Dell PowerEdge R-Series Reviews

Our use case for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is data storage and computing for satellite images and AR picture generation.

It's required for our business. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers benefit our organization as we build satellites and use images from Earth to check the planet's health and constellation for telecommunication purposes. Our company is very young, with eight satellites in space, and we are still building the company.

Being in Belgium, which is a small country, we might be considered too small for Dell since we only have 40 Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. This sometimes affects our ability to receive deployment support.

I have been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for ten years.

We've 300 people in our organization. I believe Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers can grow with our business. Our company has a megafactory for satellites, making us the biggest company in Europe for satellites and the third in the world. Dell can support us in growing the company and developing our IT infrastructure.

The customer service is excellent, but we don't always get deployment support.

I have used HPE servers previously.

It's very easy to deploy Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

I did not evaluate other solutions besides Dell when we were looking because our IT manager had previous experience with Dell, and we continued with that decision.

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

On-premises

Our use case for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is as a private cloud. We have three products: utility computing where we use servers for bare metal configuration for our customers, private cloud, and integration of private cloud with hyperscalers.

The most valuable features of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are its flexibility and performance of the servers which are very good. I have been using PowerEdge for almost 25 to 30 years in my server rooms and data centers. I trust them more than other products because I have been managing not just data centers but also the internal IT of Tech Mahindra. I have been seeing a lot of improvements in Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers as we progress forward.

Onsite support can improve hands and feet as we progress forward, but the remote site support is very good. The dispatch services are outsourced to small and medium companies, so we don't get consistent support.

We have been using PowerEdge for a very long time, and I have been using it for almost 25 to 30 years in my server rooms and data centers.

We want to see what the approach is on generative AI as we move forward. On AI, we need to understand how this is going to scale, as AI is a different animal altogether.

I evaluate the customer service and support for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers as good; it has been good, and we don't find any problems.

Positive

We are using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for AI initiatives as we move forward because we have developed infrastructure as code for our customers, and we are bringing generative AI and writing LLMs for that. We will definitely be using our systems for that in our data centers, GPU as a service.

Overall, I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers ten out of ten.

Private Cloud

Other

We are an MSP and we use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for our customers.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers work with other products, such as different kinds of storage. We use the racks and the servers more in the server room, so we have to apply servers, other types of storage, and different types of firewalls, and it all works together smoothly.

It helps reduce our footprint by 20 to 30 percent.

Regarding reliability, we feel it's a one-time installation. We don't have problems operating it. If we have to shut down, we have to restart and it all goes right back. Our customers are satisfied with the system, so we don't hear any specific problems and it is quiet. That's the most important thing because if we're providing services to our clients, it's important for us that they work fluently and then the client doesn't complain. 

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers reduce downtime. They go right back up, reducing downtime by 20 to 30 percent compared to HP Servers.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers do a good job of reducing our energy consumption.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are good at handling the evolving needs of high-performance workloads. They are comfortable to use and provide good results for our needs. I have not encountered any installation or maintenance issues.

The overall flexibility is good. As long as we plan and know what is needed, it is easy. There are a lot of specialists and Dell Professional Services that can help.

The most valuable features are resiliency, reliability, easy installation, maintenance, and compatibility with other systems or servers.

The price distance increases with the higher-end, more complex servers, and there is room for improvement.

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

The scalability of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is good. They are able to meet all of our needs. We have not seen any limitations.

The deployment is straightforward.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers provide a return on investment through the time saved for our technicians during complex projects, installation, mounting, and onboarding.

The more complex the server requirements, the more expensive it gets.

We evaluated HP Servers but found them to have more downtime.

I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers eight out of ten. The price and response time from the test specialists keep it from being a ten out of ten.

We used Dell Professional Services to plan, implement, and adopt our solution a long time ago. The service was great. I would rate Dell Professional Services eight out of ten. If they responded quicker to our emails, they would be ten out of ten.

We use Dell PowerEdge for databases, file servers, and virtualization.

PowerEdge reduces energy consumption by achieving the same results with fewer servers and more virtualization. We're starting our AI journey with some AI workloads running on R750 servers. I don't have much insight into the applications, but I recommend Dell servers to colleagues who want to run AI workloads. In the end, the benefit outweighs the cost. 

We constantly upgrade to newer hardware, and everything stays the same but with updated architecture. This consistency is good for our technicians on the data center side. We also appreciate the integration with VMware. It keeps things simple for us. 

We use PowerEdge servers in conjunction with VMware, a VCF Rack, and VxRail. That has worked out well. We are using it for firmware upgrades and other similar tasks. It's a one-stop shop, but it could be better when the servers aren't on a VCF stack. Profile handling and upgrading standalone servers could improve, but they have gotten better over the years.

I have used Dell servers for 20 years. I've used Dell PowerEdge servers at my current company for six years, but I used them at other jobs. 

