What do you think of this email from DigitalRealty...

serverpoint

We recently received a message from DigitalRealty that made us go "huh?". DigitalRealty, as may of you may know, is a major data center player with over 300 data centers and lots of money in revenue.

They host our Amsterdam, Netherlands node, not by choice, but because they acquired Interxion, the company that we signed up with. Great company it was, by the way.

Here is the message:

Valued Digital Realty Customer,

Please be advised that effective July 1, 2025, Digital Realty will no
longer provide any component level services beyond the hot-swapping
and hot-plugging definitions described below.

This means, Digital Realty Remote Hands personnel will only replace or
add components to customer computer system(s) that are “hot-swappable”
or “hot-pluggable” and be safely swapped without requiring further
intervention or specialized service.

Definitions:

Hot swapping involves the replacement of a component while the system
is running, is more useful when a part breaks down and needs to be
replaced to maintain a working system or whenever it is desirable to
change the configuration or repair a working system, without
interrupting its operation. Hot plugging is the addition or removal
of a component that serves to expand the system while the system is
running, is more useful for attaching expansions to a system, such as
a device that offers extra data storage, or linking to another
attached computer system for the purpose of data synchronization.
Limitations:

Due to the high-power nature of modern compute equipment that could
put personnel at risk, Digital Realty personnel do not open a device’s
chassis or casing, whether in a powered or non-powered state, to
replace any equipment components. In the instance when there is not a
physical chassis or casing to open, Digital Realty personnel shall not
swap or replace components that are directly attached to a
motherboard, or components that require the use of special tools.

At no time shall Digital Realty Remote Hands perform any tasks within
the chassis on any power related components or any work involving
thermal paste. Replacing a pluggable Power Supply Unit is permitted.

The part that sticks out for us is: "Due to the high-power nature of modern compute equipment that could put personnel at risk".

Are they implying that their staff could get electrocuted from working on a server?

Or... the truth is that they want to save money by not having to hire people with the necessary expertise and they are using safety as an excuse?

There have been instances, in our past, where we've had data center staff work inside one of our servers, for example, to install some extra RAM modules. Of course, that isn't done while the server is running.

These types of changes on services provided by a data center happens too often as data centers are cosntantly aquiring each other.

In fact, our Las Vegas, NV data center has been through 5 owners in the time that we've been there and is now owned by Flexential, a company that is mostly controlled by "private equity", which isn't really a good thing...

What do you think?

Otus9051

"Due to the high-power nature" well either your grounding is borked or your PSU is burning the DC down if you get electrocuted to a lethal level while swapping fricking hard-drives.

Sounds like an excuse to cheap out on staff.

Shot²

They should hire Mehdi a.k.a. ElectroBoom. Who needs grounding eh?

havoc

Hold my beer while I hotswap a CPU

imok

@serverpoint said: The part that sticks out for us is: "Due to the high-power nature of modern compute equipment that could put personnel at risk".

Are they implying that their staff could get electrocuted from working on a server?

Perhaps someone has already been electrocuted.

AuroraZero

@havoc said:
Hold my beer while I hotswap a CPU

Real techs have a beer in one hand, a sandwich in the other, and use their peni to hot swap drives.

grasple

I guess you must have cut out the part of the email where they tell you how much they're slashing hosting and/or remote hand costs now they're making it much more useless? I'd guess for never opening a case they'll provide unlimited free remote hands per month now?

skhron

@serverpoint said: Or... the truth is that they want to save money by not having to hire people with the necessary expertise and they are using safety as an excuse?

I agree it is excuse but I think their goal is to minimize liability, might be just a risk management decision

serverpoint

@grasple said:
I guess you must have cut out the part of the email where they tell you how much they're slashing hosting and/or remote hand costs now they're making it much more useless? I'd guess for never opening a case they'll provide unlimited free remote hands per month now?

We asked them about when we can expect their new and reduced rates. No answer so far

treesmokah

It sounds like they want cheaper employees, with no certifications to work with high voltage equipment.
It is the case in my country (also in EU), so I assume its a thing in Netherlands too. They may be able to "bypass" this requirement, by only offering "hotswap remote hands".

