Dell PowerEdge R-Series Reviews

Our use case mainly involves running our exchange server 2019 on the SimpliVity, along with other healthcare-related servers that are also on HP, including the domain controller. We are moving away from HP because of their support issues and solutions.

The most valuable function we found in Hyper-Converged is the application version we are currently using, which is HP SimpliVity version 4.1.0.266, although we are not fully satisfied with it. We have been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers without issues. We occasionally replace one or two servers, but the majority are still functioning well. We've relied on Dell's EqualLogic storage for over ten years, receiving many alerts but overall having a perfectly functioning setup in the back end.

Dell's support is an area that needs improvement as their product reliability is good, but the support is not as strong as HP's. I suggest that Dell should include a built-in backup solution in VxRail, similar to what we find in Sangfor, where the backup feature is integrated.

We have been working with HP Hyper-Converged for around five years.

We have never faced unplanned downtime with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

After HP SimpliVity, the hyper-converged solution, we are not using any more HP servers. We are working with Nutanix and Sangfor, and previously we also worked with Dell. Initially, these servers were with Dell, but we moved them to HP SimpliVity after the hardware expired. Our reason for this shift was based on a technical and financial comparison, as we got a better price from HP.

Dell's pricing has been high for us, which led us to move to SimpliVity.

We are still working with Nutanix products, and we also moved to another vendor called Sangfor. We are using HP SimpliVity as our hyper-converged solution, but we are not satisfied with their services and support. We have 24 nodes of HP SimpliVity, and this year we decide not to renew the contract as we plan for one more solution which could be Nutanix to replace the SimpliVity.

We use Dell's EqualLogic storage technology and Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers R740, R730, R740, and R750 servers. We are also using some applications and one or two servers from HP for Cisco operations. We have been working with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for maybe ten years. We use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for our healthcare applications and for running an old version of the exchange server.

The main benefits we receive from Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are stability and reliability. While we occasionally receive complaints about hard disk failures, overall, we find the solution satisfactory. We could not continue with Dell due to high pricing, but we have transitioned to HP and are now moving to Sangfor and Nutanix.

Flexibility-wise, both Dell and HP solutions are okay for us, as we run VMware on Dell hardware, managing around 120 to 130 virtual machines. In the past, we primarily used Dell while paying to Dell and VMware, but given the changes in VMware's pricing after Broadcom's acquisition, we are now transitioning to HCI solutions that provide similar features.

We cannot give a proper estimation of power consumption due to high cooling and availability in our data center, but our HCI solutions consume less electricity now compared to older Dell servers, which had high energy consumption. We are not familiar with AI workloads, as no one has presented this feature to us. We purchased the product from a third-party business partner.

When comparing Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers with HP SimpliVity, we see that they serve different purposes; Dell operates standalone on VMware, whereas HP is a hyper-converged solution. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers stands out as a better option in this context. Overall, we give Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a final rating of six out of ten.

We choose Dell PowerEdge R-Series to perform backup and to store multiple data for our team in our businesses. We do not do much with it. We mainly use external management for our business applications rather than internal management. For Dell PowerEdge R-Series, we primarily use it for backup and for network shares for the different people and staff.

The most valuable feature of having Dell PowerEdge R-Series is the iDRAC, and the ease of administration is nice too; they are quite easily manageable.

The biggest benefit my company gets from having Dell PowerEdge R-Series is that they work as we expect and deliver the performance that we expect. We mainly look at what is in the hardware when we buy servers; that is what interests us. If we buy servers from Dell, it is because they meet our expectations.

There is a little margin for improvement. I would appreciate more facility to open the server and remove the pieces, such as the CPU, hard drive, and RAM but overall, the product is good to me.

I have been using Dell PowerEdge R-Series for three years, my company has been using it for around 10 years.

My impressions of the stability and reliability of Dell PowerEdge R-Series are good, as we still have some servers from Dell that we use for secondary purposes that are more than 20 years old.

Even though there is some downtime, they are durable. We had to tinker with them a little, change some parts, and repair them.

Dell PowerEdge R-Series does expand with my company's needs in a way, but we are not too dependent on it. Everything that is important for our company is hosted externally; we just have everything for network sharing of documents locally that staff need on the spot. We do not have large needs on the local server that we store at our place.

I have not used Dell's customer support service; I do everything myself.

Neutral

I have previously used other solutions, including HP and other brands of servers, but not many.

The best part about using Dell PowerEdge R-Series for a small company like mine is the simplicity of setup; it is simple to set up and fast, with no particular problems during setup, unlike certain other types of servers from other brands.

Comparing Dell PowerEdge R-Series to HP, HP is already much more complicated, notably on the part of their equivalent of iDRAC, which is much more obscure and less intuitive to understand.

