Dell PowerEdge MX- Series Reviews

I use Dell PowerEdge MX- Series for a hyper-converged environment where I have VMware and ESXi running, along with vSAN.

I work with other Power products, specifically the PowerEdge MX7000 and VxRail, which is also a PowerEdge model.

Dell PowerEdge MX- Series is modular, and the modularity of the system makes it easy to manage and plan what I need, as it supports connectivity to SAN or NAS.

Dell PowerEdge MX- Series, particularly the MX7000, is good, and it is consolidated with more features like vSAN and ready load, although I have heard they might stop this product by next year.

I use VxRail, and I find it good because I can easily expand the capacity and compute, similar to PowerScale, making it easy to plan by adding more resources.

The most valuable features of Dell PowerEdge MX- Series that enhance my IT department's operational efficiency are its modularity and the simplicity in scaling up, which is excellent for planning.

The advanced networking capabilities of Dell PowerEdge MX- Series help maintain operations, as they have good features like SmartFabric that allow for easy plug and play upgrades.

SmartFabric is a good feature, and I am unsure if Dell PowerEdge MX- Series can run on Nutanix—I have not tried that yet.

The storage capacity of Dell PowerEdge MX- Series has benefited my organization's diverse application needs by connecting most of the MX to PowerStore, allowing for enhanced server compute levels without relying on internal storage.

I would like to see improvements in Dell PowerEdge MX- Series, such as increasing the clustering capability beyond the current ten chassis, similar to PowerScale, allowing for more sleds and compute options.

There is room for improvement with technical support, possibly including a change in leadership.

I have been working with Dell PowerEdge MX- Series for about three years.

I find Dell PowerEdge MX- Series to be stable regarding stability and performance.

There have been no downtime or performance issues since this is an enterprise product, except for human error.

The modular design helps my infrastructure scale because it is easy to plan based on requirements, allowing purchases based on what I need, which is ready to scale out or scale up.

I find it very easy to plan and scale the system, with no challenges in that area.

For support of Dell PowerEdge MX- Series, I would rate Dell a seven, as their support for EMC storage is not as strong as it is for servers, which I believe are better supported.

I am switching to Nutanix because Dell also sells Nutanix nowadays.

I heard we are considering a Nutanix solution to replace the MX7000 since it is going end of life by mid-next year.

I am new to Nutanix, but from what I have seen, it has bare-metal software like VMware, and I believe the hardware must be compatible for it to run effectively.

The deployment process is easy because I utilize OpenManage Enterprise, which is built into their management module, allowing straightforward setup and management of networks and fabrics.

I handle the deployment myself, as I have experienced staff familiar with the MX and VxRail.

The partner I worked with for deployment was called Accelerated Solutions.

I find it worth the money due to its modularity and consolidation capabilities, making it good for future planning.

I am not aware of the pricing aspect of Dell PowerEdge MX- Series, as that is handled by another department, and I focus on the technical side.

I confirm that I am working with the MX7000 in an on-premises deployment.

The PowerEdge processor range is up to date; the server sleds launched around five or six years ago have seen new processors introduced every two years, with models progressing from 740 to 760.

I recommend organizations considering Dell PowerEdge MX- Series to take advantage of its modular features, which allow for a small start and significant growth. I gave this review an overall rating of 9.

Since they came out, we have been using Dell PowerEdge MX- Series in our company around 2017 or 2018. Our main use cases for Dell PowerEdge MX- Series include a number of applications, and we have some specialized applications that we use for our attorneys.

These features benefit our organization by enabling a faster response to any potential problems. Sometimes we experience memory or drive failures, so this service saves a bit of time.

Using this service has helped to reduce unplanned production downtime, though it is hard to quantify by how much.

It has improved the flexibility of our business operations.

I prefer the central pane of glass management feature of Dell PowerEdge MX- Series the most.

I value these features because it is easier to manage. If I have four to eight servers on a single Dell PowerEdge MX- Series chassis, it is considerably easier than having to go to one R series chassis at a time via the iDRAC.

My understanding is that they are shutting down Dell PowerEdge MX- Series, which is unfortunate due to the fact that they cannot keep up with power density. If there were some way to keep up with the power density, that would be great, but it does not appear that is necessarily happening.

Since they came out, we have been using Dell PowerEdge MX- Series in our company around 2017 or 2018.

I evaluate customer service and technical support as good. I have had no problems with that.

Prior to adopting Dell PowerEdge MX- Series, we had the M1000 series and also the R series PowerEdge series, which we still use in many cases for special needs.

The specific factor that led me to consider the change to Dell PowerEdge MX- Series was that they were retiring the M1000 series.

