Dell PowerEdge R-Series Reviews

We are using R640 and R740 models. We use the solution as the back end and front end of our environment.

We use it for computing, storage, and server capacity for our back-end and front-end workloads.

The product provides good quality for its price. PowerEdge is one of the best in the market. We have been using it for 12 to 15 years, and the server has broken only once. The product is reliable. It is really important for us. The tool delivers everything we need. It does what we want it to do.

The product must improve its integration with VMware. It is really important to us. They should make the management more out of the box so we have less maintenance.

I have been using the solution for 12 to 15 years.

The tool is stable.

The scalability depends a little bit on the software we use.

The initial setup is pretty easy. It is an out-of-the-box experience. It's plug-and-play. We click it in, attach the cables, and start.

As an enterprise customer, the pricing is fine for us. There are also possibilities to interact over the price and discuss. We have no complaints.

We have evaluated HPE and Cisco. The main difference we noticed is interoperability. We use a lot of VMware software. The integration with Dell is always perfect. It is a big advantage for us. HPE lacks interoperability.

The Cyber Resilient Architecture approach is a good step. Hackers always try to get into infrastructures or use ransomware to encrypt files. Dell has taken it very seriously. We can see there's a lot of development in PowerEdge. New services are coming out. It's more powerful. It also has less energy consumption. They're going in the right direction.

We use the OpenManage console to patch our servers. It made some really good developments in the last few years. We can just press a button, and the upgrade continues. We're very happy with it. It has made our staff's work easier and reduced the time spent on tasks. A task that took us 40 hours before now takes us 20 hours to complete.

The product has provided us with reliability in a positive way. 

HPE and Lenovo are the product's competitors.

Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.

I use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers in my company, mostly for virtualization and also for some applications running directly on physical machines.

The solution's lifecycle management with iDRAC works really well, and it is a valuable feature because it helps with maintenance and keeping track of what we have in our company.

The product offers a bit of a larger landscape to manage the entire environment. There is a feature that allows you to see the power distribution the rack servers in your environment use. 

The product has some other features that were really beneficial for my company and made it easier for us to work with the systems, as it became easier to expand and fix them online.

We wanted to have two storage cards during the onboarding process of the solution, which were available only on the more expensive version of the boxes that we usually use for work in our company. It would have been easier for my company to deal with the product if the two storage cards provided during the solution's onboarding process of the expensive versions of the solution were available for the slightly simpler versions of the tool.

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

In our company, we have had some really good results with the product's hardware, but we also had a couple of sets of hardware be bought that had a lot of memory errors, so we needed to have a lot of DIMM hardware replaced. In my company, we had really stable sets of hardware and not-so-stable ones as well.

The range of systems under Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is large enough to have both small enough systems and large enough systems, so the product's scalability is fine.

It is not me but mostly my colleagues who have contacted the solution's technical support. From what I know, I can say that the solution's technical support works really well, so it's okay. In our company, we can schedule a replacement part very quickly with the help of the solution's technical support. 

I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.

Positive

In my company, we had experienced too many hardware failures with our previous solution supplier, HPE.

My company's tools for deployment had to be modified to take care of the product's deployment phase. The product's deployment phase was not super complicated, but it did take my company a couple of weeks to build it up and to make it work, which was not too bad. The aforementioned process would have been the same for every other company as well, so it was okay, in my opinion, since it was not worse than the processes of some other tools.

I don't know about the product's licensing part. Price-wise, it is an okay product. I believe that the cheaper the better, but I think that the product's price is okay.

As a part of my company's evaluation process, we considered Supermicro against Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. Compared to Supermicro, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are a bit cheaper, but the product's con stems from the fact that we had to do too many things in our company to make it work. The amount of effort to maintain all of it and to build or maintain it all was too much. Though the product was a little bit more expensive than Supermicro, its management features were way more extensive, which made a difference for us in our company.

In my company, we were trying to resolve some particular issues through the implementation of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, as we had experienced too many hardware failures with our previous solution supplier, HPE.

PowerEdge Cyber Resilient Architecture's approach to security, including the silicon-based root of trust, signed firmware updates, and user access security, works well, but my company doesn't have many sales-related areas to report.

