Dell PowerEdge R-Series Reviews

We use PowerEdge Rack Servers for quantitative analytics, data simulations, and machine learning.

The hardware makes it a good solution.

PowerEdge Rack Servers are very good for handling the evolving needs of high-performance workloads.

Its tuning and performance are good.

The specs for the benchmarks are very good, but the firmware and software are lacking. There are some issues with the Linux kernel and the long-term support (LTS) for some of the firmware's dependencies. It is causing the kernel to dump. The support for the Linux brands isn't optimal. We would like them to optimize the kernel drivers for benchmarks.

There are some issues that need to be solved with our model in regards to UEFI and firmware. 

I have been using it for about 10 years.

There haven't been any issues with downtime.

Dell's open source support is very good. There are a lot of issues that they need to handle though, like the firmware and UEFI.

We previously used IBM and Lenovo.

It is a cluster, so you just plug and play.

Lenovo is very good with updates.

We use AMD Opteron instead of Intel Xeon.

We chose Dell because of its open source. Our community likes Dell because of its open source delivery.

We use GCP Spot and AWS Graviton as our failover solutions.

I would rate this solution as eight out of 10.

We mostly use them for managing our testing environment. They manage a different brand of blade servers, not Dell, but the Rack Servers powered by Intel are monitoring and managing the queues that run the tests. Developers are submitting tests to the system 24 hours a day, and nodes on the blade servers run the tests. Our PowerEdge servers manage the test queues.

The management portal is essential because it gives you a lot of flexibility. You don't have to be at the location to manage the server. You can power it on and off remotely or start an installation remotely. All you need to do is connect it to the network and you can do things from thousands of miles away. That is essential when working with data centers. You don't want to be there but you want to have full control remotely.

Another valuable feature is that it's a Dell and that means it's a reliable product.

I have been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel for the last 10 years.

It has performed the way that we expected it to with no technical problems. I don't recall any problems with the server itself that required us to call support or get replacement parts. It does what we expect it to do.

It's stable. It's working 24/7, 365. We don't ever stop it. We have two offices in Israel, and each has two PowerEdge Rack Servers. They're monitoring our testing environment and that environment is running 24 hours a day, so the servers are very heavily utilized.

We usually keep them for four years or stretch them to five years with a warranty extension. We wreck them and have never had to deal with any problems. The PowerEdge servers we have are the third generation that we purchased for this specific role. I'm assuming the integration team that requested these models specifically is satisfied with the outcome.

We got them in a configuration that hasn't required us to make any changes in terms of scalability.

Dell's support works. Here in Israel, Dell works with a third party that handles the contact with the customer. I don't recall if that third party handles servers, but in general, a lot of improvement is required there.

We are a corporate environment. When I call Dell support and give them my credentials or customer number, I expect the guy on the other side to understand who he is talking with. He should immediately see that I have at least 500 laptops, desktops, and more than 1,000 Dell monitors. I'm not just a private customer calling from home. I expect the service to work accordingly. 

Don't ask me, "Did you reboot the machine?" or "Did you update?" We only call Dell support when we cannot solve the problems ourselves. By the time we call, we have done all the testing and all the updating. We have done everything on our side and that's when we need professional, technical support. But when we call them here in Israel, we get what seems like very consumer-oriented customer support. There is a lot of room for improvement in this area.

Neutral

We had HP ProLiant in the past, but we haven't used them for quite a while. Our entire organization is using Dell for end-user machines, laptops, workstations, and desktops. The PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel deliver what we need. It's easier to work with the same vendor and have a unified environment.

While I wouldn't call it a problem, physically mounting the servers into the rails that come with the servers can be a challenge. They could be engineered to be a little bit easier to use. It's not that significant, we can manage it, but you need at least two people to do it together because they're a bit heavy. You have to slide them exactly into the rails. It's a little bit challenging, but not serious.

From unboxing it to preparing the rack and sliding the server into it, connecting everything, and powering it up, it takes about 30 minutes or so.

Integrating it into a particular environment is very simple. We set up an IP, connect it, and install a server operating system. It's a very rapid process. Within about an hour, it is up and running in the environment.

In terms of handling the evolving needs of high-performance workloads, you get your money's worth. When you buy something, you need it to perform and deliver and these servers do that. It's a very good product.

PowerEdge pricing is equivalent to that of all the others in the market. We always try to get a better price, but I don't see any problem with the pricing and licensing of Dell's servers. It's not the case, when I compare them to other vendors, that they are extremely more expensive or that the licensing is much more complex.