I did not have any problem with the initial pricing or cost setup with Dell PowerEdge MX- Series, but I had some problems with ongoing maintenance and getting regular updates from Dell. Things would get out of maintenance and it became pretty complicated to manage, so we have gone ahead with an initial three-year warranty when we buy the hardware from Dell, and then we have a third party that manages it afterwards.

It is hard to say that it has reduced total cost of ownership because if you are preventing something, how do you know what you have not had to spend? However, I would say the answer is affirmative.

Thankfully, I do not get the energy bills, but I am assuming they are about average since I do not have that information.

I would say the impact on our organization's sustainability goals is decent. We receive power reports from our colo facilities, and we are still staying under our targets, so it is good that we are not exceeding our allotments.

I rate Dell PowerEdge MX- Series an eight and a half overall. My advice for other organizations considering Dell PowerEdge MX- Series is to keep up with your warranty expiration dates and watch for problems with DRAM, as we had some memory issues with some of those. However, Dell was always very fast on replacing it, so it is not a significant concern.

Dell PowerEdge MX-Series is usually used for server operations, virtualization, or Oracle platform deployments, and some for databases.

What I like about Dell PowerEdge MX-Series is the whole integration, where you do not have a lot of cables, which is a strong point compared to others on the market. I believe customers choose Dell over other platforms, particularly Dell PowerEdge MX-Series, because of the whole integration; there are no cables, making it easier to integrate everything, and for some, it is simpler.

What needs to be improved about this solution includes networking because you are very limited with the options that you have. There are also limitations about the GPUs. Additionally, there was a problem with the deployment templates; it is quite complicated and not working as it is supposed to. It would help to have more communication with the customer regarding the problems and more explanation, as it is difficult to get it from support or from the administrative guides; it is not that straightforward.

This product is not convenient for smaller to medium organizations because you have more flexibility with standalone servers and the networking that you already have. If you are introducing such chassis, you have the additional costs of the switches and everything, adding to the investment. However, it is quite a good solution for tenders because once you set it up, it is like a single unit that can be placed inside the chassis, creating a constant relationship with the customer.

Dell PowerEdge MX-Series is not a good solution for AI due to the lack of support for the expansion of GPUs; there is a solution, but it is not a useful one.

The reason I do not give a higher mark, such as an eight or a nine, is that you have better solutions with standalone servers, not with this integrated approach.

I have been working with Dell PowerEdge MX-Series for approximately ten years, as I work with a lot of Dell products.

The solution is mostly stable, with no significant issues regarding stability.

It is scalable, either by adding new servers or with the expansion of memory.

Regarding the technical support of Dell, I find it okay; I do not have any complaints about Dell's support. You get what you need, although sometimes it is hard to reach it for this product or other products. But once you get the support, it is quite good.

Standalone PowerEdge servers, such as rack servers or whatever other server you have in the portfolio. This integrated solution was quite good a long time ago when there was not such an amount of memory in the server; at that time, it was a good solution because you could achieve high density in a small footprint. Nowadays, you have one server with the capacity of the whole chassis, which is why we are selling more or less standalone servers. Additionally, you have many other options with working solutions that have GPU integrated into them.

The implementation of Dell PowerFlex is quite straightforward for me.

The deployment for this product requires approximately one or two days.

I did it all by myself.

We did not work a lot with other integrations, so more or less it was just Dell products, and there was limited support regarding the operating system on the blade servers. I would rate this product a seven overall.

I work specifically with servers. We have Dell Isilon and what I believe is an older VMAX. We also have Dell PowerEdge MX with blade servers and rackmount servers.

Dell PowerEdge MX- Series products are very reliable here. The hardware is what we appreciate about Dell, particularly the RAS capabilities. We have Dell PowerEdge on-premises, and we also have some Dell in Azure, though I do not work with them directly.

We have Cisco UCS as well, with most of them being blade servers with the chassis and Fabric Interconnect. I think Dell is slightly better than Cisco overall. However, Cisco does have some good points regarding the Fabric Interconnect and how they work with the chassis. For new systems, we are not going to use chassis anymore; we are transitioning to rackmount servers.

We are deploying Dell rackmount servers and Lenovo rackmount servers. We are also considering HP because most of our environment consists of Cisco rackmount and blade servers. We are pausing Cisco because we do not want to concentrate our servers with one manufacturer.

We have been using these products for seven to eight years.

Dell PowerEdge MX- Series is the primary server we have here.

The scalability is excellent. Connecting chassis together helps tremendously.

