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Cisco Nexus Dashboard vs Dell PowerEdge R-Series comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Nexus Dashboard
Ranking in Data Center Networking
11th
Average Rating
9.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.4
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Data Center Infrastructure Management (11th)
Dell PowerEdge R-Series
Ranking in Data Center Networking
4th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
309
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (1st), Blade Servers (2nd), Rack Servers (1st)
 

Featured Reviews

Vijaya Mandadi - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Network Engineer at Wells Fargo
Monitoring has improved and now quickly identifies misaligned configurations and link issues
I have been using Cisco Nexus Dashboard for three to four years initially, and then got switched to Arista, and now it is coming back again as we just deployed the servers for those who are in the process of setting it up.I do not think Cisco optimizes the experience of a hybrid or distributed enterprise setup because we have Arista in our network too.I do not know how end-to-end visibility from Cisco affects my organization's troubleshooting capabilities.The first time when we got Cisco deployed, for some reason, it was not as scalable as how we wanted because the leaves stopped growing after approximately 150 or something. We needed to be scaled much larger, and that is when we pivoted from Cisco to Arista. However, I think it is coming back as they eliminated that problem.I would rate this review at a nine out of ten.
Tom van Mil - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Administrator at Lico Innovations B.v.
Supports flexible hosting needs through seamless upgradability and strong monitoring capabilities
The most valuable features of Dell PowerEdge R-Series for me are the feature richness and the upgradability. I really love the way that it is so dynamically applicable for every situation, and they manage to have an all-in-one solution for every single situation. Dell PowerEdge has supported the growth and operational success of my company through its great compute power and price-to-performance ratio. Every time Dell is at the top of its game for us, and there is just no other brand for us that is able to reach that kind of price-to-performance ratio. Dell PowerEdge R-Series has features that specifically cater to the needs of my small company, such as iDRAC. The iDRAC system is a complete feature set for managing servers and hardware technically and monitoring-wise. It really fits in our system and our ecosystem, and monitoring-wise, it is excellent. They have all these sensors available via different protocols and end points, which I love, and the ability to manage and control everything via the iDRAC interface is just a welcome bonus. In our use case, Dell PowerEdge R-Series is very flexible. It is another computer which helps a lot because of the durability over time. They keep running, making scalability for getting more of those resources in our environment so easy.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"What I like the most about Cisco Nexus Dashboard is the easier way to know exactly which device is connected to where."
"The feature I appreciate most about Cisco Nexus Dashboard is the ability to control everything in one centralized place."
"Dell servers and the management tools that are there make our life easier as admins; there is no comparison if we had to choose."
"Dell's PowerEdge Rack Server is the best solution that I've seen, compared to other vendors."
"The hardware itself is pleasant to work with. The management ability, particularly the out-of-band management, seems quite nice. The ecosystem tooling is also pleasant to work with. Additionally, Dell offers good support, and the servers are reliable."
"The iDRAC is an excellent service; it allows us to install and deploy our software remotely."
"SimpliVity's most valuable features are its unified management and operational capabilities."
"The optimization of hardware and the ability to extend the hardware are valued features."
"I rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers as a nine out of ten overall."
"The most valuable features are remote management and iDRAC."
 

Cons

"The first time when we got Cisco deployed, for some reason, it was not as scalable as how we wanted because the leaves stopped growing after approximately 150 or something."
"My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Cisco Nexus Dashboard is that it is expensive."
"We have not had a good experience with support. Technical support staff take too much time to resolve tickets."
"There is room for improvement in certain aspects of the deployment process as it is a bit complex."
"When trying to quote devices and servers for our Mexico City offices directly with Dell instead of through a partner, we encountered some challenges. It took several months to negotiate appropriate pricing, requiring escalation to the director of Dell Mexico and communication with Dell US."
"It would be nice if the rack servers had an HCI solution as an option."
"The physical design could be improved as it is heavy and quite large when racked."
"The dispatch services are outsourced to small and medium companies, so we don't get consistent support."
"OpenManage Essentials could do with a visual birthday as it still requires the Silverlight plugin."
"The pricing always has room for improvement."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"You can't have computed performance without using more power. That said, when I consider the power consumption and performance of the MX740c, depending on how much memory you install on each blade, you get the best bang for your buck."
"PowerEdge pricing is equivalent to that of all the others in the market."
"The pricing could always be better."
"The pricing of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers has been a little problematic. It was sticker shock with our most recent purchase compared to the previous one, and there's a gap in pricing at our current level because what we do isn't very compute-intensive, resulting in a mismatch where we fit into an in-between category without an exact solution available."
"I have no issues with the pricing and licensing costs. They are fine."
"Compared to other vendors, the prices are much lower."
"It's a bit of a shock when you have to find the money, but the pricing is very competitive, so I'm happy with that."
"The main reason I choose Dell there is cost. Dell is cheaper than HPE. Why would I want to pay a premium for an HPE product when I'm getting the same amount of support, the same amount of data protection, and the same amount of performance from Dell?"
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Construction Company
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business112
Midsize Enterprise66
Large Enterprise129
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cisco Nexus Dashboard?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Cisco Nexus Dashboard is that it is expensive. They are not going to lower the price. If you want it, you are going to have to pay for it. ...
What needs improvement with Cisco Nexus Dashboard?
Cisco Nexus Dashboard is pretty solid, so I do not know what can be improved or what additional features should be included.
What is your primary use case for Cisco Nexus Dashboard?
Cisco Nexus Dashboard serves as a dashboard to ensure that all Nexus devices are properly set up.
When shopping for a rack server, would you go with Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether the Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem rack servers were the better fit for us. We ultimately decided to go with Dell EMC Poweredge....
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
Unplanned production downtime is a concern. According to our experience, when we run a high workload to a certain level, for example, more than 80% or up to 90%, the system does not perform well. T...
What is your primary use case for Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
We run multiple workloads on Dell PowerEdge R-Series, including database and virtual machine workloads. Some of our multi-purpose VM workloads are running databases such as Mongo or Oracle. We serv...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Nexus Dashboard vs. Dell PowerEdge R-Series and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.