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.

Hybrid Cloud

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.

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.

On-premises

Other

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.

On-premises

Other

We are running Nutanix on top of Dell PowerEdge R-Series, and we're deploying our product that eventually is going to customer dark site environments.

The feature I like the most about Dell PowerEdge R-Series is its reliability. 

There are no items I want to improve on Dell PowerEdge R-Series; maybe just a discount.

We have been using Dell PowerEdge R-Series for something similar to four years.

Our cluster can be anywhere from for to 30 clusters. It depends on the client. 

The customer service for Dell PowerEdge R-Series is great, however, I cannot say that other companies are better or Dell is better; the customer service is good. 

I would rate the customer service of Dell PowerEdge R-Series an eight out of ten.

Positive

Before using Dell PowerEdge R-Series, we used HPE, however, we also are using HPE now as we want to be able to run and make a lot of performance on different hardware. We are running on top of HPE and Dell.

It's a development environment and a product, so I don't think about needing to get the money back for some period; it's a big company.

We are satisfied with what we got from Dell PowerEdge R-Series; there was no need to add it for more functions. I'm not sure what metrics I can provide about the performance of Dell PowerEdge R-Series, however, we are just satisfied with its performance and the compact environment that it provides to us.

The price of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is high, however, somebody needs to pay it.

Dell PowerEdge R-Series does not help us grow the company or grow the work.

I don't remember the model of Dell PowerEdge R-Series, however, it's either 560 or 720. 

There are servers with a lot of GPUs, and there are servers without GPUs; it depends on the use case. The organization is big, but I'm working on different projects, so it depends on what you mean by big. Our clusters on Dell PowerEdge R-Series are going from four to 30 servers, depending on the client.

We are now at the beginning of 2000 when we actually needed some papers and courses for Dell PowerEdge R-Series. All the information is available on the network, so there are no big challenges; you just go to the network, and you find the exact information that you need. It doesn't matter where I find the information; ChatGPT is doing a great job.

Dell PowerEdge R-Series is a great company, and I would rate the overall solution a nine out of ten; it's at the top of the technologies, and I'm very satisfied. I see myself continuing with Dell PowerEdge R-Series.

On-premises

Other

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.

On-premises

Other

My latest use case for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers has been for virtualization, setting up Proxmox servers, and creating a secure environment by setting up VDI machines.

It has helped avoid purchasing multiple laptops and set everything up on just one server machine and one rack in a data center through consolidation.

The most valuable feature of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is the ease of use, as it allows me to spin up different OSes on it without having to go through a bunch of hoops.

The pricing could be better, as budget is always a huge thing for us. Anytime we can get better pricing, it helps convince the business to adopt it.

For my current use case of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, it has been about three months, but in my current position, I have been using it for about three years.

The stability of the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is good. It is significantly better than some of the 8 or 9-year-old Dell blade servers we were using before.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers scale with the growing needs of my company. We are scaling smoothly, as the PowerEdges we are putting in are replacing older ones, and we are getting much better feedback from the business on it.

We were 3,500 employees a month ago. We're now close to 33,000. We just got acquired.

I have not had to contact customer service or technical support for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, as I have been able to manage everything myself.

Neutral

The blade servers we were using were eight or nine-year-old Dell blade servers.

Deploying the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is easy. We just rack, stack, and then hook it up to the network, and it is good to go. For a single server, it takes maybe an hour or two.

My company has seen a return on investment from using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, as the builds that the build team runs are going approximately 30% faster on the newer PowerEdge than what we were using previously.

I personally think the pricing and licensing of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is actually fairly decent, though the way the business runs leads to sticker shock anytime we give them a quote.

Currently, my team does not use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for any AI initiatives, but I believe there are other teams in the company that are, and they have their own dedicated PowerEdge servers.

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

On-premises

We primarily use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for 3D rendering and 3D performance work. Our organization uses Dell servers to help with our rendering when they are not in use.

We have tested a few AI workloads on our PowerEdge servers, but we still need work to do in terms of installation, security, data privacy, and user agreements to deploy it in production. When you are in a big enterprise, you need at least two or three months to test something before launching it, or you may need to start over midway through. In some areas, we are at the forefront, but we are very far behind in other areas.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have allowed us to work with PC over IP, enabling coworkers to work from anywhere. The servers have contributed to the sustainability effort. Our newest purchases are leased, so Dell takes them back when we're done. Otherwise, we can send them to a sustainability company that works with them. We get some money back, and they take care of it and give it another life. We try to use them for at least four years, and they aren't dead. Another company can use them, but we want a warranty on all the stuff in our data centers.

PowerEdge servers have reduced unplanned production downtime. Before we used PowerEdge, we had a lot of workstations on the floor. We could experience anything from a power outage to someone tripping on a wire. That kind of outage is stressful for us because our workstations and servers help with our rendering when they aren't used.

The iDRAC helps us monitor and manage our systems.