We appreciate Dell PowerEdge MX- Series with Intel processors or AMD processors. However, some specific Intel processor models they do not sell, so sometimes we have to adapt what we want when specifying new servers.

We use the Dell OpenManage solution to operate Dell PowerEdge MX- Series servers here, and I think it is an excellent solution.

I think Dell is not launching new Dell PowerEdge MX- Series servers. Regarding firmware updates, the complexity of seeing the compatibility matrix with the operating system and all the firmware that we have to install in Dell PowerEdge MX- Series blade servers, the chassis, and switches inside is challenging. It is complex and takes a long time to update the firmware. For example, one chassis with eight blade servers takes approximately four hours to update all the firmware inside.

We have been using this solution for a long time, approximately 6 years since 2019.

We appreciate customer service very much. When we had errors upgrading operating systems and did not upgrade the firmware with the right compatibility matrix, they supported us and helped us with various aspects, though they enforced that we follow the correct compatibility matrix.

Dell PowerEdge MX- Series products are more expensive than the few new servers we have from Lenovo and Cisco. In recent years, prices have increased here in Brazil. However, everyone is expensive because of RAM availability and manufacturing problems with memory.

We have Dell solutions and Cisco solutions, along with a few HP servers that are older and we are decommissioning. Overall, Dell PowerEdge MX- Series are solid products. I would rate this review an eight.

When discussing Dell PowerEdge M, my clients primarily use it when they're not looking for a virtualization platform such as VMware or Microsoft Hyper-V but want compute and processing speed to run multiple applications in one cluster or one box. In such cases, we can propose MX7000 because, just as virtualization on the physical layer, MX7000 provides the same configuration to run multiple workloads in one cluster.

I recommend Dell PowerEdge M for certain mid-size customers as long as they are not looking for a virtualization platform. They can consider PowerEdge M, MX7000, which takes up only 7U rack space, allowing them to initially start with two blades and scale up to seven in the same enclosure, ensuring future scalability without needing to buy additional space.

The most valuable function of Dell PowerEdge M, particularly with MX7000, is its future scalability, which is advantageous because if the customer is changing their network infrastructure from 1GB or 10GB to 25GB or 400GB, the MX7000 fabric switch can support that, making future scalability completely available.

In terms of potential room for improvement regarding Dell PowerEdge M, I would want to see something such as dense nodes and additional storage, as well as multiple network connectivity on the blades.

The functions that I would want to see from Dell are not limited to just what I mentioned, but currently, I feel no additional features are needed.

I suggest adding an additional network card within the blades, specifically for connectivity.

I have been working with and on Dell PowerEdge M hardware predominantly for around 5+ years, including rack and modular servers.

For the stability of Dell PowerEdge M, I would rate it a 9 or 9.5.

Regarding scalability, I can scale up to 64 enclosures, and each enclosure can hold around 7 blades. This scalability exists, and it won't be a constraint at all.

Regarding technical support from Dell, I find them to be one of the best support providers in the industry right now. On the support front, I rate them a solid 9.

I am primarily working mostly on data center solutions with Dell, such as servers, storage, networking, on the hardware part.

HP is the main competitor for Dell PowerEdge M in the market.

If I compare Dell and HP, the main benefit of Dell is its management console, known as iDRAC with OME, which allows management of up to 8,000 devices, not limited to Dell products but including other brands as well. This gives Dell an advantage compared to HP's ILO.

The initial setup of Dell PowerEdge M is a little bit complex, but not significantly because we provide the deployment completely from our end. With our deployment, it is a seamless process, so there's nothing major to worry about.

My clients mostly have this setup with our help.

We utilize AI technology with Dell PowerEdge M through a module known as CloudIQ, which provides automation and takes care of predictive analysis and reporting.

When rating Dell's pricing model, it varies case by case and configuration by configuration. Sometimes Dell may be a little costlier, but that is considering the services and solutions we are providing, which can be adjustable.

HP is the main competitor for Dell PowerEdge M in the market.

If I compare Dell and HP, the main benefit of Dell is its management console, known as iDRAC with OME, which allows management of up to 8,000 devices, not limited to Dell products but including other brands as well. This gives Dell an advantage compared to HP's ILO.

I rate Dell PowerEdge M a 9 out of 10.

We are using it for multiple in-house applications and databases. We have multiple edge servers in our cluster, and we are managing the load in a cluster environment with a virtualized setup, which helps automatically balance utilization.

One of the best aspects of PowerEdge is that it provides a consolidated hardware infrastructure, allowing multiple servers in a simple ten-rack unit. This suits our business needs of using less space with maximum capability. It is expandable and scalable, with the ability to add more servers in additional chassis.

