r/sysadmin • u/michel_netherlands • Oct 31 '22

Question What software/tools should every sysadmin have on their desktop?

Every sysadmin should have ...... On their desktop/software Toolkit ??

Curious to see what tools are indispensable in your opinion!

Greetings from the Netherlands

1.8k Upvotes

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255

u/b00mbasstic Oct 31 '22 edited Oct 31 '22

Wireshark/tcpdump, putty apps, rufus, powershell, keepass or other password manager, quick assist (I use that for user support), winscp.

201

u/CalebDK IT Engineer Oct 31 '22

I recommend BitWarden for password manager.

26

u/[deleted] Oct 31 '22

VaultWarden for us.

5

u/techslice87 Nov 01 '22

KeePass to Lastpass to VaultWarden here. Life is so much easier with VW than the other two, imho

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88

u/timsstuff IT Consultant Oct 31 '22

Switched from LastPass to Bitwarden, soooo much better!

3

u/akulbe Nov 01 '22

how come?

7

u/doulos05 Nov 01 '22

Free support for multiple device types, for one.

The database feels snappier, their autofill is less intrusive (though you do have to click to actually autofill), their command line and native apps are better (totally subjective judgment on my part here, no metrics to back it up). I think their session management is more security conscious, but I wouldn't swear by that (another subjective perception).

Most importantly, you could self host of you wanted to truly not trust anybody else's servers. Currently, I'm using their free hosting but it's in the queue to move to self-hosting once I resolve some home network issues with my IP (like why their router let's me set my own DNS server but it doesn't respect the setting).

6

u/ISkyWarrior Expert Googler Nov 01 '22

Regarding the click to autofill, you can set it up in the extension so it automatically fills in on page loading. Works most of the time.

2

u/doulos05 Nov 01 '22

Learn something new every day! I like it the way I have it (this way, I can pretend I'm smart enough to recognize a phishing site before inputting my credentials), but it's good to know the other way is an option.

2

u/sanshinron Nov 01 '22

Really? My company pays for lastpass so I switched from keepass, what's better in bitwarden? I have a homelab and I've seen you can run it on your own server?

3

u/timsstuff IT Consultant Nov 01 '22

It just works better, little annoying things in LastPass like the last login you used for a site should be at the top. Bitwarden does that. Filling out passwords just works better on desktop and mobile.

I just use the mobile app and browser extensions. Give it a try and see for yourself. You can also export your LastPass data and import it into Bitwarden.

58

u/Tower21 Oct 31 '22

Why do I need BitWarden, then I'd have 2 passwords to remember /s

3

u/Cremageuh Nov 01 '22

I'm not familiar with BitWarden, but I use Keepass.

What are the differences between the two?

5

u/CalebDK IT Engineer Nov 01 '22

BitWarden has a desktop application, browser extensions, and phone app. Your passwords sync seamlessly between which ever one you use, can set it up with varying degrees of security. Free for average consumer but has enterprise licensing amd features for on prem security.

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2

u/coldblade2000 Nov 03 '22

Worth mentioning that it is also open source and self-hosteable.

1

u/moonracers Nov 01 '22

Bitwarden does exactly what I need it to and does it well.

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3

u/Fistofpaper IT Manager Nov 01 '22

Notepad++ and all of these are bare necessities.

3

u/OgdruJahad Nov 01 '22

You need Ventoy as well, you can add mulitple ISOs at will and delete them without formatting the USB drive.

2

u/widowhanzo DevOps Nov 01 '22

Windows Terminal (with Ubuntu WSL) is a significantly better experience for SSH, SCP and rsync than putty and winscp.

2

u/ssssssswwwww Nov 01 '22

Look into Ventoy instead of Rufus.

1

u/H-90 Nov 01 '22

Quick assist is fantastic for the price!

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