diff --git a/scripts/setup/machine-setup/lib/system.sh b/scripts/setup/machine-setup/lib/system.sh
index ee1ec830..2e1ecccc 100644
--- a/scripts/setup/machine-setup/lib/system.sh
+++ b/scripts/setup/machine-setup/lib/system.sh
@@ -272,16 +272,25 @@ if [[ "\${1:-}" == "--status" ]]; then
   exit 0
 fi
 
+# Everything urgent goes through here, so there is one place to add a second
+# channel later. Today it is syslog only, which means the message is in the
+# journal and nowhere else — nobody finds out until they go looking, which is
+# exactly the wrong moment. Push, mail or Officer's own notify sidecar hook in
+# here.
+notify() {
+  logger -t "\$TAG" -p user.crit "\$1"
+  # A copy on stderr as well, so a human running this by hand sees it.
+  echo "\$1" >&2
+}
+
 ((FREE_PCT < THRESHOLD)) || exit 0
 
 if [[ -f "\$BALLAST" ]]; then
   FREED="\$(du -h "\$BALLAST" | cut -f1)"
   rm -f "\$BALLAST"
-  logger -t "\$TAG" -p user.crit \\
-    "Free space \${FREE_PCT}% below \${THRESHOLD}% — deleted ballast, reclaimed \${FREED}. CLEAN UP NOW: this valve is spent."
+  notify "Free space \${FREE_PCT}% below \${THRESHOLD}% — deleted ballast, reclaimed \${FREED}. CLEAN UP NOW: this valve is spent."
 else
-  logger -t "\$TAG" -p user.crit \\
-    "Free space \${FREE_PCT}% below \${THRESHOLD}% — ballast already spent, no headroom left to reclaim."
+  notify "Free space \${FREE_PCT}% below \${THRESHOLD}% — ballast already spent, no headroom left to reclaim."
 fi
 CHECKER
 
diff --git a/scripts/setup/machine-setup/machine-setup.sh b/scripts/setup/machine-setup/machine-setup.sh
index 1ee807bf..95422092 100755
--- a/scripts/setup/machine-setup/machine-setup.sh
+++ b/scripts/setup/machine-setup/machine-setup.sh
@@ -427,7 +427,19 @@ fi
 # recommendation points.
 
 step "Emergency disk ballast"
-if ! skip; then
+# Servers only. On a machine you sit at, the disk filling up announces itself —
+# the editor refuses to save, the browser complains — and you are there to deal
+# with it. The reserve is for the box nobody is watching, where the first sign is
+# a service that stopped working hours ago. Skipped rather than offered, but said
+# out loud, so a silent gap in the run is never left unexplained.
+if ! skip && ! is_server; then
+  echo ""
+  info "Emergency disk ballast — not offered on a ${MACHINE_ROLE} machine"
+  echo "     The reserve is for a box nobody is watching. You are sitting at"
+  echo "     this one, so a filling disk tells you itself."
+  SUMMARY+=("Disk ballast: not applicable on ${MACHINE_ROLE}")
+  step_ok
+elif ! skip; then
   echo ""
   info "Emergency disk ballast — a reserve you can burn when the disk fills up"
   echo "     A file holding nothing, whose only job is to be deleted. A root cron"
@@ -438,11 +450,6 @@ if ! skip; then
   echo "     own."
   echo ""
   echo "     It is a one-shot valve: once spent, run this again to recreate it."
-  if is_server; then
-    echo "     Worth having on ${MACHINE_ROLE} — a full disk on an unattended box is the bad case."
-  else
-    echo "     Less useful on ${MACHINE_ROLE} — you are sitting at this machine and will notice."
-  fi
 
   if [[ -f "${USER_HOME}/${BALLAST_NAME}" ]]; then BALLAST_FILE="${USER_HOME}/${BALLAST_NAME}"; fi
   [[ -f "${OFFICER_ROOT}/${BALLAST_NAME}" ]] && BALLAST_FILE="${OFFICER_ROOT}/${BALLAST_NAME}"