The assessment of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for energy consumption in my company is not much of a big deal for us. In our company, we saw that the energy consumption of the product depends on which role of the machines it is concerned with, especially when it came to the more mission-critical servers which we used to use in high-performance mode, causing them to use more power because it helped make our company quicker which in turn helped with the generation of higher revenue for us. Power consumption was not much of an issue like a couple of years ago, meaning it has changed a bit. Our company has B Corp certification, causing us to look towards areas like the product's energy consumption since it is much more important now than it used to be in the past.

In terms of the concept of power or energy consumption of the product, I can say that it fits and helps meet my company's requirements because of the different power profiles we can deploy.

In my company, we don't use OpenManage Enterprise.

The overall flexibility of our organization's operations with the use of PowerEdge Rack Servers has been okay, as we usually use virtualization software on top of the product, giving us big-sized machines.

There are a lot of options that one can opt for when using the solution. I like how my company talks with people inside Dell to help us with what we need or figure out how to do something. If you look at the product from a broader perspective, it works really well as a large package.

I rate the overall solution a nine out of ten.

We're using it for various purposes, such as DB servers, web servers, application servers, file servers, print servers, etc.

We can use the OpenManage console for managing multiple rack servers. We can manage all of them in a single console. The firmware can be pushed on multiple servers via the OpenManage console. It's very user-friendly, and it makes it easy to download and update the firmware. There are multiple options. If I have 15 servers of the same model, to update the firmware, I don't need to download the firmware on each server. With the OpenManage console, we can download it just once and then push it to multiple servers.

The OpenManage console has affected our IT staff’s productivity. Upgrading firmware on each server generally takes two hours. So, upgrading firmware on multiple servers would take a lot of time. For example, for 15 servers, it would take at least 30 hours, whereas, with the OpenManage console, we can update all the servers within two hours.

The OpenManage console also decreases the time it takes to deploy new data centers. It would take more time to deploy the individual servers.

We can use Dell Lifecycle Controller for remote server management. If something happens, I use the iDRAC console to check the impact. It's easy to identify the issue from the iDRAC console. If there is a blue screen or purple screen, it's a hardware-related or software-related issue. I am based in India, but I can easily support US operations. iDRAC allows me to work remotely to troubleshoot. So, troubleshooting, as well as firmware downloads and updates, are very easy. All the firmware and drivers are available on a single page. I can download or update the firmware if there is a purple screen or a driver is missing. In the OpenManage console, everything is visible. We can see the installed version and the available version in a single console. It shows anything that is non-compliant in your list. If my environment has 1,000 servers, it will show whether all 1,000 servers are up to date or not. I can then identify and plan for the firmware updates. After updating the firmware, the hardware runs smoothly.

It supports multiple operating systems. I have experience installing Windows servers, ESXi, and Linux. It's not only for Windows. We use the VMware ESXi operating system. On ESXi, we run around 6,000 virtual servers. We have app servers, DB servers, and file servers. There are also manufacturing applications, where they are running robotic machines. So, there are different applications running.

You can use Dell PowerEdge hardware for anything. It supports everything such as file servers, web servers, and DB servers. It can support all critical servers and applications. There are bank applications running on PowerEdge servers.

PowerEdge rack servers are good in terms of energy consumption.

Dell hardware is not as stable as HP. I have not seen any issues with HP in five years, but with Dell, I am getting multiple issues. It's not stable. They need to verify why it has multiple issues and why Dell hardware is not as stable as HP hardware.

I have 15 years of experience in the IT industry. I have worked in multiple companies, and I have more than 10 years of experience with Dell hardware. I have worked with Dell PowerEdge R720, R730, R740, R830, R840, and R940, and I have also worked with Dell PowerEdge VRTX Chassis M630 and M640.

Dell hardware is not as stable as HP hardware.

Their support is number one worldwide. I never got that much support with other hardware. I would rate them a 10 out of 10.

Positive

I have also worked with HP hardware in one of the companies. In five years, I generally did not see any issues with HP hardware, but in case I had any problem with hardware, they took more than 10 days to replace the hardware or troubleshoot the problem. I don't like that. Whereas Dell provides support within four hours for hardware replacement. They provide better support. Within four hours, they arrange for a replacement. Their support is number one. I would recommend Dell because their support is very good.