We looked at HP and Supermicro. We went with Dell, in part, because we are a Dell shop, but price was one of the most critical aspects. We also looked at what we needed to gain from the server. When we connected all these factors, we decided that Dell was the best solution for us.

Before you approach procurement, you should know exactly what you are looking to get out of the product. If you're looking for a reliable vendor and performance, have all your information ready first. Then check the pricing and make sure that you have the budget. It's not like buying a PC for your home. It's a professional server and it costs. You'd better have all the information beforehand, and then you can evaluate whether the purchase of a PowerEdge is suitable for your requirements.

We don't use Dell's OpenManage console. When we need to make changes that don't directly apply to the operating system but to the server itself, we only go into the iDRAC management interface and do it from there on.

I integrate PowerEdge for customers who buy the servers and storage, doing the integration between them. I have helped integrate 20 to 30 customers.

Dell PowerEdge powered by Intel helps improve organizations that we work with a lot.

I like the integration between iDRAC and the system. It is very easy to update the framework and install the operating systems. 

Intel's Xeon CPU makes the system work very well and fast. I like this type of CPU. It has helped to improve the performance of targeted workloads by 70%.

Some customers took the machine to the extreme, which makes it a bit slower and delays the system. Since the customer can put a lot of VMs with a lot of data, it can use up the CPU memory to 20% to 25%, which slows down the system. However, if we reduce the CPU memory or split it to another, then it works very well.

I would like to change the physical rails to be more like how HPE rails are formatted and organized.

I have been using PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel for almost three years.

PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped to reduce unplanned production downtime. The organization will not have downtime at all if you can migrate VMs between servers, but you need at least two. With two or three clusters, you can convert the machines.

The stability is very good, if you have at least two servers. Then, you have full redundancy of all the VMs and the system. If one server has downtime, then all the data in the VMs on the server convert automatically to the other. Therefore, you need at least two or three servers to have full redundancy.

Our customers can run the systems in their organization 24/7 without any downtime.

PowerEdge offers a lot of types, which is very good for customer scalability, from small businesses to large businesses. 

I have not used their technical support.

It is very quick to deploy. It takes something like 30 minutes to an hour for us to deploy.

I recommend reading the documentation before you deploy the product.

It makes the integration with a lot of storage systems cheaper. 

The pricing is very good because there are a lot of types of PowerEdge Rack Servers. You have the R540, R640, and R740. The prices are very scalable through the specific server, e.g., small businesses can take the R640 while large businesses can take the R740 or R840. Thus, Dell technologies touch on every organization.

I like Dell Technologies' products, such as PowerEdge and PowerStore, more than their competitors. It is very easy to work with Dell because of all their documentation for deployments. It is much easier than their competitors.

There are no issues with security in my experience.

I am hoping that some customers will use Dell’s OpenManage console in the future.

I would rate the product as nine out of 10.

We have a 1U and a 2U PowerEdge Server. We're using them to scale storage devices. They provide a platform for our software that involves managing multiple, high-speed disks. We're using them to connect Mellanox and Intel NICs, which are very fast network interfaces.

For us, the most valuable feature is the iDRAC. It helps us to solve problems when a server is stuck or hung or we don't have any network access. 

It's also easy to deploy new firmware or a new update to the servers remotely. 

We're also able to manage multiple servers in one place. 

Also, the way the hardware is architected, you can replace parts in no time. It's very quick and easy to replace a fan, disk, CPU, or insert a new card into the server.

I would like to see more information about server health and the server's state, on the front. HP has a little screen that shows server utilization, how many disks there are inside, and the power consumption. HP also shows an alert if there is a malfunction of any device inside. Those kinds of features would be useful for Dell customers.

I have been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel for about seven years.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel are very stable.

The scalability is a bit of a downside because of our technology. In our environment, the scalability comes from the network and not from adding another server. We are adding a lot of NVMe devices and when we reach capacity we need to add another server. This is what determines the scalability.

Dell provides very good support. It's very fast and they answer in a professional manner. That's what I need.

I would rate their support at nine out of 10. It's not a 10 because they have to improve by answering even faster. They also need to give local distributors more permission or to provide hardware parts faster. If you have a malfunction with the device, you usually have to send it abroad, and they investigate it and then bring it back. That takes a long time.

Positive

We are currently using Lenovo, AIC, Tyan, and Quanta servers in addition to the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel, because we need some OEM equipment to reduce the cost. PowerEdge has a high price tag. The price is a critical factor in our company. We don't have a lot of budget for acquiring servers and that is why we look at other vendors.