There isn't much that needs improvement as PowerEdge fulfills our requirements. However, the costing could be improved as it is somewhat expensive. Minor improvements are always possible, however, nothing specific comes to mind.

We have been using it for more than three to five years.

We are not facing any latency or performance issues. The solution performs well without any problems.

The solution is scalable. We can put 16 servers in one chassis and expand by adding additional chassis with more blades whenever needed.

Support is good, meeting our needs satisfactorily. If asked to rate support from one to ten, I would give it an eight.

Positive

We also use servers such as Dell, Lenovo, Dell EMC hybrid storage, and Denodo servers.

The installation process is straightforward. It is as simple as any other infrastructure. Two people are needed for the hardware aspect, but one person is sufficient for configuration.

In terms of pricing, it is not cheap yet rather average. Comparatively, Dell is better than Lenovo in manageability, especially when it comes to firmware and driver upgrades.

I would rate PowerEdge M an eight out of ten. I have no immediate advice for improvements as it meets our current requirements.

I use the solution in my company for virtualization.

The solution's most valuable feature is its interface. The tool allows you to choose any interface you want. For example, you can choose a 10, 25, or 100 GB fiber channel.

It is a pretty dynamic product and is better than everyone else's servers. HP has lost its way, and we are not going to use Lenovo in our company.

I believe that the tool’s support team is an area with certain concerns where improvements can be made.

I have been using Dell PowerEdge M for fifteen years. My company has a partnership with Dell.

My impression of the scalability of the product is good. You can put a lot of memory in the tool now, and you have a good choice in processors, so you can go wherever you want or do whatever you want with your money. Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

My experience with the support team has been straightforward. Your first call with the support team is a lucky draw. If the problem is massive enough, the tool quickly offers tier-three support. I rate the technical support an eight out of ten.

Positive

The product's initial setup phase was always straightforward.

On a scale of one to ten, if ten was the most straightforward, I rate the setup phase a nine.

Only one person can deploy the solution. We go online with SAN and move the virtualization to it. People involved in the deployment process varies but the person that takes care of the servers or SAN Storage would do it when it isn't delegated to one person.

The solution can be deployed in a couple of hours.

I have seen that most people run the tool for seven to ten years. I don't think there's any problem with the return on investment.

I know we get three years basic, and the on-site licensing model for business seems fine. I wouldn't pay for a support plus or anything.

My company use the tool. We are pretty much in Dell PowerEdge's camp, so we aren't looking into the alternatives. We looked at HP, and it was horrible.

My company has experience with other products in the market, and we started to use Dell after HP wore us out. HP is horrible. We decided to try Dell and haven't looked back since then. There are differences between HP and Dell in areas such as support. The on-site support from HP is bad as they can't diagnose the problems right, and then they have to go into one piece at a time. The on-site support ends up causing death for you one day. My company is not a fan of HP.

The tool handles workload variations in our company's environment since we use a VMware stack, causing everything to be distributed across servers.

I would recommend the product to others because it is cheaper than Cisco and better than HP.

My company is not currently deploying AI in the product, but AI reviews many things related to Dell and can tell you what your trends are, which is helpful.

I rate the overall tool a nine out of ten.

Running ESXi.

One good option is that they now have a template or profile creation. This wasn't possible in previous models like the PowerEdge M1000e or the 1955 and 1855 series. The 7000 series introduced this time-saving approach. You configure a template, and when you add a new server, you can deploy it from that template with consistent configurations.

Also, configuring the iDRAC (integrated Dell Remote Access Controller) is easy. You only need to apply settings in a few places, and they are applied across all blades.

For the 7000 series, it has its own management console. For rack servers, you can use OpenManage software.

With OpenManage, you can monitor the servers, perform health checks, and configure email notifications. However, we mainly use it for hardware alerts, as our primary focus is on ESXi.

One area for improvement is VLAN configuration. With Cisco UCS, you apply settings in one place, and they are applied across all the levels. With PowerEdge M, you need to apply them in multiple places, like on the SmartFabric and the M series blades themselves. It would be more convenient if we could apply VLAN configurations in one or two places, like in UCS.

Also, in UCS, you can upload the configuration from the support bundle to the infrastructure. Dell has made improvements in this area for PowerEdge M, as they didn't have this option previously.

One more thing I would like to see is about training. Previously, there were some foundational-level courses on Dell's learning site. If those kinds of training were provided again, that would be helpful.