Dell's hardware is not as stable as HP's. We see multiple issues, such as hard disk failures. We need to apply updates or patches. Dell is user-friendly. So, it's very easy to apply and download, but the hardware is not stable. This is the only part that needs to be developed from Dell's side.

HP is more expensive than Dell. Dell provides better quotes. They give multiple options to buy the hardware.

Its deployment is very easy. Anybody can deploy it. They provide everything. Its deployment is easy and user-friendly.

For deployment, we have customized ISO for our environment. We use that. For ESXi, we are using the Dell custom image that they provide on their website. We can download that directly from there, and that's it.

One of the clients has been offered a price of $18,000 instead of the regular price of around $25,000.

It supports everything. You can install anything you want. If you want DB, you can do that. If you need high-performance workloads, you need to increase storage capacity. It depends on the configuration, but it will support that. The PowerEdge server has 16 slots. You just need to buy maximum capacity during the purchase.

I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a 10 out of 10.

We primarily use the solution for virtualization.

The versatility has been great. We have several different configurations with different networking capabilities, different capacity, throughput, and configurations. I work on a dark site in a classified environment. I can't really comment too much beyond that.

PowerEdge is great for handling the evolving needs of high-performance workloads like VDI, AI, and SAP on multi-cloud. We're very happy with their performance. We're lucky enough to also have Dell and VMware. We call them a TAM specialist on-site. If we have any problems, they respond to them quickly.

Since we are in a classified environment, we appreciate the security specifications very much. It helps us as we have to do our own assessments and those security features help us to get our paperwork done.

We use Dell's Optane Memory in our PowerEdge environment. I’m not sure if it’s saved money, I’m really not on the financial side. We have a budget and then we go and shop for the best bang for the buck. Since we are using that feature, it does save us money. However, I can’t say how much.

We do use Dell's OpenManage console. It is easy to use this console for lifecycle management or PowerEdge servers. We use it primarily when we have a network issue or if we can't access the servers our usual way. It's very convenient as a secondary way to access it. As far as life cycle management, that's what we use when we need to do our upgrades, firmware, and the like. It's very valuable. It’s increased our IT staff's productivity, however, I can't tell by how much.

Using PowerEdge helped to reduce unplanned production downtime by 20% to 25%.

We'd want the solution to be faster, and of course, for them to bring down the price. 

I've probably been using PowerEdge Servers since 2010. 

Technical support is very good to excellent. We have a dedicated Dell support team, and they are very knowledgeable. If they don't know the answer and they almost always do, they'll get the answer right away. We're very satisfied with their help.

Positive

We are moving to VxRails. We are using it for virtualization, and for some file storage, and then we're going to be moving to VDI solutions as we get more VxRails that have GPU capability.

In the past, we used HP. We used Oracle hardware as well. Oracle has its own hard drives. They buy their servers and then put their logo on them and then resell that. Those are probably the two biggest companies that we've used in the past.

We switched to Dell due to the cost and feature sets. We liked the feature set of the Dell, however, the operating costs and maintenance costs, contracts, were a big selling factor. A lot of the hardware that we used to have was older as well. 

I used HP servers. They have a service like Dell OpenManage called iLO. It does the same thing. You can access the servers through the network to help with firmware upgrades. The HP hardware, at the time, was more expensive for maintenance and to buy new. When we went to VxRails and PowerEdge, it was a better deal, more bang for the buck, that's why we switched.

I was not a part of the initial setup.

I did not evaluate other servers from other vendors before choosing PowerEdge.

We did consider public cloud servers before choosing PowerEdge. We use both.

We compared latency and costs when looking at PowerEdge versus the public cloud. At the time, the public cloud looked more attractive on paper. When we did testing, the latency and throughput were comparable. However, the Dell PowerEdge Servers that we had on-premises had a little bit better performance, as the cloud was quite a distance from where our data center is. It's comparable, however, when we looked at the overall cost of a public cloud, it was much more expensive to do a public cloud, and it was less expensive to do on-premises. Most of PowerEdge is mostly on-premises.

