Dell PowerEdge R-Series Reviews

I have experience with VxRail and other Dell products. I am working with multiple Dell solutions now, including VxRail and server storage. I am working with Dell PowerEdge.

I normally deal with Dell PowerEdge R-Series. Everything is good regarding my experience with Dell PowerEdge R-Series. In Dell PowerEdge R-Series, there is nothing special that stands out, as it basically provides the compute power. One thing good is the support from them, as the part replacement support is quite responsive.

I would rate their technical support from one to ten as eight or nine. I usually recommend Dell PowerEdge R-Series for enterprise companies, even though most of the enterprise SMB or SME are using Dell servers as well. Dell PowerEdge R-Series is a scalable solution that is always up to date with the latest processor, memories, and all that, especially when a customer requires the latest technology for maximum performance. I can see that Dell is one of the vendors that always comes with the latest CPU releases from Intel or even AMD.

Dell PowerEdge R-Series could learn from its competitors about support response and also in terms of hardware stability, resiliency, and sustainability in the long run.

It has been many years since I have been dealing with Dell PowerEdge R-Series, as I am the reseller of it.

I am not aware of any stability issues as of now. Dell PowerEdge R-Series does not play a role in my customers' AI initiatives.

The implementation of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is easy to deploy.

One thing good is the support from them, as the part replacement support is quite responsive. I would rate their technical support from one to ten as eight or nine.

As for the pricing, I would say it is competitive. All the hardware prices are quite high today.

I definitely see good competition to Dell PowerEdge R-Series now, especially from those China brands.

I do not have a comment on what additional features would make it closer to ten, but perhaps making the price more competitive would help. I would rate this review a 9.

On-premises

Our primary use case for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is to deliver robust, scalable infrastructure solutions tailored for virtualization, private cloud and AI-driven workloads.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have been a cornerstone of our infrastructure portfolio, allowing us to enhance service quality, increase business agility and expand our enterprise client base with confidence.

The most valuable features of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, from our perspective as an enterprise solution provider, include:

iDRAC (Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller)

Scalability & Modular Design

OpenManage Enterprise Suite

Security Features

High Efficiency Power & Thermal Design

ProSupport & Deployment Services

These features collectively enable us to deliver high-availability, cost-efficient and secure solutions that meet diverse customer demands, from SMBs to large enterprises.

While Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are among the most reliable and versatile in the market, there are a few areas where improvements and feature additions could further enhance their value:

Areas for Improvement
Firmware Update Coordination
Enhanced GPU & AI Workload Support in Mid-range Models
Noise Levels in Smaller Environments
Greater Native Support for Open-Source Tools

Suggested Features for Future Releases
AI-Powered Predictive Maintenance
Edge-Optimized Models with Compact Form Factor
Improved Integration with Multi-Cloud Platforms

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are enterprise-grade and trusted, but continued focus on edge workloads, open-source compatibility and smarter automation features will help Dell stay ahead in a rapidly evolving infrastructure landscape.

As a Dell Technologies Partner and Enterprise Solution Provider, we have been working with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for over a decade. Throughout this period, we’ve deployed, configured and supported PowerEdge solutions across a wide range of industry verticals including government, finance, healthcare, education, and manufacturing.

On-premises

We are running VMware vSphere and regular Windows servers. We use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for server implementation, virtualization, storage, so basically virtualization and server support.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped to reduce unplanned production downtime. They have also helped to reduce the consumption of energy. We have seen decreased consumption levels through our monitoring systems. The cooling system has been significantly improved in the newer versions and models of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

The optimization of hardware and the ability to extend the hardware are valued features.

Pricing might be an area for improvement. There is competition, and lowering prices could be beneficial.

We have been using it for at least ten years.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have managed to reduce the consumption of energy. We have seen that in the levels of our monitoring systems, which definitely show a decrease in consumption.

I've contacted them many times. The overall support is very good with first-class service.

Positive

We are using Pure Storage—the flash drives from Pure Storage.

It was easy. 

At the end, the cost benefit will be greater than the original investments. We just implemented the solution in our Mexico City offices. This is the first month for the actual payment. The benefit in the long run financially is structured so the company does not decapitalize. In the three or five years, we will have the newer equipment once the leasing is over or is renewed.