But the flexibility of the PowerEdge servers and the approach to resolving problems really quickly make it more convenient to work with. I like working with PowerEdge. Solving a problem on a PowerEdge will take, say, a few minutes, while with the other vendors it will take 10 to 20 minutes to investigate and debug the problem.

We are using both Intel and AMD technology with our Dell servers. We are comparing the performance of both. While there are some issues and challenges on the Intel side in some areas, the overall impression of the Intel technology is that it is working well. I expect we are going to use it for the next few years.

The Dell platform works very well. We are very happy with it. If price isn't a concern, I would recommend Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

We install a lot of VMware and vSAN on the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel.

All the customers that I have implemented PowerEdge for are very happy and like the performance. I think PowerEdge has improved the entire system where I have implemented it. 

Intel's Xeon scalable processors used in PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped to improve the performance of the targeted workloads by about 20 percent, according to feedback from our customers.

• I love the updates from the iDRAC, they are very nice. 
• The installation is easy.
• Replacement, if something fails, is so easy and so good.

PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel are also good at handling high-performance workloads. It depends on the CPU, of course, and the type of server, but the performance is great.

In addition, all the security features work great. That is a very important part.

Dell's OpenManage console is user-friendly. You can connect to everything from Dell. It's simple. In the companies where I have implemented it, I have shown the IT staff how to use it and they are happy with it. I don't know if they use it every day, but during the implementation, it seems like it's good for them.

I don't really know where PowerEdge could be improved. I really like these servers. Even VxRail works great with them. Maybe they could change the logo to something more beautiful.

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

PowerEdge is very stable. 

There are issues, of course, but not major issues. On a scale of one to 10, the stability is a nine.

The scalability of all brands is great, and that includes Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel.

I like Dell's tech support very much. Not just for PowerEdge Rack servers but for all of Dell's products, if I have issues, the online support answers and gives solutions very quickly.

Positive

It normally takes one day to integrate PowerEdge.

The setup is hybrid right now. It was formerly strictly on-premise and we used it for our file storage and for our virtual machines.

Originally, it was purchased for strict file storage and access on-prem. However, when COVID hit, we ended up purchasing laptops for every single employee that we had. Having to use our new file storage device, which is no longer on-premises as they're now at home, was easy. That's why we went with a hybrid environment. We put a lot of the data into the cloud and backed it up in the on-premises file storage.

It allowed us to move some file storage that we had around. It allowed us to really look into what we had and what we were using. Looking at Apex, it is setting us up for when it will need a refresh or when it is at its end of life.

The most valuable aspects include hot swapping and the elasticity as far as being able to scale. We had a bunch of stuff on an old, existing EMC. The company was unaware that they had to keep the files that they had for so long. We realized that once we were meeting the seven-year mark and we could start purging some of those files, we had to scale down a little bit.

The initial purchase that we had was a little big, however, as we started adding more users that were working from home and had their own drive, OneDrive, we had to expand it a little bit. Dell was able to ship me bigger hard drives.

When it comes to running the latest high-demand applications, PowerEdge is good. The VMware that we had was almost end-of-life, so we had to upgrade it and Dell helped out with that quite a bit, putting it on our PowerEdge and assisting us with a lot of stuff that VMware didn’t. VMware just said, "Here. Here's your product. Good luck.” Dell was a lot more helpful. They had a lot of engineers that knew about that service that we were trying to tap into a little better.

The BIOS recovery was something we used because we had a huge power outage and a power strike when one of our air conditioners had a bad power surge run through it at our facility. Dell helped us rebuild our actual BIOS system in it, as one of the mirror arrays that we were using just wasn't being seen. We were afraid it was a hardware issue, however, it was really a BIOS issue that we couldn't see right off the jump. We’re glad Dell was there to help.

The solution's analytics helped to decrease production downtime by at least 30%. I'm in Arizona and down in Tucson we don't get that much downtime. We have a lot of battery backups, we have a generator system, and more. However, when it does happen, the analytics of it, as far as the trends on what months the monsoon season hits, it kept all in the logs.

The system management capabilities of PowerEdge helped increase stack productivity. We've had a little bit of turnover in our system admin department, however, having the ability to go back and look through the logs and see how users ended up using their home drive, their shared files, and their encrypted files really helped out my new guys coming on board.

The solution's accelerated GPUs help support demanding workloads in our organization. We had a couple of changing workloads due to the fact that when people shifted from home, they were hitting the server from a different angle. They were coming in off a virtual private network instead of being on-premises and the system didn't blink.

I’m not sure if PowerEdge helped to reduce data processing time in our organization as we don't crunch a lot. We do have a lot of videos coming in and a lot of video editing going on, so in that way, it does help.