The first one I ever used, was an R710 PowerEdge server. We're using 740s now. We also use VxRail. I know those aren't specifically PowerEdge, however, we're moving from PowerEdge servers to VxRail.

I don't really do much on the data center side of things, so I can't really comment on the power consumption. That's not my focus.

We do not use Intel Xeon Scalable processors in our PowerEdge servers.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

The ones we just bought are going to be hypervisor servers, and we have an on-premises Exchange that is running on a PowerEdge server.

The hands-off demand of the servers and the fact that they're not constantly a thorn in my side has been a big factor. They're running, and I don't have to worry about them. That is the most valuable part about it.

There is no downtime with these servers, and the system management capabilities of PowerEdge have helped increase staff productivity.

PowerEdge has, without a doubt, helped to reduce data processing time in our company. Every time we get a new PowerEdge server, we definitely notice an impact on the SQL databases that are part of our ERP. I do have users come and tell me that they've noticed that things have sped up and that even simple file searches are faster.

Dell PowerEdge servers are powerful. They don't break, and I love that. In my career of over 30 years now, all the Dell servers we've ever used out of the box have never broken.

On top of that, when we had an air conditioning failure and I came in after a weekend, the temperature in the server room was 110 degrees. Inside the cases themselves, it was over 220 degrees. The only thing we lost was a backplane on one of the servers. This alone speaks for the durability of the Dell servers, and we've never gone away from Dell servers ever.

They are fantastic in terms of performance as well.

As for PowerEdge's approach to security, I would rate it very high. The tools provided by Dell update the BIOS and everything else, and the software is running on the server at all times. It is proactive and alerts me. It's taken a load off of my shoulders compared to how it was 20 years ago. I would have to go to their site and find out what was new. Now, I can just go to the computer or the server, and right there, it will tell me what needs to be done.

The security is pretty strong. When we use ethical hackers to hack us, the Dell servers are never the issue.

In terms of power consumption, I have no complaints at all about PowerEdge Rack Servers. My server room's APC, which is a battery backup system, is a full-mounted rack. It handles all the power coming from all our PowerEdge servers. We have never once had to scale it up at all in the almost 20 years that I've been working with them. It's moving technology in and out nonstop, and it shows you that these servers are fantastic. They don't really shift that much in power needs.

Dell needs to focus more on SMBs, helping us get the most out of our products. For example, at events, there should be very specific SMB sessions where there are Dell technicians, engineers, and Dell executives meeting with us and finding out what we need. Dell is big on promoting the fact that they're part of our team and that they want to be our partners, and I would like to see them actually partner with us. Do it less with the big Fortune 500 companies and do a little bit more with us SMBs.

I've been working this solution for the last 17 years.

For stability, there's really no other product that I would trust.

Dell's support, throughout the years that we've used it, is typically fantastic, but, again, because the PowerEdge servers are so durable and good, I haven't used them as much. When I've had to contact them for other issues, they've resolved the issues within a week, if not a day or two.

The initial setup is pretty straightforward. It's out-of-the-box, and I've never found a snag or anything like that in the process.

We deploy everything by hand; everything is manual.

It doesn't take that long, and we can even do it with our laptops and desktops. We do not do any ghosting or imaging, and a server usually takes me a day at the most, while I really take my time with it and get all the updates in.

We do it ourselves, or we have one consultant that we use if it's something that is out of our wheelhouse.

Every time I don't have to work on something and my servers are just running without an issue, that is a return on investment for me. The fact that my coworkers and owners are never complaining to me about things being down all the time is the biggest ROI there is.

I have no issues with the pricing and licensing costs. They are fine.

I looked at HP, and in a previous job, I've actually worked on HPs. I didn't love the HP servers. Even more so than the hardware, I couldn't stand HP's service and support. They're really bad.

When it comes to servers, Dell would be my first choice, and IBM would be my second choice.

We have one other server that is an IBM i-series server. (It used to be called AS/400.) If I were to compare it to the PowerEdge servers, there really is no comparison. It's a monster of a machine, and we have a lot more problems with that than we do with any of our Dell servers. Plus, it's finicky. The performance on it is questionable. You have to really baby it a lot more than the Dell servers, whereas the Dell servers are those that are the set-it-and-forget-it type. I work far more on issues with my applications that are running on the Dell servers than I ever do with the actual Dell servers themselves.