We are at the initial stage in our AI journey as a multinational level company. We are still working on testing, but it hasn't been totally implemented yet. We have done some automation with Python and are trying to use CoPilot for small tasks, but it hasn't been developed to a large scale. We are still in progress at this point.

I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a ten out of ten.

We have a production setup in a factory for some of our services. The server can be a database server, file server, or even the Active Directory. We have multiple applications running on these servers, and we are very satisfied with these servers.

We are mostly using the 600 series.

Dell is certainly innovating. With the latest servers and technologies, I believe they are well aligned with the current need for AI solutions and the market demand.

We receive regular firmware updates ensuring security. We are quite satisfied with the updates and security. Dell also offers the Dell Assist feature which automatically keeps updating to the latest version available on the Dell website.

We have not experienced any security incidents or vulnerabilities with these servers.

These servers have been robust throughout their lifespan of five years, but I have observed that they work well even beyond that. Some companies continue using models that are expired because they have no reason to replace them based on the expiry date of the hardware.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have had a positive impact on our organization's sustainability goals. We are very satisfied with these servers as well as with their service. Good service has a big impact on the product as well. If you have a good product but do not get good service, it creates a negative experience. Both need to be there.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped to reduce unplanned production downtime by about 25%.

OpenManage console has an excellent user interface to configure and use servers effectively. It is a nice tool, but we are not utilizing it much. My understanding is that it is going to be discontinued.

We are very satisfied with Dell in terms of servers and service. We are happy with Dell servers. They are aligned with our services. They are robust. So far, we have found Dell to be the best vendor. Everything works fine and upgrades are also timely. They are also always innovating.

When interacting with customer support, it defaults to Arabic because of our region. However, most of the experts here are not familiar with Arabic. We would like English as an alternative language for easy interaction. 

Additionally, after the expiration of support, it is sometimes challenging to find parts like hard drives, especially for obsolete models. 

They are moving from OMSA to iDRAC, but iDRAC is complex, requiring additional plugin tools. These requirements make it a bit complicated. Other vendors are better in this aspect. They should provide a better way of access.

I have been with my company for nine years, and we have been using Dell PowerEdge Servers since then.

It is robust and flexible. It continues to work with the same performance even after the end of support.

It works well and does not need much downtime for maintenance. There is a feature to update the server while it is running, so there is no need to restart. It improves production performance.

It is quite easy to scale. It has impacted the flexibility of our operations in a good way.

We are very satisfied with the professional support. The language support can be better. Other than that, it is good. I would rate them a nine out of ten.

Positive

We have been using Dell for more than 15 years. We initially used IBM and then HP for a short period. HP had some service issues, which led us to move back to Dell. We chose Dell because of the service and robustness of the server.

Deployment is quite easy with Dell because it has a life cycle feature. This single module helps in configuration from the initial phase. That is one of the best features.

We have an in-house team for deployment. We mainly rely on partners for purchases, but we have technical experts within our organization.

The ROI of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is quite good. If rated out of five, I would say four.

It is hard to measure the total cost of ownership because we have a distributed environment. We have multiple offices and the budget is split.

We are at an entry level in terms of using AI. We are looking into automating things and making our process more efficient. We have not run any AI workloads on Dell PowerEdge servers. Data security is our main concern when it comes to AI. For implementing AI, we need to consider the security and auditing aspects. 

I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a ten out of ten.

On-premises

My main use case for Dell PowerEdge R-Series is to use it as standalone servers but also as part of some clusters. I have some OpenStack private cloud deployed on them and some Ceph software-defined storage deployed on them.

In my OpenStack private cloud, I am using Dell PowerEdge R-Series servers to run the Ceph software-defined platform. Basically, every node is part of the clusters. It exposes the hardware, the storage part and you can add it to the cluster and create the pools of storage based on the disk types, for example, HDDs or SSDs or NVMEs. Those storage pools are then exposed using the Ceph platform to the consumers using some specific protocols, for example, iSCSI or even with Ceph's own tools as RBDs, block storage. That block storage is used also as a storage backend for the OpenStack platform. So basically, when I want to deploy some IaaS, some virtual machines and services on top of them, the VMs get the storage via Ceph platform from those Dell PowerEdge R-Series servers.

