RHEL Presents Ep. 52

Wed, 22 Feb 2023 09:00:00 -0600

RHEL Presents 52 on RHEL for Edge.

Enterprise Up | Into the Terminal 59

Fri, 17 Feb 2023 09:00:00 -0600

Consistency, documentation, and repeatability as habits.

Essential Linux Commands | Into the Terminal 58

Fri, 10 Feb 2023 09:00:00 -0600

Navigating, searching, and manipulating files fluently.

Native Virtual Machine Management | Into the Terminal 56

Fri, 27 Jan 2023 09:00:00 -0600

Creating and controlling VMs with virsh.

Performance-enhancing RHEL | RHEL Presents Ep. 51

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 09:00:00 -0600

RHEL Presents 51 on performance tuning RHEL.

Filesystem Operations | Into the Terminal 54

Fri, 13 Jan 2023 09:00:00 -0600

Creating, mounting, and growing filesystems.

Troubleshooting User Error | Into the Terminal 52

Fri, 16 Dec 2022 09:00:00 -0600

Permissions, PATH, and environment issues that look like bugs.

Troubleshoot Performance | Into the Terminal 51

Fri, 09 Dec 2022 09:00:00 -0600

Checking CPU, memory, disk, and network with the standard tools.

Troubleshooting Disk Errors | Into the Terminal 48

Fri, 11 Nov 2022 09:00:00 -0600

Reading SMART data and system logs for early warnings.

Bonding and Network Configuration | Into the Terminal 44

Fri, 14 Oct 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Creating bonds with NetworkManager for redundancy or throughput.

Linux Kernel Tuning & TuneD | Into the Terminal 43

Fri, 07 Oct 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Applying TuneD profiles for common workload types.

File Shares with Samba | Into the Terminal 42

Fri, 30 Sep 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Configuring Samba shares and access.

Deploying a Database | Into the Terminal 40

Fri, 09 Sep 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Installing a database from AppStreams and initializing it.

Building a Webserver | Into the Terminal 39

Fri, 02 Sep 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Installing and configuring the web server service.

Working with GPG Keys | Into the Terminal 38

Fri, 26 Aug 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Generating keys and signing or verifying data.

Ansible Beginner's Guide: Automate the Pain Away

Thu, 11 Aug 2022 07:03:00 -0500

Way back in the day, humanity created computers to help make our lives easier. In a lot of ways, they have; in others, it’s made life much more tedious, especially for the SysAdmin. What used to be a…

SSH Key Management | Into the Terminal 36

Fri, 05 Aug 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Generating key pairs and choosing a good algorithm.

Application Streams | Into the Terminal 35

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Listing and enabling module streams with dnf module.

Special Permissions and Access Control Lists | Into the Terminal 34

Fri, 22 Jul 2022 09:00:00 -0500

setuid, setgid, and the sticky bit, and why they matter.

Managing Packages with RPM | Into the Terminal 33

Fri, 15 Jul 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Querying installed packages and what owns a file with rpm -q.

Using Tmux | Into the Terminal 32

Fri, 08 Jul 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Sessions, windows, and panes to organize your work.

Working with Virtual Machines | Into the Terminal 30

Thu, 23 Jun 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Creating and managing VMs with virsh and virt-manager.

Customizing Your Terminal | Into the Terminal 29

Thu, 16 Jun 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Aliases and functions for the commands you run constantly.

Using Logs for Troubleshooting | Into the Terminal 27

Thu, 02 Jun 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Querying the systemd journal with journalctl.

Third-Party Repositories | Into the Terminal 25

Thu, 19 May 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Enabling EPEL and other trusted repositories.

Session Recording | Into the Terminal 23

Thu, 28 Apr 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Capturing terminal sessions with tlog and SSSD.

Ifs, Loops, and Scripting | Into the Terminal 20

Thu, 07 Apr 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Conditionals with if/test and comparison operators.

Writing Shell Scripts | Into the Terminal 18

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Structure of a script: shebang, variables, and arguments.

Manipulating the CLI | Into the Terminal 17

Tue, 29 Mar 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Command history, tab completion, and keyboard shortcuts.