We don't have issues with PowerEdge except for occasional hardware problems. 

We can easily scale PowerEdge. We have a good platform on the software side, so we just scale out with more servers. We have had some issues scaling up more ports, but that's hardware. Nothing scales to infinity. We've had no problem handling high-performance workloads. We upgrade every few years to the latest and fastest hardware when necessary. 

I rate Dell support nine out of 10. They've helped us get the platform running and perform remote upgrades. They've been a good intermediary contact point for discussions with VMware and Broadcom. I talk with the support engineer, who talks with the networking team or someone else.

Positive

We have used HP and IBM Servers. Initially, we decided to adopt Dell because they offered a better price point. We are satisfied with the solution and will continue to use it. 

I rate PowerEdge eight out of 10 for ease of deployment. 

We deployed the servers using consultants this time, but we've used Dell professional services before. Our experience with consultants was good. 

I rate PowerEdge Rack Servers eight out of 10. 

On-premises

I use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers as the main server for my network. I install Windows Server and utilize all the features it offers for my network management.

I use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers as the main server for my network. I install Windows Server and utilize all the features it offers for my network management. One of the valuable features is Active Directory, which helps in managing the network. Additionally, it is used as the active server for my network.

I would like Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers to be faster and more secure. Improving these aspects would be beneficial. If possible, I would also appreciate a reduction in price.

I have been working with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for about sixteen years.

The deployment of Windows Server on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers was very easy. Implementing Windows Server is straightforward.

The product is very stable.

I haven't faced any problems with the servers, so I haven't had any reason to contact customer service.

Positive

I previously used HP servers before switching to Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

The initial setup was very easy with Windows Server.

I used Windows Server for deployment and did not utilize any specific Dell deployment services or consultants.

I have not seen a return on investment.

The price of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is not cheap, especially considering the currency circumstances in Egypt. I purchased it for approximately 500,000 Egyptian pounds.

I use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers as the main server for my network. I install Windows Server and utilize all the features it offers for my network management. One of the valuable features is Active Directory, which helps in managing the network. Additionally, it is used as the active server for my network. I would rate the overall solution as eight to nine out of ten.

On-premises

Our internal infrastructure for multiple networks on our large site uses Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers in VxRail clusters to support over 2,000 users, numerous labs, and development environments. These Dell servers function as the primary compute nodes within the VxRail hyperconverged infrastructure solution.

We implemented Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers because we were looking for a complete solution, and Dell was a strong contender. Their VxRail solution for SimpliVity offered implementation, upgrades, and support as a bundle, making it the ideal choice for us, and it has worked perfectly.

I put aside the monetary value. I'm seeking a more stable solution and fewer headaches for our IT professionals. Now that this solution is implemented, upgrades, additional solutions, and system stability are much easier to achieve. It's difficult to put a price on that, but it's an IT professional's dream come true.

To date, we have not encountered any issues with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers' ability to handle the evolving needs of high-performance workloads. Our data center has been primarily based on HP solutions for a considerable time, and we have only started incorporating Dell solutions into our infrastructure in the last three years. We are pleased with their performance, consider them a good product, and recommend them.

SimpliVity's most valuable features are its unified management and operational capabilities. It is amazing to have a single pane of glass to view, manage, and operate the entire environment without switching between Windows, software, or web environments.

The pricing always has room for improvement.

The support experience has room for improvement. As a secure site, we require personnel with specific clearances, and sometimes, the language barrier poses a challenge. English-to-Hebrew translation can impact various processes, particularly when troubleshooting errors necessitates collaboration with US or European teams across different time zones. Moreover, vendors occasionally request logs, which we cannot provide due to security protocols. The language barrier can make it difficult to clearly communicate our needs and issues to support personnel overseas. Therefore, we require more Dell technical support staff based in Israel.

I have been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for three and a half years.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers offer excellent stability. I implemented the Stretch Cluster as an active-active solution to handle scenarios such as a complete data center loss. To test the solution's robustness, I pulled the power cables from the server, simulating a potential real-world failure. Other vendors' solutions couldn't handle this, but Dell's appropriately performed, prompting immediate implementation. Now, I can confidently attest to its effectiveness. We've undergone data center and rack maintenance without any issues. Even during a complete networking loss over a weekend, the solution continued to operate seamlessly.

Dell's Professional Services are fantastic. I saw some people at the convention who helped us implement our environment because we faced some initial challenges as it was a new product. They were all amazing. The professional services team I speak to on the phone when I have a crisis, an upgrade, or even just a random error message is incredibly professional and helpful. I have nothing but positive things to say about them—they're amazing.

Positive

We use HP blade centers and rack servers as the foundation of our main data center. However, we are now transitioning to Dell Solutions, which offers comparable products from a different vendor, and we are happy with this change.