I just want to emphasize that I do enjoy working with the iDRACs because I think it's one of the best ways to manage the server out there, comparing to other vendors. It's one of the best ways to manage the server using the iDRAC and the whole feature set around that.

The best features Dell PowerEdge R-Series offers start with the simple KVM interface, console, through the specific configuration on the BIOS level, on the network cards level, on the power supplies, on the performance mode or balanced mode.

The reliability of Dell PowerEdge R-Series has positively affected my operations because we use one of the Dell PowerEdge R-Series servers as a main router for our connectivity to the internet. If that goes down, basically the whole network goes down. I have managed to keep it up without any problems in the last ten years or so.

Dell PowerEdge R-Series is one of the best platforms that I have in my data centers, the most reliable. I didn't have any single failure. I have some disk failures, but that's about it. So I have servers that are in production since 2010, for example.

I have been working in my current field since 2013.

Dell PowerEdge R-Series is stable.

I cannot say much about Dell PowerEdge R-Series's scalability. I don't really know what to say.

My experience with customer support is great. I didn't have that much interaction with them because everything worked great. When I need those people, they were helpful.

I previously used different solutions based on the fundings. I have a lot of different vendors in my setup. I do prefer the Dell ones when I am able to secure the pricing.

I evaluated Supermicro and Cisco and HP before choosing Dell PowerEdge R-Series.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is great. It was really great because I managed to get good pricing and outcompete some other vendors.

I did not use Dell deployment services, an integrator, reseller, or consultant for the deployment. I have an ongoing project right now, but I cannot say more about it because it just started.

My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is great. It was really great because I managed to get good pricing and outcompete some other vendors.

I evaluated Supermicro and Cisco and HP before choosing Dell PowerEdge R-Series.

On a scale from 1 to 10, I would rate Dell's professional services or technical support for this solution about eight. It's not 10 because I had some issues around the scheduling part, but they did a great job in the end.

My advice to others looking into using Dell PowerEdge R-Series is to go on. You cannot fail with them. I would rate this review a 10 out of 10.

Private Cloud

Other

Dell PowerEdge R-Series plays a role in my company's AI initiatives. For example, it is involved in AI-driven data analysis and automation like edge computing.

I don't find specific features of Dell PowerEdge R-Series particularly valuable, and I have no comment on that. The improvement Dell PowerEdge R-Series has brought to my company is reliability.

I have no comment on which areas Dell PowerEdge R-Series could still be improved, as I don't know.

I have been using Dell PowerEdge R-Series for 10 years or longer, starting at Vodafone with my current employer and having prior experience with it for 20 years at previous companies.

I am not aware of any crashes, downtime, or performance issues with Dell PowerEdge R-Series, as none are known.

I can't say much about the expansion of applications with Dell PowerEdge R-Series, but it seems to be working quite well and it works.

I rate Dell support as good. On a scale from one to ten, I would say nine. There are sometimes challenges with maintenance renewal, particularly with responsiveness, which sometimes takes a long time before we get feedback.

Positive

I have used a different solution before Dell PowerEdge R-Series in parallel, such as Hewlett Packard Enterprise, or HPE. We did switch to Dell PowerEdge R-Series, so it's moving more and more towards Dell rather than merely adding it.

I have not seen a return on investment because we don't use them until they stop working. Instead, we do a refresh when the systems reach end-of-support or even earlier since we work on end-customer projects. Internal IT handles it differently, and for end-customer projects, there is always a defined lifecycle—such as three years, four years, or longer. Then we do a hardware refresh, if necessary, or not. If the end customer no longer needs the infrastructure or desires something new, then it will be replaced.

The trend towards Dell PowerEdge R-Series is due to economic aspects, reliability, maintainability, and delivery times, which are also significant factors. I consider the pricing and licensing of Dell PowerEdge R-Series to be at market standard. For Dell in general, I would rate it a nine on a scale from one to ten. The challenges regarding responsiveness occur because we submit it, and then it goes to the UK, where our contact person is, who then forwards it. It would be beneficial as a suggestion for improvement to have a portal where you simply enter the serial number to request support renewal or anything else via the workflow. I rate this review a nine out of ten overall.