I would consider Dell and HP in the same area, whereas I look at IBM as being more specific. My only experience with IBM servers has to do with the AS/400 i-series Power9 line. Those are built specifically to house an ERP, whereas the Dell and HP servers are built to handle everything you need.

When it comes to the servers, I trust Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. They're who I'm going to stick with. I don't consider HP to be a realistic competitor.

If you are comparing Dell against anyone else, just get Dell PowerEdge. It's not even a question. The servers don't break, and they don't give you issues. Your applications are going to cause enough problems for you as it is, and you don't want the hardware they're sitting upon to also be another issue. After all, the servers were 220 degrees during an air conditioning outage and still churning and not causing problems!

If I were to rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers on a scale from one to ten, I would give them a nine.

I have been using PowerEdge servers primarily for file storage.

Using PowerEdge rack servers has allowed us to use less space. Previously, we used the regular servers, but PowerEdge rack servers take up less space and are easier to handle.

The OpenManage Console improves our IT staff productivity by simplifying platform management. We can keep track of all those servers and do more jobs. The server effectively handles the evolving needs of high-performance workloads. 

The management of the security architecture could be improved. It takes some time and can be challenging. 

I have been using PowerEdge servers for over 20 years.

The overall stability is okay. We had some disk issues with an older version, but newer versions have worked fine.

PowerEdge infrastructure is scalable, but we don't have much need to scale it.

We used HP servers before. The main differences between HP and Dell are price and management. Dell is better priced. 

The initial setup was straightforward. We deployed PowerEdge in-house using OpenManage. 

The biggest return on investment for me is the stability of the product.

Dell is priced better than alternative solutions.

I rate Dell PowerEdge eight out of 10. PowerEdge servers have improved the overall flexibility of our operations and business a little by simplifying operations and rationalizing placement. 

We continuously expand our data center infrastructure with Dell PowerEdge Servers, deploying virtualization platforms across multiple data centers. As our computing needs grow, we consistently require additional compute resources, leading to ongoing expansion efforts. Each month sees the addition of new PowerEdge Servers to accommodate our evolving requirements.

The most significant benefit we've experienced is the simplicity of working with a single vendor. This streamlined approach has greatly improved our service level experience. Whenever there's an issue, we can quickly reach out to them and receive prompt replacements or support. With ProSupport, the reliability and responsiveness of Dell's support services are truly impressive. We have peace of mind knowing that our technical needs will be addressed swiftly, often with next-day solutions.

Efficiency and power consumption have seen improvements in the last generation of servers. However, it's important to note that these aspects are largely comparable across vendors when utilizing the same hardware components.

The cyber-resilient architecture is a crucial feature, particularly for security purposes. Its inclusion provides reassurance for us as hosts, allowing us to confidently communicate to our customers that we employ this advanced technology in our data centers. This enhances our credibility and serves as a point of trust when engaging with our clients.

PowerEdge Servers have significantly reduced unplanned production data shutdowns, particularly compared to our previous experience with Dell, when we encountered frequent shutdowns due to hardware malfunctions, but with PowerEdge, downtime has been consistently minimal for the past five years. This improvement has greatly benefited both us and our customers, as it allows us to provide services with much better SLAs.

The adoption of the OpenManage Console has impacted our productivity positively as we are currently in the process of rolling it out for our servers.

The standout feature is the remote control accessibility, which allows our team to access and manage the servers locally or remotely. We primarily utilize these servers for virtualization, running VMware to consolidate them into a large data center. This setup perfectly aligns with our specific requirements, and our technical team thoroughly enjoys working with it. We've experienced fewer issues compared to previous hardware solutions from other providers. With PowerEdge servers, our stability has significantly improved.

There might be room for improvement in terms of efficiency, particularly with PowerEdge servers. However, it's worth noting that this issue isn't unique to Dell but rather a general concern across the industry.

We have been using it for almost twenty years.

Stability is paramount, and it's the feedback we consistently receive from our technicians. When we seek their advice on hardware selection for various solutions, they consistently recommend Dell without hesitation.

