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Sr. Technology Consultant at a engineering company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Consultant
Easy to implement with fair pricing and a good user interface
Pros and Cons
  • "The pricing of the solution is fair."
  • "It would be nice if the rack servers had an HCI solution as an option."

What is most valuable?

The user interface is the solution's most valuable aspect.

The implementation process is quite good.

The pricing of the solution is fair.

What needs improvement?

I can't think of any features that are lacking on the solution. It works well for our clients for the most part.

It would be nice if the rack servers had an HCI solution as an option.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using the solution for the past two years now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability is good. It also lasts a relatively long time. Our customers are typically looking for something that will hold up for about five years, and this solution does that. It's not buggy. There aren't glitches. It doesn't crash or break down.

Buyer's Guide
Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers
May 2025
Learn what your peers think about Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
851,823 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

You can easily scale the solution up and down. Our customers want a solution that can work with for half a decade at least, so they need something flexible, and this solution delivers.

We deal with customers of all sizes, from small to large organizations. This solution works well for each of them.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support is okay. We have an internal team, however, they are by no means experts. We need Dell to fill in the blanks and sometimes that can't help us the way we hoped they would. It might be helpful if the Dell site had more information so that we could just go there.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We use a variety of Dell options including FX and XE, among others. Which we use is dependant on the client requirements.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is not complex. It's quite easy to set everything up, in fact. All of the underlying technology is the same on Dell, so we don't have an issue handling the implementation on the Dell servers for our customers.

What about the implementation team?

We can handle the aspects of the installation ourselves, as it's pretty straightforward.

What other advice do I have?

We are a service provider and a reseller. We use various versions of the solution. The deployment models also vary as it depends on customer requirements. We deal with a lot of hyper-converged solutions.

I'd recommend the solution. We've had no issues with it at all.

Overall, I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
IT Assistant at Hotel 2 Fevrier
Real User
Easy to use and the documentation is good, but response time from support could be improved
Pros and Cons
  • "You are provided with excellent instructions."
  • "They need to improve the support, as they are not very responsive, and they don't get back to you right away."

What is most valuable?

This solution is very easy to use. 

For every option, there is documentation with at least two lines of explanation.

You are provided with excellent instructions. 

What needs improvement?

They need to improve the support, as they are not very responsive, and they don't get back to you right away.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been working with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers for several years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable solution and we plan to continue using it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Dell EMC PowerEdge is not very scalable. This is an area that can improve.

We have 389 users in our organization.

How are customer service and technical support?

The critical issue is when you send them an email, you will not get a reply for two or three days.

They are happy to fix your issues but they are not very responsive.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We started when we had Windows 7 in 2012, and have now upgraded to Dell EMC.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. 

It took two days to complete the installation.

We have one person to maintain it.

What about the implementation team?

We had help from an integrator during our implementation. We have been using these integrators for five years.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It's a one-time licensing fee for the device and we pay a quota per year for the support.

What other advice do I have?

We deploy both on-premises and on the cloud, but at this time we are using on-premise only because we have to get additional access to the cloud.

This is a good product. I would recommend it for small to mid-size companies, but not for large companies who manage several computers. The response time for their support could be faster.

I would rate this solution a six out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers
May 2025
Learn what your peers think about Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
851,823 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer1437750 - PeerSpot reviewer
Business Continuity and Data Center Manager at a outsourcing company with 5,001-10,000 employees
Real User
A perfect and stable solution with reconstructive compatibility
Pros and Cons
  • "The reconstructive compatibility with VMware ESXi is the most valuable."
  • "The only thing that could be improved is documentation. During the installation, it would be good to have some information about how is it going."

What is our primary use case?

I use Dell R740 servers series as the main compute server to host IT workloads.

It's an excellent choice and it's integrated well with Dell-VMWare virtualization OS (ESXi).

How has it helped my organization?

Dell R series are very good engineered servers. Reliability and durability are the key to choose this product. This is a cornerstone to build a highly available IT system.

What is most valuable?

The reconstructive compatibility with VMware ESXi is the most valuable.

What needs improvement?

The only thing that could be improved is documentation. The product is highly customizable with a lot of options for each component. These options are not easily understood. It would be great to offer more user-friendly interface/Documentation to build up the system. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for four years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is very stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is scalable. We can scale it by adding nodes, but some software and licenses are required for that. We have around 60 users using it on a daily basis

How are customer service and technical support?

I never contacted them. We are usually able to resolve any issues within the company.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Yes, I installed and administered HP Proliant servers. It was a good product in my experience.

I switched because we got a competitive price.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward.

What about the implementation team?

We have three team members for its deployment and regular maintenance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It's easy to install and configure with suitable server administrator.

iDrac management solution is included with the server. It provides suitable zero-cost solution for monitoring and managing your hardware.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes we evaluate all possible alternatives like:

HP and Lenovo

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution for rack servers. It is perfect.

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

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user388956 - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Architect at a non-tech company with 10,001+ employees
Vendor
Enables provisioning and managing of RAID virtual disks. You can load new firmware and build templates to push to multiple hosts.