We've been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for a long time, and they are really the workhorse behind the scenes for our business, whether it's documents or something else. In the past, it was our ERP system, our SQL Server, and nowadays, besides that, we also do some production technology stuff, some PLCs, some data collection, so Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers run all that technology behind our business.

Our use case for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers includes our SQL Server that runs our ERP system, as well as typical office tasks like Excel files, Word documents, and marketing materials; basically, typical file storage, and our PLC analytic systems that we run.

We've about 130 people in our organization. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have supported our growth. We've had tremendous growth, increasing probably by four times when I started, so Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have been behind the scenes, enabling us to grow the business. When we started, we were a small business, and we've now grown into the medium business range. We use a lot of enterprise features that small businesses don't. It has been great that PowerEdge was there when we were a small business, and now that we are a medium-sized business, there is still a solution for us.

My favorite features of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have been the redundancy and reliability. The redundancy built into the system allows us to replace components like a hard drive without shutting the server down, and that has always been the best feature ever. 

We've quadrupled in size since we started, which is a great story showing how PowerEdge servers have enabled that growth over the years.

To improve Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, I would like to see the return of the dedicated Hyper-V cluster storage product line that was discontinued, which I found to be a really nice product. The beneficial aspect of that feature was that we could skip the PowerStore and just have the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers alone, as they also served as storage, which helped us save money.

We've been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers longer than I've been with the company. I've been with the company for 20 years, and we've been a PowerEdge customer since before.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have been able to scale with our growing needs. We've grown about four times compared to when I started, and as technology has advanced, so have we, with PowerEdge always providing a solution.

I find Dell's customer service and technical support exceptional. All the support personnel have been very knowledgeable and quick to respond, making overall support great with the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers and the enterprise products.

Positive

Before Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, I don't know what they were using.

They are easy to deploy. Deploying Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers was made easier with ProDeploy; I've deployed servers in the past, but I prefer to focus on high-level stuff now, and having ProDeploy take care of the deployment was really helpful.

It's just my team of three maintaining Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

We have seen a return on investment through the redundancy and reliability of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, which keep the technology running seamlessly in the background. My managers do not have to worry about it at all. As long as it keeps running, no one else in the company knows it's there, and that is the best testament to the product.

The pricing of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers has been a little problematic. It was sticker shock with our most recent purchase compared to the previous one, and there's a gap in pricing at our current level because what we do isn't very compute-intensive, resulting in a mismatch where we fit into an in-between category without an exact solution available. We don't need a lot of processor power or a lot of memory. We need a medium amount of those, but the solutions available are a little bit too large for us.

We have evaluated other solutions from time to time, but we use a lot of Dell products, so it's always made sense to go with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

With Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, right-sizing the equipment is important. I've found that many IT people overestimate their needs in terms of compute and memory, so utilizing Dell's tool to determine current usage and discussing the company's trajectory with C-level executives helps in making informed decisions for future growth. I don't know the name of that tool off the top of my head, but all the Dell reps know it and recommend running it when purchasing new equipment.

I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a nine out of ten.

On-premises

Our use case for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is data storage and computing for satellite images and AR picture generation.

It's required for our business. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers benefit our organization as we build satellites and use images from Earth to check the planet's health and constellation for telecommunication purposes. Our company is very young, with eight satellites in space, and we are still building the company.

Being in Belgium, which is a small country, we might be considered too small for Dell since we only have 40 Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. This sometimes affects our ability to receive deployment support.

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

We've 300 people in our organization. I believe Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers can grow with our business. Our company has a megafactory for satellites, making us the biggest company in Europe for satellites and the third in the world. Dell can support us in growing the company and developing our IT infrastructure.

The customer service is excellent, but we don't always get deployment support.

Positive

I have used HPE servers previously.

It's very easy to deploy Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

I did not evaluate other solutions besides Dell when we were looking because our IT manager had previous experience with Dell, and we continued with that decision.

I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a nine out of ten.

On-premises