While we have not yet deployed AI initiatives on our Dell PowerEdge R-Series infrastructure, these projects are firmly on our future roadmap. We are currently in the early discussion and planning stages, and we expect to evaluate our hardware requirements more concretely as these projects progress.

I have no specific criticisms regarding the product. When compared to competitors, I highly recommend the PowerEdge R-Series for its streamlined setup and deployment. While I don't claim it is the only solution on the market, its simplicity and reliability are perfectly suited to our current environment. I rate the solution an 8 out of 10; it is a consistently strong performer, though there is always room for minor iterative improvements.

We are using these servers for our production. We are basically a distance learning university where we have a learning management system, websites, online exams, and a campus management system. All these portals are running on these clusters.

We didn't face many hardware failures. Hardware is very reliable. The performance has been good, with only one or two pieces of equipment failing during the period from 2018 to 2025. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers helped reduce unplanned production downtime significantly. We have deployed our clusters. In the case of any failure, our virtual machines migrate automatically. We didn't face any major disaster during this period. We faced downtime twice in five to six years, but it was because our cluster was under capacity. We had deployed many VMs on the cluster.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are good in terms of energy consumption.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are reliable with good hardware quality. During our 5 to 6 years of deployment, we experienced minimal hardware failures. 

In Pakistan, the vendors or the partners of Dell are not providing a good environment. They need to improve their support and hire partners that have certified support sources. Currently, we are not getting good deployment experience. However, after deployment, Dell solutions perform very well.

We have been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers since 2018. We deployed the cluster of Dell and VMware in 2018, but we are going to replace this equipment with HPE and VMware.

We're using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers R730. For the backup appliance, we're using Quest. We have also used R410 servers which were replaced with R730 in 2018.

They are very reliable. One or two modules being faulty in five to six years is negligible. The warranty of that equipment expired in 2023, but we are still using it, and we are comfortable with it. The cluster is performing well.

It is scalable as we can add nodes and hard drives to increase space.

Currently, the Dell and VMware solution is in our production, and we are going to replace it with HPE. HPE is a competitor and will hopefully provide us a comfort level.

The deployment of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers was easy.

We are just running a VMware cluster. There is no cloud environment. We are going to deploy a full vCloud foundation environment in our data center on HPE equipment.

I have also received a demo on VxRail, which is an excellent product of Dell. When we deploy VMware on VxRail, those two products are really excellent, and I hope HPE will provide us with the same environment.

These deployments are provided by local partners.

They are affordable. Even during our recent procurement, the cost of Dell servers was lower than that of HPE. However, there were some certificates and vendor issues. We have a partner in Pakistan. The partner didn't have the certifications to meet our requirements. That's why they are out of this tender. Otherwise, the price quoted by Dell was lower than the price quoted by HPE.

It deserves a rating of ten out of ten. It's an excellent product. We are hoping to get a similar experience from our HPE servers.

We deployed Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers to support a VMware environment, and we're looking for something else, but primarily it's to support our software that we're delivering to our customers, allowing them to bring their own hardware if they wish; however, if they want us to provide it, we only bring Dell.

I find great value in Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, particularly in their excellent serviceability. At cost per feature, the pricing is great; I super love iDRAC and the serviceability, as they're easy to access when needed and work every time, showcasing consistency in quality.

The main benefit my customers see from installing or deploying Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is that they don't have to pay much attention to it because it runs smoothly, meaning they don't babysit it as they should, which while not ideal, indicates how stable the product is.

In my opinion, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers could improve in clarity when specifying options; for instance, the difference between power supplies can sometimes be a little challenging to understand if you don't already know, but the product itself is great, and I believe it will continue to get better, so I don't have specific requests.

I have been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for 15 years.

The main benefit my customers see from installing or deploying Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is that they don't have to pay much attention to it because it runs smoothly, meaning they don't babysit it as they should, which while not ideal, indicates how stable the product is.

We've added nodes with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, and when customers expand their usage, they buy new suites on top of what we previously sold them, allowing new nodes to fit in smoothly without causing issues during additions to the stacks.

I haven't needed to use Dell support recently, but I have in the past, and I feel that one of Dell's strong points is their support; they believe you and usually resolve issues without passing you on to someone else, and I appreciate having one person own my case and build a relationship by following up to check if everything is still working.

Positive

I haven't bought anything but Dell in a long time and found myself using other products at customer sites to assist in troubleshooting, and I've always felt that the interfaces on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are pretty intuitive, which isn't always the case with other products.

My role in using and managing Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers involves specing it, picking it, buying it, ordering it, and installing it, so I manage it end to end until I turn it over to the customers, providing a turnkey service to go with our software that we sell.