What is most valuable?

  • OpenManage Essentials: Loading new firmware is easy, either via OpenManage Essentials, OMIVV, or the iDRAC. It’s just so easy.
  • OpenManage Essentials facilitates the build of a desired template (including disk configuration) and pushing this out to multiple hosts at once. This greatly speeds up our deployment times.
  • iDRAC 8: Being able to provision and manage RAID virtual disks from the iDRAC is a huge bonus. You don’t have to boot the machine via the console to do this.
  • The firmware rollback is great. The iDRAC can store previous versions to make this very quick.

How has it helped my organization?

  • iDRAC 8 allows you to configure so much of the server without having to use a console. For example, RAID configuration, disk health, and SSD wear.
  • It also displays a great amount of environmental history, including temps and power usage, with up to a year of history stored in the iDRAC.
  • The vFlash capability is handy, allowing multiple SD partitions to be created and mounted. Being able to load all kinds of firmware via iDRAC is great, e.g., disk, controller, BIOS.
  • OpenManage Essentials is better than OneView in my opinion. While it lacks the visual finesse of OneView, it has far more functionality.

What needs improvement?

OpenManage Essentials could do with a visual “birthday” as it still requires the Silverlight plugin.

OpenManage for vCenter integration is powerful, but also a little buggy. Hardware-wise, they are great. I much prefer the iDRAC architecture over HPE iLO.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have used the solution for about nine months.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have not encountered any stability issues.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have not encountered any scalability issues.

How are customer service and technical support?

So far, the technical support has been very good. The self-service portal for requesting replacement parts is extremely easy to use and it is fast.

For technical support tickets, the experience isn’t quite as good. There were some delays in communication.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used HPE ProLiant. We switched due to significant cost savings in capex as well as operational improvements.

For example, having OpenManage Essentials is better than OneView, at least for rack servers.

How was the initial setup?

The setup was extremely simple.

iDRAC is easier to configure, with the front LCD panel, on the non-XD models, being very handy.

The NFC option for the front bezel combined with the mobile app is great for on-site troubleshooting.

For a small, extra cost, you can get OpenManage Essentials with configuration management. This allows you to deploy pre-configured hardware templates making mass deployment easy.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

DELL is typically much cheaper that HPE, for example. Their licensing is far more transparent and simple.

iDRAC licensing is significantly cheaper. Extended support costs are also lower.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We evaluated HPE ProLiant.

What other advice do I have?

It is a great product. Just be mindful of some of the current bugs in OpenManage and OpenManage Integration for vCenter. Other than these, we’ve had a great experience.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Chief Technology Officer at a tech services company with 51-200 employees
Real User
Until recently I had the PE2650 and PE4400 when everything got replaced, so it's reliable hardware. However, there's a learning curve setting up the OpenManage server and agents.

What is most valuable?

These servers have been real work-horses. Dell has done a nice job at including more management tools, with OpenManage and the likes. The DRAC Enterprise is an amazing feature, especially when managing decentralized server farms.

How has it helped my organization?

One of the main factors in helping efficacy is having like-branded servers, which have compatible tools. There are are more universal management tools out there, but they are generally pretty costly. The fact that the servers have generally been quite reliable, has really decreased expenditure. I know that when I put a server in place, they will simply run. I had servers that were still from the PE2650, and PE4400 up until fairly recently when everything got replaced. There is something to be said about reliable hardware.

What needs improvement?

Unfortunately, I am now more in the space of IaaS, so I am a little bit removed from that particular area. In my experience when I was actively using Dell's servers, they were always improving their hardware, and coming up with more efficient solutions. One of the things that I had started using pretty extensively is blade servers, as they are more efficient on energy, and can provide the same computing power as racked servers, yet consume much less rack real estate.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have used all series of Dell PowerEdge servers for about 12-14 years, through to the 12th generation.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

For the most part, my experience with Dell was in conjunction with VMware vSphere, and VMware View. There were some issues that I encountered with the servers, but it is a result of having multiple server generations with different processors in place, which caused some problems with HA and DRS with VMware, but these don't necessarily quality as issues with the servers themselves. From a hardware perspective, these servers have always been rock solid.

How are customer service and technical support?

I think the customer support at Dell is adequate, at least when it comes to their server support team. Some other areas are more lacking, but over all, and as it relates to servers, I have no complaints.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Most of my experience has been with Dell servers, so I can't comment much on different solutions.

How was the initial setup?

If you're familiar with deploying servers, then it's not really complex. There is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to setting up the OpenManage server and agents, but nothing unsurmountable.

What about the implementation team?

I have always deployed my own servers. If you are operating in an SMB, I would recommend that you get your hands dirty, and learn how these servers are setup, connected, etc., as it is going to be a matter of when, not if, that the server is going to have some failed component, that you're going to want to know how to deal with. Typically, if you have your Dell support, even the basic one, I believe you are able to get a technician to come help with hardware repair/replacement.

What was our ROI?