Scalability is a strong suit, particularly for our high-demand usage scenarios. We leverage storage virtualization with VMware installation, initially setting up nodes with lower capacity. As our needs grow, we can easily expand storage by adding more nodes or increasing capacity. This scalability extends to our infrastructure, allowing for flexible expansion and adaptation as required.

In general, it's common to encounter issues, especially during late hours when support might not be readily available. However, we haven't faced significant problems with our PowerEdge servers. Any challenges we've encountered are more often related to client devices, such as laptops from Dell. When it comes to server support, our experience has been excellent, almost rating it a perfect ten out of ten.

Positive

When comparing Dell PowerEdge servers and services to other options on the market, it's challenging for us to provide a comprehensive evaluation because the majority of our servers in the data center are Dell. Therefore, our main frame of reference is Dell versus alternative solutions. According to feedback from our technicians, Dell is typically preferred over other brands like Dell due to its perceived stability. This comparison is primarily focused on hardware solutions rather than support services.

Deploying Dell PowerEdge servers is straightforward and efficient. It saves us a significant amount of time since it's mostly plug-and-play, with minimal setup required. Our technicians have become accustomed to the process, with approximately fifty percent of the time previously spent on setup now being saved. As we continue to set up numerous Dell servers, we find the process consistently easy and reliable, with no major changes in the setup procedure.

Our primary deployment model for PowerEdge servers revolves around virtualization. While we do have some servers deployed on-premises, the majority are situated in the data center, serving as the backbone for our virtualization solution.

We have a strong agreement in place with our parent company, that typically ensures favorable pricing terms for us, although occasionally we may need to negotiate with Dell representatives for further discounts to provide competitive pricing to our customers.

In our business, we prioritize scalability over a plethora of features. Having identical servers across our infrastructure simplifies support and enhances technician familiarity. This uniformity streamlines processes, making it easier for our team to understand and manage the systems efficiently. Additionally, in our design and digital systems development, we lean towards utilizing Dell for its robust support and scalability, ensuring our solutions can easily scale as needed. Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.

We use it in the media industry.

Our customers have numerous benefits, including an array of features such as RAM quantity, CPU power, and storage capacity.

Our energy consumption was quite high five years ago when we were a service provider. Today, over the last two generations, our power consumption has decreased significantly. This reduction is highly beneficial for our operations.

The flexibility is commendable. Whenever we need to perform any task on our records or servers, the process is smooth and swift. In the twenty years of using Dell, we haven't encountered any troubles, problems, or issues, which speaks volumes about the reliability of their products.

The enduring stability and longevity offered by Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers stand out as their most invaluable feature. These qualities enable organizations to deploy and utilize the same server model for extended periods, bolstered by Dell's steadfast guarantee.

The pricing structure could be improved.

I have been using it for over ten years.

Stability is excellent overall. We've encountered only one issue, which pertained to a SAN rather than a server. This occurred due to a peak in energy, affecting the controller within the rack. Nonetheless, stability remains consistent for our servers.

Scalability is truly excellent, as we can start with a certain number of memory units, and when a customer requests additional memory or space, we can easily upgrade. This process is fast and straightforward, making it highly beneficial.

We've relied on tech support for at least twenty years, and every time we've reached out, we've received swift and effective solutions. I would rate it nine out of ten.

Positive

The advantage of Dell over other vendors lies in the fact that over the course of twenty years, we've consistently opted for solutions that include mission-critical assistance. However, we've only needed to utilize this assistance twice in two decades. This demonstrates the exceptional quality of Dell's hardware, which has been thoroughly tested and proven reliable—an essential feature and service for us.

Deploying was simple. We were assigned directly to the data center. As consultants, we began by working directly in the rack. We initiated the installation process, starting with the hypervisor, and everything proceeded smoothly.

Twenty years ago, we used to purchase directly from Dell. However, they later decided to sell only through partners in Italy. Consequently, when we transitioned to buying from partners, we also became partners ourselves. At present, the pricing seems a bit high for us. While we manage to procure products through competitive bidding, the list pricing remains challenging for us. This difficulty primarily arises when selling to customers, especially medium-sized ones requiring only two or three servers.

Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.