One from the category of “Oh while you are there” tasks that Smarter Hands can help with. Sometimes it is something as simple as a loose cable. Recently one of our techs was traveling interstate. We knew that we had a customer with equipment in a DC nearby. This customer often need small quick tasks done. We contacted them to ask if they needed anything done while we were in the area. They were over the moon that someone was nearby to take care of a 30 seconds task.
The request
Smarter Hands received the following brief:
“We have a PSU reporting offline. Can you have a quick look to see if it is a cable fault or a PSU fault”
The rack contained sensitive equipment, so it could only be opened after a visual inspection. The customer gave us the asset, location and rack number and away we went.
The traditional approach
One of the hardest things being a tech and trying to work with smart hands is when you know something is going to be a quick job. You just want it done quickly and without a fuss. Have you ever spoken to a smart hands DC tech and asked them to do something quick only to have a reply an hour later with:
“I found the device in rack <really long name> in position 40 and then I traced the power cable from PSU 1 to power rail A and then then PSU 2 cable back to the power rail B and it is loose, do you want it reseated? Can i do it now?”
Cool story bro, but it didn’t need to take an hour to do that.
The Smarter Hands result
After a quick glance at the back of the server, the tech could see that we had a PSU with an orange light. Ok, so it’s not a dead PSU
*quick snap of the picture through the rack door, uploaded via skype to the customer*
All over a loose cable
Luckily for the tech the cable was hanging fairly loose, so were able to visually trace it without opening the rack. The Smarter Hands tech could see through the rack door that the cable wasn’t seated into the PDU properly.
*quick snap of the cable not seated into the PDU correctly, uploaded for review*
Working with the customer
2 minutes later, we had authorisation from the team to open the rack and correct it, knowing exactly what we would need to do and where the fault lied. The customer felt much more comfortable with being able to visualise the issue properly. It took longer to get the datacentre provider to open the rack for us, than it did to get it fixed. This is a sensitive rack, so we engaged in a Skype video chat as the rack was opened so the customer could watch the work taking place.
The tech seated the cable correctly, the PSU changed to green on the server, customer watched our movements via video chat, confirmed the server showed both PSUs online and then confirmed nothing else was offline from the monitoring system.
Job sorted, another happy Smarter Hands customer.
Smart Hands Job Times
Identify the issue: 2 minutes.
Rack was open: 30 seconds.
Time waiting for security: 15 minutes.
Total job time: 17.5 minutes.
See how Smarter Hands have helped other customers with our services or get in touch to discuss how we can help you today!