Well, since this is a discussion about hardware, one would argue that ROI isn't really much of a relevant argument in this case, as the factors for it would depend more than just the actual server purchased. This is really a CAPEX expense, and given today's technology, and the business need and requirements, I personally would much rather start moving my computing resources to the cloud, (i.e: AWS, Azure, Rackspace, etc...), and shift that CAPEX into an OPEX and free up some funds for more fluid cashflow.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I have worked very minimally with HP servers as well, which were also pretty good servers.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer2380632 - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer at a cloud solution provider with 1-10 employees
Real User
Offers robust performance and scalability but may require upgrades for improved energy efficiency and may experience stability issues with older hardware
Pros and Cons
  • "Any necessary adjustments can be made seamlessly without the need to unplug cables, as everything is contained within the rack itself."
  • "There is potential for enhancement in terms of its overall upgradeability."

What is our primary use case?

We primarily utilize Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers as hosts for virtual machines.

How has it helped my organization?

We opted for the OCP primarily due to its exceptional modularity. With compute nodes and storage nodes sharing the same form factor and rack, it simplifies maintenance tasks. Any necessary adjustments can be made seamlessly without the need to unplug cables, as everything is contained within the rack itself. This user-friendly design streamlines operations, particularly for individuals with limited training in server management.

Our older PowerEdge servers consume significant amounts of power due to their age.

In terms of high performance, there hasn't been any improvement or decline. We have sufficient redundancy to tolerate the loss of multiple nodes without any impact.

In terms of productivity, we have the capability to interface directly with the servers when necessary, eliminating the need for remote access.

What needs improvement?

There is potential for enhancement in terms of its overall upgradeability.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using it for five years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

In terms of stability, overall it has been satisfactory, although we encountered some issues due to outdated hardware. At one point, we experienced failures likely stemming from aging components, such as a faulty CPU that led to the shutdown of certain virtual machines.

What other advice do I have?

It fulfills its intended functions, but we haven't identified any advantages to the additional features. Overall, I would rate it seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1851933 - PeerSpot reviewer
Vendor Account Manager at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
Real User
Centralized storage solution that has minimized downtime and allowed us to solve problems remotely
Pros and Cons
  • "This solution keeps us up and running and reduces downtime. PowerEdge helped us to reduce data processing time. The PowerEdge systems management frameworks enabled us to progress towards full automation."

    What is our primary use case?

    We use this solution for our SAP system to catalogue our sales, sales products and pricing. We also use this solution for all Microsoft applications. 

    How has it helped my organization?

    The patches that are often released for this solution help us stay on top of our game, which is essential as we provide solutions to the government.

    This solution keeps us up and running and reduces downtime. PowerEdge has helped us to reduce data processing time. The PowerEdge systems management frameworks have enabled us to progress towards full automation. 

    What is most valuable?

    The automatic updates provided in the system have been the most valuable. The notifications that get sent out help us keep on top of making sure security patches are updated weekly.

    The iDRAC commentary embedded in this solution allows our IT department to detect problems whenever and wherever they arise. They are then able to resolve these problems from a remote location 80% of the time.

    This solution does everything we need to do. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using this solution for two years. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    This is a stable solution. 

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    This is a scalable solution. We have 35 employees who focus primarily on sales. 

    How are customer service and support?

    The technical support for this solution is good. 

    How would you rate customer service and support?

    Positive

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is straightforward. The solution's deployment team that assisted are on top of their game. They are easy to contact and set it up fairly quickly.

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The pricing for this solution is competitive compared to others on the market.

    What other advice do I have?

    Our IT department have not had any complaints using this solution and have preferred its performance compared to what they used to use.

    I would rate this solution a ten out of ten. 

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    Hybrid Cloud
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Sr. Team Lead - IT at InfoStretch
    Real User
    Top 5
    Stable, easy to set up, and the support is good
    Pros and Cons
    • "What we like the most is the stability. Without shutdowns, our VMs and servers are up and running fine."
    • "All of the servers are in cluster mode and when PowerEdge Server is down, others are affected."

    What is our primary use case?

    Our setup is only for single storage with Dell servers R620 and R630. We have 10 servers and we have deployed the ESXi on each one, with multiple VMs on each server.

    This solution is being used for testing purposes. We are testing for our clients that require any builder deployment. When our project is over, then we will restart this VM.

    What is most valuable?

    What we like the most is the stability. Without shutdowns, our VMs and servers are up and running fine.

    The backup and the requirement of the DR site is valuable.

    What needs improvement?

    All of the servers are in cluster mode and when PowerEdge Server is down, others are affected.

    It doesn't automatically upgrade the firmware. We have to manually process it because we have forgotten about the firmware and virus updates.

    We would like to see the upgrades done automatically. In future releases, automation would be required.

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We have been working with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Server for approximately five to six years.

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    It's a very stable solution.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    Scalability could be improved.

    How are customer service and technical support?

    Technical support is good.

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is straightforward. It was easy.

    What other advice do I have?

    This is a server that I would recommend to others.

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

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
    PeerSpot user
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
    Updated: May 2025
    Buyer's Guide
    Download our free Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.