We work with a channel partner, distributing under OEM, and while we have a Platinum Dell partner to assist us in quoting and ordering, we maintain relationships with account managers at Dell, who are awesome.

I believe my customers really appreciate the predictability of costs, especially since Dell offers extended warranties that allow them to plan for running their systems for 5 or 6 years while being aware they'll need to purchase new equipment in the future, fitting well with their operations based on expenses.

At cost per feature, the pricing is great.

We've compared Dell's pricing against HP in the past, and I think the pricing is competitive, offering good value.

I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers as a solution overall a 10, as I'm not even considering other servers and am happy with PowerEdge.

I manage the VxRail environment at our site, and I was somewhat involved in the installation, but Dell completed the deployment.

It is difficult to judge the most valuable feature of Dell VxRail P670N because VMware primarily runs on it; currently, I cannot identify any problems. There were minimal issues, with only one board replacement, but otherwise everything has been functioning well so far.

Since using the VxRail, I would say Dell VxRail P670N environment definitely makes our work easier, whether that is directly due to the VxRail or not.

There could still be improvements in that area, as there was that one motherboard replacement that had to happen. But that is just something that happens. It is probably the same with any other manufacturer.

I have been using Dell VxRail P670N for three years.

I would rate the stability and reliability of Dell VxRail P670N as good. As I mentioned earlier, there have been failures among the 14 servers in two years, with just one motherboard replacement. Otherwise, I have to say the interface of the iDRAC and the management interface are quite adequate.

I definitely have hands-on experience with Dell VxRail P670N, and I am involved in working with it.

I would rate Dell's support as a ten.

There is something going on right now related to AI initiatives. Currently, I would say it is not being utilized, but it could happen in the future.

Positive

Before using Dell VxRail P670N, I used various solutions in other companies, and I can still make comparisons. I have dealt with a direct competitor, HPE, and I cannot say that the difference was that significant.

Everything went smoothly, and all was good with the Dell colleagues who performed it; everything was great.

My company has around 8,000 users worldwide.

Right now, I would not know the performance indicators for Dell VxRail P670N; I know we monitor failures and any outages, but otherwise, we do not run benchmarks.

I gave this review a rating of 9.

We have a variety of servers, including Dell PowerEdge R-Series, as we have a full environment, functioning environment with Kubernetes, virtual servers, and virtual machines that carry on applications, gaming applications.

The most valuable feature of Dell PowerEdge R-Series server is the processing speed. The processing speed is the most important thing that we are looking for in a server, and we want it to function fast as the latency is the most important between the end user and our servers to get the application and to get the feedback from the application. 

We have monitoring systems that allow us to see the improvement without benchmarking, including latency and the time taken by Dell PowerEdge R-Series servers to access data from storage and return it.

Dell can improve or speed up the deployment process with more intuitive dashboards, a more intuitive installing process, and maybe more detailed guides that can help the end user to install and implement their servers and racks.

It would be better if it could be, let's say, a bit less complicated to install everything, to make everything work together. I'm usually on the network side mostly, however, for me, configuring the Dell was a bit more complicated than just using the HP since the HP was really straightforward about everything. The Dell was a bit more complicated. I needed to check a lot of stuff. I needed to contact Dell support a few times to understand exactly how to connect the storage portal. 

I have been with the company for about a year, so I have been using Dell PowerEdge R-Series for about a year now.

This solution is able to scale with our organization.

We used Dell's customer service or technical support for connecting the storage to the servers, which was complicated, and we had many issues because the virtual machines didn't really sync. 

We used them several times, and they were very nice about it, however, it still felt like a long process with two or three sessions until we got the full solution that we wanted. For kindness, 

I would rate Dell's customer support a ten out of ten; for technical knowledge, I would rate them a seven or eight.

Positive

I'm also familiar with HP. I didn't see much improvement between the HP servers and Dell PowerEdge R-Series, however, it got a bit faster; the latency went down, and we can see that the processing speed of the applications or the functioning is faster than what we had with HP.

The initial deployment of Dell PowerEdge R-Series, the actual connection, was two or three days' worth of work; deploying the whole environment until everything functioned as we wanted was a process of two or three weeks overall.

Regarding the benefits and how they complete the mission, I would give Dell PowerEdge R-Series a perfect score as they are doing exactly what they need to. 

It took some time, however, they got to where they need to, and it's working as we expected. If someone asks me about Dell PowerEdge R-Series in general, I would say to go check them. 

I have rated this solution ten out of ten.

Our use case for the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is that we use them as ESXi hosts in our data centers, and we have approximately three data centers. Its primary use case is ESXi host. We occasionally have a smaller Dell PowerEdge that would be designed for single application-based server. Other than that, that is the main purpose.

