Dell PowerEdge R-Series Reviews

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.

We specifically used the VMware and ESX host.

The system integration details are our favourite feature and the fact that we can maintain and control the systems remotely.

The iDRAC Telemetry for monitoring the PowerEdge system is useful. Some of our servers are not in our data centers so we are able to manage them remotely, in case of an outage or any other problem.

This solution is really reliable. The storage functionality is our favourite feature. I would rate this solution a ten out of ten when it comes to running the latest high-demand applications. It is easy to work with, maintain and deploy. 

Lastly, this solution has helped decrease production down time by 25%. The system management capabilities of PowerEdge have helped increase staff productivity by 25% and helped to reduce data processing time in our organization by 10%. 

The data analytics for this solution could be improved. 

I have been using this solution for 15 years. 

This is a stable solution. It offers reliability and we have not had any outages. It improves with every generation. 

This is a scalable solution. We have 200 employees making use of a full stack of applications supported by this solution. 

I would rate the support for this solution a seven out of ten. This is due to the fact that there is sometimes a shortage of parts. 

Neutral

The initial setup is straightforward. Deployment took two days. We implemented new power servers in a cluster one by one. 

This solution is reasonably priced and licenses are easy to acquire. 

The PowerEdge system management frameworks have enabled our business to progress towards full automation. This has freed up time to focus on different parts of the business, rather than constantly monitoring issues.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten. 

Our primary use case includes running workloads such as on-premises Active Directory, with a managed hybrid approach on Microsoft Azure and on-premises.

The solution has helped by ensuring no major security incidents or vulnerabilities, and has supported our sustainability goals through energy consumption management. It has also provided reliable uptime with planned downtimes for updates.

Its approach to user security measures is valuable. We haven't experienced any major issues, and the solution has been working really well.

I've been in this company for the last three years, and the solution has been used since before my arrival.

We do not have many issues with downtime; there are windows for planned updates or upgrades.

Dell's customer support is very good, especially since we have premium support for next-day hardware service.

Positive

The return on investment is notable as we've been using the same servers without incurring ongoing operational expenses often associated with the cloud.

The cost of ownership is differentiated by the absence of operational expenses typical with cloud services.

Our storage is on Dell and nearly all our use cases are on the Dell servers. We use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for almost everything. 

My company chose Dell because they were looking for something that is easy to manage, stable, and something we can trust. 

PowerEdge servers are great for high-performance workloads. We get excellent performance every time we use them.  

PowerEdge's management interface is easy to use. It's also a platform that we can trust.

I have been at the company and working with PowerEdge for three years. I know the company has been working with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for years but I don't know precisely how long. 

PowerEdge is a stable solution. If it wasn't we wouldn't use it. 

I rate Dell support eight out of 10. While we are generally satisfied with their service, we'd like more connections between meetings and proactive support. We had a session about two weeks ago, where we talked about areas they need to improve. 

Positive

We also use HP servers. 

The price is worth it for what you get from it. It's worth the cost. 

I rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers eight out of 10. 

We use them for general Windows deployments for domain controllers, file print servers, and database servers.

PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped to reduce unplanned production downtime. They have been resilient.

The iDRAC for remote access is the most useful feature because it's built into the machine. I can reboot them without having to be there physically. We do a lot of what we do remotely, and it handles that fine.

Also, the signed firmware, drift detection, and BIOS recovery are useful features in the current security climate. Physically, they're reasonably secure, with locking mechanisms on the physical hardware, and the update processes for firmware fall within the parameters we require for our security.

The OpenManage console for lifecycle management provides an intuitive user experience. The interface is easy to understand. In terms of our IT staff's productivity, it makes things quicker. It's a lot quicker to access OpenManage remotely than actually having to go and look at the server. It depends on where the server is and where most of our staff are. It could save five minutes or it could save two hours. It has also decreased the time it takes to deploy new data centers.

Perhaps they could make it more power efficient. They're pretty good, but there's always room for improvement.

Also, they could try to reduce heat generation.

I've been using Dell PowerEdge Servers for about 20 years.

They're pretty reliable, so we don't have to replace them that often; we just have to maintain them.

We've not had to scale them up from what we've deployed, generally.

But when it comes to handling the evolving needs of high-performance workloads, they seem to be keeping up to date and providing the latest hardware to keep up with the requirements.

Dell's technical support is generally pretty good.

Neutral

We used HPE previously. We switched to Dell PowerEdge because they were more cost-effective.

The servers that we've deployed have all been in place for long enough to give us a full return on their value.

The pricing is usually in line with what we expect from Microsoft.

To protect our systems from malware and other firmware attacks we use third-party tools.

My clients use PowerEdge servers for Hyper-V by Microsoft and VMware machines. They're running ERP and CRM applications and agents for backup systems licensing models. The models we use include 730, 630, 620, 220, and 740.

The configuration and BIOS management are flexible. It's easy to install 10 GB network cards on the rack. They have a good selection that simplifies the network connections.

It takes a long time to deliver the hardware. The riser cards can be better. The riser cards are where the PCI cards connect. They need to have more than two riser cards in the server because it can be difficult to connect sometimes. 

I have been using PowerEdge Rack Servers for about 10 years.

PowerEdge servers are stable in general, but sometimes clients report having problems with the RAM. 

The scalability is good.

I rate Dell support seven out of 10.

Neutral

PowerEdge servers are easy to set up. You need about two or three people, including a specialist and an engineer, to maintain the solution. You usually need an engineer plus a specialist in Hyper-V or VMware.

I think the price of these servers is good.

I rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers nine out of 10. I recommend the product.