Built-in Help | Into the Terminal 15

Fri, 25 Mar 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Reading man pages and navigating them efficiently.

SELinux | Into the Terminal 14

Thu, 24 Mar 2022 09:00:00 -0600

SELinux on RHEL without the fear: enforcing vs permissive vs disabled, how contexts and booleans work, and how to read a denial and fix it the right way.

Firewall | Into the Terminal 13

Wed, 23 Mar 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Zones, services, and ports in firewall-cmd.

sudo and su | Into the Terminal 12

Tue, 22 Mar 2022 09:00:00 -0500

The difference between su and sudo.

Networking | Into the Terminal 11

Mon, 21 Mar 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Managing connections and devices with nmcli and nmtui.

Web Console | Into the Terminal 10

Fri, 18 Mar 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Managing services, storage, and networking from Cockpit.

Disk Management | Into the Terminal 09

Thu, 17 Mar 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Partitioning devices and creating filesystems.

Managing SSH | Into the Terminal 05

Fri, 11 Mar 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Connecting and configuring the client and server sides.

Service Administration | Into the Terminal 04

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Starting, stopping, enabling, and checking services with systemctl.

Deploying SAP | RHEL Presents Ep. 32

Wed, 09 Mar 2022 09:00:00 -0500

RHEL Presents 32 on deploying SAP on RHEL.

Installing Software | Into the Terminal 03

Wed, 09 Mar 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Installing, updating, and removing packages with dnf.

File Permissions | Into the Terminal 02

Tue, 08 Mar 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Reading ls -l output without guessing.

Users and Groups | Into the Terminal 01

Mon, 07 Mar 2022 09:00:00 -0500

Creating and modifying accounts with useradd, usermod, and passwd.

What's Up with Web Console | RHEL Presents Ep. 30

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 09:00:00 -0600

RHEL Presents 30 on the RHEL web console (Cockpit).

How Has Systems Administration Changed | Iron SysAdmin 115

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 09:00:00 -0600

A guest spot on Iron SysAdmin 115 about how the sysadmin role has evolved: automation, cloud, IaC, and what stays the same underneath it all.

Demystifying EPEL | RHEL Presents Ep. 29

Wed, 26 Jan 2022 09:00:00 -0600

RHEL Presents 29 demystifying EPEL.

Microsoft SQL Server on Linux | RHEL Presents Ep. 28

Wed, 12 Jan 2022 09:00:00 -0600

RHEL Presents 28 on running Microsoft SQL Server on RHEL.

On the Edge of IT | Sudo Show 38

Thu, 11 Nov 2021 09:00:00 -0600

Sudo Show 38 on edge computing.

Kudos, Managing Your Hardware in Space | Sudo Show 36

Thu, 14 Oct 2021 09:00:00 -0500

Sudo Show 36 on managing hardware in space, with Kudos.

Storage Primer | RHEL Presents Ep. 22

Thu, 07 Oct 2021 09:00:00 -0500

RHEL Presents 22 as a guest: a storage primer covering the stack from disks through partitions, LVM, and filesystems on RHEL.

Network Manager | RHEL Presents Ep. 18

Wed, 11 Aug 2021 09:00:00 -0500

A guest appearance on RHEL Presents 18 covering NetworkManager: connections, devices, and managing RHEL networking from nmcli and the console.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls | Sudo Show 25

Thu, 13 May 2021 09:00:00 -0500

Sudo Show 25 on common pitfalls in ops and open-source adoption.

Sudo Show 12: GitOps for Sysadmins

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 10:15:00 -0600

Episode 12 of the Sudo Show is the one where Brandon and I dig into GitOps, and I think it’s one of our better technical episodes because we ground it in stuff that’s actually happened to us instead…

Sudo Show 9: Storage Technologies Deep Dive

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 10:05:00 -0500

Episode 9 of the Sudo Show is a bonus episode that exists because one question during our AMA turned into way more than we expected. ComputerKid asked about SAN storage in the chat, and what followed…

BTRFS vs ZFS | Destination Linux 181

Wed, 08 Jul 2020 09:00:00 -0500

A guest spot on Destination Linux 181 talking through Btrfs and ZFS — snapshots, checksums, licensing, and where each filesystem actually fits.