PowerEdge could have more configuration options, such as the ability to combine different CPUs, memory volumes, data storage, and memory. The new Intel-based ones are a bit power-hungry. You want to fill the rack but can't because the estimated power consumption could be too high.

I have used Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for eight to ten years.

Dell PowerEdge Rack servers are highly stable. Over four years, we've had less than 1 percent downtime, and we've rarely had to contact support about instability.

We have effortlessly scaled from approximately 20 servers to many more, so scalability isn't an issue.

The extended warranty and next-day support are fantastic. Though we rarely need support, the overall reliability of the support service is highly satisfactory.

Positive

We have a central agreement with Dell, and Dell servers were preapproved and ready to be installed. Therefore, no evaluation of other server brands was conducted, and there has been no switch from other server brands.

Deploying PowerEdge support is effortless. Our first-line support handled and managed the deployment. They provided step-by-step guidelines for us to follow, and it worked well.

The return on investment with Dell PowerEdge servers is substantial due to the combination of pricing, extended warranty, and exceptional support.

I rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers 10 out of 10. Nothing we have tested has been better.

On-premises

My main use case for these solutions is for production and our data center. So essentially, at my site, we have two Dell PowerEdge R-Series, one PowerStore, and then we have a third Dell PowerEdge R-Series filled with disks as an on-site DR.

The benefits I have seen from using Dell PowerEdge R-Series specifically include scalability; it has allowed us to scale up when we need to. It also provides the throughput piece. We don't have to worry about our factory systems slowing down or coming to a halt. Dell PowerEdge R-Series is more than capable of supporting those systems, and that has been really important.

When it comes to how Dell PowerEdge R-Series can be improved, I honestly don't know as I'm not on the technical side anymore.

I have been using rack servers for probably over the last seven to nine years.

I would describe the stability and reliability of Dell PowerEdge R-Series as never having an issue over the last seven to nine years; we've never had one issue with them.

When it comes to scaling capabilities, scaling has always been absolutely fine. We've bought what we need with a scope to scale, and it has always met our requirements.

I would rate support as very good; from a hardware monitoring point of view, if there's an issue, we get alerted about it. If there's a drive to be replaced, it's sent out with an engineer, and the engineers contact us to get it sorted. If there are issues with firmware or OS upgrades, we can get on to Dell, and they help us through.

Positive

We were using HP; they were okay and had done the job, but I think the storage that we put with them wasn't up to scratch.

My experience with pricing, setup, costs, and licensing has been that pricing in general has always been very competitive. We do go to market every time we do a refresh; that's one of the things we have to compare with our competitors. We deal with Dell direct, so it's very competitive.

The vendors I have considered include HP; we look at NetApp, and really any other player, but normally it's HP, NetApp, and Dell.

The primary reasons I went with Dell PowerEdge R-Series over all of these competitors include sitting down with Dell, explaining my use case, and discussing the issues I've had in the past with other vendors or other hardware, leading to an agreement on a template for all our production facilities. I would rate Dell PowerEdge R-Series a 10 out of 10.

On-premises

Other

We have created Hyper-V virtual machines. We have multiple virtual machines running on this system. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are good for handling diverse applications. We have not faced any issues so far. It is good. It is doing well.

We are using Dell PowerEdge R730 Server, and it meets our needs for handling high-performance workloads. We are extremely satisfied.

They are good at firmware upgrades and other things. So far, we have not faced any issues with them. Earlier, I used some other brands. As compared to those, I am satisfied with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

We did not experience any security incidents with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

The advantages include ease of use. The rack accessibility, BIOS settings, and everything else are easy. Its configuration is straightforward. I do not have any difficulties working with it.

It operates without any downtime. It runs 24 hours and 365 days. The downtime is there for an hour or two only when I do an upgrade, but it is within the SLA.

I do not have any input. My servers are quite old. Newer systems are more sustainable in terms of energy consumption. I need to consider more power-saving and sustainable options.

We have been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers since 2018. It has been almost five years.

It has been good. I have not faced any issues so far, and it is performing well. For the last five years, I have been using it and am extremely satisfied. I hope it will continue like that.

We have not done any expansion. We are planning but have not implemented any expansion yet.

When I had an incident, the support was good. I would rate it a nine out of ten.

Positive

We have used other brands previously, but we had issues related to firmware and slowness. We are satisfied with Dell PowerEdge servers.

 It was not difficult. Based on my previous experience, it was easy to implement.

I worked with Dell Professional Services to plan, implement, and adopt the solution in the beginning. They supported me with the RAID configuration and other types of setups.

We reduced costs by purchasing one or two servers instead of multiple. We are using a single server for our workload.

I don't remember the model, but we evaluated HPE. 

We have not run any AI workloads on these servers. We have multiple software and platforms. It is not easy to integrate AI. We are planning to do it but so far, nothing has been done when it comes to AI integration.

Overall, I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a ten out of ten. It has been working well for the last five years. I am satisfied with it.

On-premises