We use them for everything—from infrastructure services to virtualization, as well as storage.
By implementing these servers, we wanted to meet our needs regarding office automation. I work for a national library, so it was essentially about being able to distribute digital books and being able to create applications and a digital library.
At the time, they were the only ones to offer a remote management system, and that is a very important feature for us, especially bearing in mind that we have only two people for hundreds of servers. It is indeed very important.
Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have the PowerEdge Cyber Resilient Architecture approach to security, but I do not believe in that. We put the security in place well in advance and early on the servers as well as the networks in order to filter everything, so we have minimal exposure to the servers. Once it is on the servers, it is too late. They must be stopped well in advance.
In terms of energy consumption, it depends on what you are doing with the machine. If it is to manage AIs or other similar things, they consume far too much energy. If it is for the purpose of heritage conservation, then it is consuming what it needs to. It depends on what you are using it for. If you leave the light on in a room and everyone has their eyes closed and nobody is doing anything, then it is excess energy consumption. Even if it is barely a fraction of any watt being used, it is already too much. However, if it is for reading and learning about things, it can be justified. The justification does not take place at the server level but at the level of how we use that server. Certain servers are very energy-consuming because there are certain projects that have no purpose at all, and there are projects, such as the digital library, that are very useful, and I do not find them very energy-consuming.
They have very good indicators on them that allow us to follow the workloads as well as consumptions. That is very good. One good thing about those servers is that we are remotely warned. There is a follow-up, and the administration is much easier for us.
In terms of their impact on our sustainability goals, we do not have much money in the public sector, so we make them last for a very long time. I have some servers that are more than ten years old, so the maintenance or support no longer exists for those models. This equipment is well-manufactured and reliable, and it works very well.
For the last 20 years, there have been far fewer breakdowns. The servers function much better and the OS too. For sure, we are getting a much better quality product than we used to about 20 or 25 years ago. That is for sure. The machines no longer stop. We now only stop them for some safety updates or something similar, but that is it.
The OpenManage console does allow us to combine everything, but we had that system well before it was a VM. At the time, it was still an application.
Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have affected the overall flexibility of our operations. The fact that they are easily manageable is an essential aspect.
These web servers were easily manageable from as early as 2003. We have a very large building, and it was possible to manage them remotely in a simple way from as early as 2003.
All of the marketing terminologies from Dell are very complicated as they have names that sometimes involve the same technology. It is something very complex for me as well as for many people who are not that familiar with Dell’s catalog. Apart from that, from a technical aspect, Dell is following the technical progression of the motherboards and processors from other manufacturers, and as a result, they are always up to date.
Their price could be better.
The first one was in 2003, so we have been using them for about 20 years.
They are very stable. They last a very long time.
We never make any changes. We buy the equipment. Sometimes, we even buy a lot of identical equipment, and according to the lifespan, we add server disks from an obsolete server to make another server more powerful. That is the only thing that we do. We do not make any changes to processors or anything else. We buy the servers based on necessity.
Their support is always very good. It is always a ten out of ten. They have very competent people. There is no need to negotiate something or explain it ten times when a server strip is faulty and needs to be returned. There is no problem regarding this, and it is very good.
We have some Lenovo servers, and we have some HPE servers. Dell does not always offer the best prices, and the competitors are also offering products at a good price. That is what the competitive game is about, and sometimes, it is the competitor who wins.
I was involved in the initial setup. It is extremely simple.
In terms of the implementation strategy, we had two delivered. We watched how they were cabled up, how they were built up, and we put the others. We had ordered together with a guide, and there were no problems.
We did the implementation with a guide. We always do this, but while telling him what to do. We made our own terms and conditions. We were the ones in charge.
Dell’s licensing is perfect. In comparison to the competitors, it is perfect. It is simple and well done. It is working for us.
I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a ten out of ten. Out of all the brands that I know, they are the best together with HPE, but there is something that I do not like about HPE, and that is the licensing. I find their licensing absolutely unbearable.
