diff --git a/swift/common/manager.py b/swift/common/manager.py
index 2cc764493c..bd499de696 100644
--- a/swift/common/manager.py
+++ b/swift/common/manager.py
@@ -441,6 +441,9 @@ class Server(object):
         except AttributeError:
             return False
 
+    def __ne__(self, other):
+        return not self.__eq__(other)
+
     def get_pid_file_name(self, conf_file):
         """Translate conf_file to a corresponding pid_file
 
diff --git a/test/unit/common/ring/test_builder.py b/test/unit/common/ring/test_builder.py
index bdcd96f765..0ced592741 100644
--- a/test/unit/common/ring/test_builder.py
+++ b/test/unit/common/ring/test_builder.py
@@ -2154,13 +2154,6 @@ class TestRingBuilder(unittest.TestCase):
         # now double up a device assignment
         rb._replica2part2dev[1][200] = rb._replica2part2dev[2][200]
 
-        class SubStringMatcher(object):
-            def __init__(self, substr):
-                self.substr = substr
-
-            def __eq__(self, other):
-                return self.substr in other
-
         with self.assertRaises(exceptions.RingValidationError) as e:
             rb.validate()