The benefit of the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers to our organization is that our entire infrastructure is VMware driven, so we need ESXi hosts. Our entire VMware systems run off of Dell PowerEdge, so we could not run without it.

One of the most valuable features of the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is the redundancy that's built into it: redundant power supplies and redundant RAM modules. It takes care of itself in many cases. 

One thing I appreciate about the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers 17s is the numerous new features.

I appreciate the smaller footprint in terms of its efficiency in the racks, less power consumption, and more modular design for installing other components. Hopefully, the components won't be as expensive as installing extra drives and other components. I'm hoping the cost will be driven down by making them more modular.

They make that very user-friendly and easy. In terms of working with the platform regarding driver compatibility, firmware, and the hypervisor, it is excellent.

The price-to-performance ratio of the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is good, and performance is great. It is comparable and acceptable.

Besides the minor issues, the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are rock solid and have been for several years now. That is why we continue to use and deploy them.

If I could improve the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers in any way, I would say that buying the components separately at a lower cost is the only thing.

I have been using the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers since the 10th generation.

I have experienced crashes, downtimes, and performance issues with the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. We have had a crash here and there, but it has only been one host and not multiple hosts. We were able to bounce back quickly.

The reliability and stability of the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is good. We run them in our data center in a high-performance scenario which normally takes life off of the hardware, however, we have had no issues. We still have 10th-generation Dell servers running in our data center, which are very old and still running great.

Dell can grow and scale with the needs of my company, as they always have. The Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers cater to the needs of my medium-size business by providing great out-of-box performance from a VMware perspective, scalability, and compatibility with the VMware platform.

If I had to rank Dell support from one to ten, with ten being best and one being worst, I would rank the support as ten. 

Dell support is the best. We have dealt with other support providers. Hands down, Dell is the best in terms of the usability, functionality, and their willingness to help. They help even when a product may go out of warranty, knowing we are loyal customers who will continue to buy their products, they will still do whatever they can to help.

Positive

I don't find the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers to be expensive in general when I buy it a la carte. The aftermarket price for RAM modules and CPU cores is expensive. If I want to switch out a CPU or processor inside of my Dell PowerEdge to gain more cores, which increases my performance for VMware, the aftermarket price is so expensive that we typically take that box, retire an older Dell PowerEdge, and then buy a brand new one.

Before installing the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, we had looked at HP and Cisco which also have their own line of virtualized servers. However, considering Dell support and how Dell has been a very good partner with us, we stick with them.

On a scale of one to ten, I rate this solution an eight.

Our primary use case for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is for our primary production for VMware.

The features of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers that I prefer the most include ease of use and being able to update it quickly and simply. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers support our growth and operational success as they are the backbone of our organization; they run our production site entirely, so we rely on Dell's equipment 100%. They allow us the flexibility to right-size as needed without being a huge organization buying huge amounts of equipment.

I don't think of any additional features that could be included in the next release of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. I don't have any current pain points regarding Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers that I would want them to fix.

I have been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for about six years.

From using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, I have realized that it's reliable, and we don't have any issues with it as long as we keep it up to date with maintenance. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are reliable in terms of their stability, with minimal downtime and crashes.

We have expanded usage of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers as our organization grows, easily adding additional servers or different components such as hard drives, and the process is very smooth since it's minimal, plug and play, and it functions properly.

I evaluate the support for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers as good; I have never had any issues with support. I would give Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a ten because they're always able to answer all the questions we have; they reach a solution no matter how long it takes, and they don't give up. We faced an issue during a data center move with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, but support helped us for about four hours and figured out that it was one virtual machine causing the problem, maintaining support through shift changes, which was fantastic.

Negative

I'm not sure if the organization was using another solution to address similar needs prior to Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

Our experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is positive, as our Dell account team helps us use our funds wisely, especially being a non-profit.

I have been involved in the deployment of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers in our organization.

I have seen a return on our investment with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, as they provide stability and efficiency; they allow the organization to do what it is set out to do, and without that, we wouldn't be able to survive.

Our experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is positive, as our Dell account team helps us use our funds wisely, especially being a non-profit.

We did not consider any other solutions before selecting Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers because we're a big Dell shop, and we were pretty loyal to Dell's equipment.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers do not play a role in our organization's AI initiatives. I realize some time savings and efficiencies with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. I am not sure how much time we are saving by having Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers in our environment. 

I can't think of anything more for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers since we set it and forget it; we just keep up with maintenance, and it runs as it should. The deployment of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers worked efficiently as it came ready to go with ESXi already loaded, making it almost plug-and-play. 

I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers overall as an excellent solution because they are reliable, efficient, and available when we need them. On a scale of 1-10, I rate this solution a 10.