They want to offer remote hands with no brains attached, and hire anyone off the street for minimum wage.

eezcloud

Or it might be a "kind and gentle" way to move on some smaller customers. They don't really want to deal with customers that aren't using multiple racks.

serverpoint

@eezcloud said:
Or it might be a "kind and gentle" way to move on some smaller customers. They don't really want to deal with customers that aren't using multiple racks.

That's a good theory also... it did not cross our minds...

cybertech

chargeback yesterday

someTom

sounds like they found out that this kind of service creates more troubles than income for them (there are many stories of LE providers complaining about incompetent datacenter staff) and so they limit it to simple stuff where not much can go wrong.

its probably not much of an issue for their preferred high end customers with big brand pro servers that were designed to be managed easily. and lets be honest, working on custom built low end servers with an unpredictable hodgepodge of consumer grade components is something anyone would rather avoid.

legendary

@AuroraZero said:

@havoc said:
Hold my beer while I hotswap a CPU

Real techs have a beer in one hand, a sandwich in the other, and use their peni to hot swap drives.

Noice! You just slap it and rub it and it is done. Mofo style!

SharedGrid

@someTom said:
sounds like they found out that this kind of service creates more troubles than income for them (there are many stories of LE providers complaining about incompetent datacenter staff) and so they limit it to simple stuff where not much can go wrong.

its probably not much of an issue for their preferred high end customers with big brand pro servers that were designed to be managed easily. and lets be honest, working on custom built low end servers with an unpredictable hodgepodge of consumer grade components is something anyone would rather avoid.

This. I imagine it comes down to liability. Although it's probably an issue with high end professional servers too because if the tech accidentally causes damage while changing a part, who has to take that hit? At least hot swapping drives, etc is pretty self explanatory with not much to go wrong.

serverpoint

@someTom said:
sounds like they found out that this kind of service creates more troubles than income for them (there are many stories of LE providers complaining about incompetent datacenter staff) and so they limit it to simple stuff where not much can go wrong.

its probably not much of an issue for their preferred high end customers with big brand pro servers that were designed to be managed easily. and lets be honest, working on custom built low end servers with an unpredictable hodgepodge of consumer grade components is something anyone would rather avoid.

Your last sentence there reminds me of something that happened back when we used to offer colocation services...

A customer asked us to do some upgrades to his server. When we opened the server, we realized that he used pieces of cardboard taped together inside the server to redirect the server's fans airflow...

somik

@serverpoint said:

@someTom said:
sounds like they found out that this kind of service creates more troubles than income for them (there are many stories of LE providers complaining about incompetent datacenter staff) and so they limit it to simple stuff where not much can go wrong.

its probably not much of an issue for their preferred high end customers with big brand pro servers that were designed to be managed easily. and lets be honest, working on custom built low end servers with an unpredictable hodgepodge of consumer grade components is something anyone would rather avoid.

Your last sentence there reminds me of something that happened back when we used to offer colocation services...

A customer asked us to do some upgrades to his server. When we opened the server, we realized that he used pieces of cardboard taped together inside the server to redirect the server's fans airflow...

Oh, so if someone uses recyclable biodegradable material like cardboard to redirect airflow, it's janky, but if someone does it with 3D printed plastic, then all is fine!

someTom

@somik said: Oh, so if someone uses recyclable biodegradable material like cardboard to redirect airflow, it's janky, but if someone does it with 3D printed plastic, then all is fine!

if it spontaneously biodegrades in a datacenter it may cause some concern.

somik

@someTom said:

@somik said: Oh, so if someone uses recyclable biodegradable material like cardboard to redirect airflow, it's janky, but if someone does it with 3D printed plastic, then all is fine!

if it spontaneously biodegrades in a datacenter it may cause some concern.

It's better then burning plastics fumes!

Hmm, along that line of thought, maybe we should add some cider and maple wood to give it the nice smokey flavor?

AuroraZero

@somik said:

@someTom said:

@somik said: Oh, so if someone uses recyclable biodegradable material like cardboard to redirect airflow, it's janky, but if someone does it with 3D printed plastic, then all is fine!

if it spontaneously biodegrades in a datacenter it may cause some concern.

It's better then burning plastics fumes!

Hmm, along that line of thought, maybe we should add some cider and maple wood to give it the nice smokey flavor?

I cool my Friday night steaks on my servers, gives me strength!!

somik

@AuroraZero said:
I cool my Friday night steaks on my servers, gives me strength!!

Get a AMD piledriver server. You can cook your steak on it.