For ESXi, I did all the foundation courses available on VMware's website. Dell might offer courses on mobility, but I am not sure about recent offerings. In the past, there were foundational courses available, but I don't know if that has changed since Broadcom acquired VMware. However, advanced and professional courses were available from VMware, which is what most companies use if they are looking for those levels. But initial-level courses were something we expected from Dell.

My current company procured this product around two years ago, and before that, I used Dell modular servers as well.

We have PowerEdge servers, and we also have the 7000 series. We used blade servers, specifically the M series. We use PowerEdge R and C series, mostly rack servers.

On the PowerEdge model, specifically the 7000 JST, I have been working on it for the last two years. So far, it's stable. I haven't seen many problems with that product. It's a stable product.

The product is reliable. Uptime is also good, especially when using the server for virtualization platforms. In case one node goes down, the uptime isn't affected because services continue running within the cluster on other nodes. The uptime report from the monitoring tools is good.

Scalability is good. They have improved it, and I'm fine with it. Maybe I don't have high requirements for these aspects.

But overall, it is good. No concerns.

It's okay. The support is adequate. My support experience is okay. I have raised a few tickets and received support. Since I have only been working with it for two years, my experience is limited. 

It is easy. Major time is spent on planning and preparation of the site because we need to work with the network team. Sometimes, it took time, but otherwise, the installation is easy.

Every company has a different kind of process. So, depending on the process, availability of resources, and the network team's support, deployment might take some time. If everything is in place, installation can be done within one to three days.

Deployment resources depend on the deployment size. For example, the number of engineers needed varies depending on whether you are installing two JCPs, three JCPs, or ten to twelve blades.

There is a different team that manages it. Dell servers are still there in the environment.

The M series is similar to Cisco UCS (Unified Computing System). I used it in the past. In my previous organizations, we worked with UCS, but they migrated from UCS to the 7000 series, the blade series. 

Maybe because UCS was more cost-effective and less resource-effective. That's why they moved to that. But in the current environment, we don't have UCS.

For Dell, I rate it a nine out of ten because they have created a solution similar to UCS. They are competing well but still have some improvements to make compared to UCS.

We have a Blade server, specifically the N640, and some of the Dell PowerEdge R740, R760, and R750 models. We have been using these servers.

PowerEdge is a very standard server and isn't significantly different from other brands regarding the processor and the network interface card configurations. The quality of service and support makes a difference in IT solutions. In particular, the Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) support is notably better than that of other servers, although differences are minimal across different providers.

The last year, we experienced problems with support, as Dell decreased staff in Latin America, impacting support quality. 

Additionally, Dell's prices have increased more than competitors.

I have used Dell PowerEdge M for the last ten years.

The reliability of the server is okay. We have encountered issues with disk latency, however, this is due to BigWorld configuration rather than the server itself.

Recently, delays with spare parts and the availability of specialists have become problematic. Previously, we had access to specialists in the country or Latin America, but now they must be sourced from the U.S. or Europe, increasing response time.

Neutral

The initial setup of Dell PowerEdge M is straightforward, and its ease of installation is a highlight.

My data security team comprises 26 people, with necessary networking technicals and VMware administrators to deploy servers quickly and manage them using IP addresses.

The cost varies significantly depending on the server's configuration and can range from $10,000 to $60,000 for the same server line family.

The server is a commodity. Dell PowerEdge is a standard offering without significant differences from other servers. 

Overall, I would rate the PowerEdge M series a seven out of ten.

I was searching for a comparison since one of my clients made the software at Black Duck, such as SAST, Coverity, CCASP, SCA, BINDI, and CODES. Therefore, I want to make a comparison to forward it to my client, showing the differences. They have decided to purchase the software for the first time.

The biggest advantage of PowerEdge is that it is cost-effective, and its performance and infrastructure are much better than other competitors like Lenovo and HP. 

Scalability and flexibility are key aspects, and most importantly, performance. The performance is very good, even when you are using it at one hundred percent load, providing one hundred percent performance.

There is no need for improvements. Everything is okay. I have not noticed any specific improvements needed as most updates are done by the OEM over time. 

I have been providing a session for the last 14 to 15 years.

Based on my experience, there is little maintenance required, yet not much if you are using it in a proper environment and providing the proper conditions for the servers. Then there's no need for extensive maintenance.

The scalability and flexibility are better compared to others.

Dell support is satisfactory. I always have a good experience with it.

Positive

It's easy. It's not a difficult task. You can manage it, and it is quite straightforward.

One person can handle it. It's not a hard task that requires engaging different people.

Dell high-end server prices are quite high for some servers, yet not all. Most of the Dell series, like the PowerEdge series, are reasonably priced and accessible.

Overall the rating is around nine out of ten.