The PowerEdge system management frameworks enable us to progress towards full automation. We knew what we were looking for when we refreshed this last model and we purchased a new server just from the analytics we got off the first one.

It helps me forecast better. We don't grow exponentially. Teachers are hard to come by, however, some will leave and some will stay. The business models are the same, yet they expect more. Now they want to do a video. They want to capture and record the videos and the Zoom meetings that they're doing, therefore, it's a little different.

It's more from the pandemic, however, the logistics part of it could be better. Getting an actual bare-bones server was a little difficult when we ordered it in beginning. I'm still waiting on the printers that I ordered last year as well. That's the only thing I would really say and I'm sure it has to do with the pandemic.

The latency of it is what we're running into, as our teachers do a lot of video captures, video teaching, Zoom, and Teams video conferencing, and their latency is getting worse with the public domain.

I've used the solution since I've been with the company, probably for the last three years.

The scalability is very good. There were different options that we could have gone to. We could either have gotten smaller hard drives and/or downsized if we needed to. They knew our business model was going to change when the pandemic hit.

We have about 650 end users on this particular solution and 80% of them are teachers. The rest are administrative professionals.

Currently, we are planning to put a new server that we have in the mix online and up and running with the PowerEdge server that we have. Now, with Apex and more coming out, we're looking to possibly pivot.

Technical support is very good. We had to call Dell technical support when our BIOS got corrupted and they were on the spot. They escalated us to tier two within 20 minutes. It was really quick.

Positive

We did previously use a different solution, however, I cannot remember what our large area network's device was.

Dell came in with a very competitive offer with the first model of storage that we got, so that's what my predecessor went to, and we kept it around.

The initial setup was very straightforward. We knew exactly where we wanted to put it in our array and how we wanted to set it up, what the power requirements would be, where it would fit on my battery backup system, and the plan for system recovery in case it had to be gracefully shut down. It was super easy.

When deploying PowerEdge, we didn't get a chance to use the automated server and OS deployment features.

The deployment was scheduled for six hours and it took three. 

We actually had to migrate users off of an older version that we had onto the new box that we had. The implementation strategy was all about really getting our users off the box and making sure nobody was trying to access it. After that, it was just migrating users over, setting up the new box, putting it online, and running tests.

For maintenance, normally we use a server admin, myself, and maybe one other developer that helps us with the syslogs on it. There are probably three of us altogether.

We used an integrated reseller for the deployment. They were amazing.

We had an issue with a brownout or a power strike and our BIOS got a bit corrupted, however, it was nothing that couldn't be recovered on the fly.

We've seen an ROI. I don't have any details offhand. I know when we first purchased it, we got a pretty good deal on it and we didn't know if it would actually meet end-of-life due to the usage that we had on it. However, it outperformed our metrics.

I'd advise others to use the pro services that come along with it, that are available for purchase with it. It helped us immensely. If you were to extend the service contract and get the pro level, it costs a bit more.

We did evaluate other options. When it's over a certain dollar amount, we have to go out and get at least four bids.

I can't remember the exact version we have. We just purchased a new Dell SAN.

We do not use PowerEdge for artificial intelligence applications yet. We're looking into it. Right now, a lot of the video data capture that we do is with children, school-aged children, and children in a preschool environment. We were thinking the AI might be able to help us where the teacher might not be looking. If they had a camera in the room to capture the relevant stuff that was going on as far as what the lesson plan was about that day, it might be helpful.

I have not had a chance to use the solution's iDRAC telemetry for monitoring PowerEdge system data and providing analytics, however, we're really looking into that right now. We got the new SAN going in and we'd like to monitor a little better.

We do not use the solution's CloudIQ for predictive analytic capabilities yet.

It is a very stable product. It's something that we use reliably for backups. It's something we use reliably for our main server for a long time and we'd definitely buy another.

My biggest takeaway is it's not as easy going straight to the cloud when you were an on-premises provider. If you are an on-premises provider and you have all your services on-premises, going to the cloud takes a couple of steps. It's not just one big jump.

I'd rate the product nine out of ten. If I could get the same amount of storage that I got three years ago now, I'd rate it ten out of ten. I'd order it as quickly as I did when we ordered it the first time.

We are a solution provider and this is one of the products that we implement for our customers. Their use cases can be everything from storage to simple computing to network traffic analysis. We have a lot of customers that just do everything with these servers, and it's difficult to keep track of.

We will architect and help the customer identify the best solution for their software, and then essentially modify whatever they need. This might include adding cards, deploying their software onto the server, and then managing their inventory.

PowerEdge is good when it comes to dealing with the evolving needs of high-performance workloads that our customers have. Whatever software they're developing seems to be able to take advantage of it.

The system's management frameworks have enabled at least one of our customers to progress toward full automation. Their internal scripting works with automation, which means that they can leverage the tools that Dell has created and merge them with their own software. This is something that's benefited them.

iDRAC is one of the most valuable features, as well as having BMC.

The real advantage to Dell when I look at some of the other competitors is the support. The support is better than Lenovo and HP. For example, it's much easier to get replacement components, and we can get service out to customers as quickly as possible. There aren't as many hoops to jump through. It's just not as challenging. This is one of the big reasons we stick with Dell.

The iDRAC telemetry for monitoring PowerEdge system data and providing analytics is a good feature. We have a lot of the sensor data that we capture, and it's very useful to our customers. Being able to pull that out and tell them the consistency of their product is a good value-add to sell.

The big problem that we have at the moment is with the supply chain. If it were more realistic then we'd probably be able to expand some of these systems a little bit more. This might be more CPU options, different memory, or overall consistency.

Certain customers have requirements that they prefer. I've had some trouble where the customers are not happy with the Toshiba drives, and it's a challenge when it comes to specific requests for Dell to a non-deviate, and only use Seagate drives.

I have been working with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for approximately 14 years.

This product seems stable to me. Compared to products from other vendors, I don't have as many problems with them.

From a scalability standpoint, getting more systems or expanding capacity has never really been an issue.

I would rate Dell's technical support a nine out of ten.

Positive

Compared to other solutions, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are very good.

In general, the user interface on Dell's products, including iDRAC, is a little bit easier and more intuitive than those of competing solutions from vendors such as Lenovo and Supermicro. 

Our customers have seen a return on their investment with this solution.

The pricing for PowerEdge servers is reasonable. Our customers continue to purchase them from us. When it comes to pricing, often our customers are doing the work for us. They compare pricing and costs against other hardware vendors to see who is going to come out on top. More often than not, they choose Dell.

We do a little bit of support for our customers, depending on the contract that we have with them. When there is a problem with a sever, some people just want to replace it immediately. They don't really care about trying to replace single components. They just want to get their server up and running, so they swap it out. It's very much done on a case-by-case basis.

My advice for anybody who is considering this solution is that it's the support from Dell that really makes things easier for us. There is always a little bit of movement when it comes to the costs and getting the numbers where they need to be. But, at the end of the day, dealing with Dell means it's easier to support a customer, especially with critical response times. This is something that's been really beneficial for us.

Overall, this is a good product, and judging by the feedback from my customers, there are very few additional features that they want or need. Dell seems to have done a pretty good job with what is currently released.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

We use this solution for SAP and for other critical information that our customers need.

Our customers are really happy when we use PowerEdge because it improves the performance of their company. They also end up having more internal users or internal customers satisfied with solutions that they use in their company, such as SAP.

The system management capabilities of PowerEdge helped increase staff productivity by 50% for our latest client.

I've found the reliability, support, the capability to grow, and the ability to add other Dell solutions to be very valuable features.

As for security features, it's a good quality solution for the price. You can add different software or patches to have a better security solution.

It has helped reduce the data processing time by 30%.

The PowerEdge system management frameworks have enabled us to progress toward full automation when it comes to managing more.

The Industrial and healthcare areas both need improvement.

I've been using this solution for about three years.

The stability is really good.

It is scalable. You can start small and then add more products that allow you to increase the productivity of your company.

We have about 300 users and plan to upgrade the solution with more components.

We have not had a good experience with support. Technical support staff take too much time to resolve tickets. We have a super plus level of agreement, which means that the time of response is supposed to be four hours. The resulting time is supposed to be 48 hours. We sometimes see 72 hours go by with no solution provided to resolve the problem. So I would rate technical support and customer service at six on a scale from one to ten.

Neutral

We replaced Dell technology because PowerEdge is much better.

The initial deployment was straightforward because we already had technical architects who knew how to deploy the solution.

The deployment took over a month.

We implemented it ourselves with a team of six to seven people including a technical architect, an SAP Basis engineer, technicians, and a security officer.

The price is good for the quality of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

We looked at Lenovo.

You should compare PowerEdge's time for response, the scalability of the solution, the licensing cost, and support to those of other brands.

Sometimes you try not to spend too much on technology, but there is a point at which it is necessary to invest in this solution because you will increase the productivity of your company. When you see the quote, remember that all that money can be recouped with the increase in production.

If you wait for too long, you may start having problems and lose productivity. You can really get hit hard with a loss of productivity. You have to determine the time to change the technology to a new one.

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