The deployment was moderately complex. Despite the installation manual provided by Dell to their professional services team, there were always additional tips and tricks not mentioned in the manual. However, the Dell Deployment Services team was highly skilled and experienced, allowing them to anticipate and address any issues that arose, resulting in a successful deployment.

Choosing an active solution that I implemented cost considerably more money. However, the return on investment was evident when something occurred on the weekend while we were off-site. No one experienced any disruption beyond a simple virtual machine reboot, which was remarkable. The work continued seamlessly. Even if someone worked over the weekend, they could still come to the office on Monday. I wasn't bothered with any calls about malfunctions or outages.

I rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers ten out of ten.

We started full-scale deployment in 2013 exclusively with Dell PowerEdge. We have the fourth generation of servers. We went from 720, 730, 740, and now 760. I have all the models.

We use PowerEdge to connect directly to electronics and readout systems so it is all deployed on-prem, on a private network with no connection to the outside.

I work in a research environment. We use these 400 huge clusters to connect to the electronics of readout detectors to read the data out of the homemade front-end electronics and then assemble the data files to be analyzed. It's moving data between electronics and the IT world of storage grid analysis, etcetera. I'm the service manager only for the readout part and that is already enough of a job.

Our servers are on the private network completely disconnected from the outside world. It's less of an issue than it would be for a front-end server to the Wild West. The whole firmware handling what Dell is doing through OAK Management Enterprise or other tools from the iDRAC is also important so that we get signed from the packages we can trust that were tested and don't render our server into a brick. When I get a maintenance window, it's once every four, or five months for four hours. I don't have time to do something, figure out if it doesn't work, and undo it. It has to work with the first job. Resilience in total globally is also important. I can install firmware and updates and have trust that it will work.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are good for power consumption compared to other brands. When we buy our Servers, we always take platinum, it's the best quality power supply. Maybe the others consume more power but I can certainly compare them to other platforms or vendors, and they are absolutely on the low side. Now with the 16th generation that came out, there's another huge step in the positive direction compared to the previous generations. In general, every time there's a new generation, I see that we get the same computing power for less electrical power. It moves in a good direction. We cut our energy consumption by half. This has saved us costs because we are running 300 days a year 24/7 on a full load. Thanks to PowerEdge we can lower our energy consumption lower than the competitors.

In our case, we figured out how much computing power we needed and bought more from the start. However, I'm spending my days buying memory and plugging additional memory. The change increases network bandwidth by changing onboarding functions. The memory capacity you can plug in is absolutely impressive for the bigger form factor. We can go through terabytes of memory without a problem. This is something impressive for me as we can open the chassis, and see how it's engineered inside so that we can easily access all the components, and change components without hours and hours of dismantling it. It is a bottom-up engineered product.

PowerEdge Rack Servers' impact on our sustainability goals is important but hidden. Based in Switzerland, we have to abide by the Swiss sustainability laws, which now forbid heat waste. If we build a data center now, we have to recuperate the heating and do something with it. We're no longer allowed to blow out the energy. 

For example, we are building new data centers now that are collecting it, and there's a residential area around it, and we heat the houses through hot water heating. We are legally obliged to do that. The times when we put a chiller outside and blow energy out are gone. That's the core context. If, when we started with the PowerEdge already at the time, we were 100 kilowatts for one room, we moved the junk out and put the first PowerEdge Servers in, and the power consumption went down to 80. So we recovered 20 percent for more computing. That was already more than ten years ago. by now, we have gone down to less than 50 with the latest generation of PowerEdge. So we are going down in power consumption while at the same time providing more computing power to the users. This is very important because the infrastructure to recuperate the heat costs money as well. The less I consume, the less I have to pay to recuperate it afterward.

There are two valuable features for me. Number one, we are always at the edge of technology, Dell is a great partner, so going to Austin to the HBC Lab, so we can test machines and platforms before they go commercial so we can adapt our developments because we plug homemade cards into the Servers. We have to make sure they're compatible. That's the development side. 

On the operations side, the value of service is always underestimated in terms of debugging, availability of spare parts, and the fact that they don't explode weekly. The quality of the products, the monitoring, the managed enterprise, pro support, TechDirect, self-dispatch of spare parts, etcetera, all of this allows us to run in the order of 500 servers if you take other clusters together. It is a tenth of a human host of a full-time equivalent. This means that if you would scale up linearly, one person could take care of 3000 Servers. That's quite impactful. Google published three people for 1000. We are doing one person for 3000. That allows us to free human resources for other tasks. The last time somebody had to go to the data center for support was five months ago. We could do many functions remotely, so there was no hardware fault. We could do daily maintenance remotely through iDRAC. Its remote management capabilities are one in a lifetime. I don't know any other platforms that offer the same level of manageability.

The world market for CPUs is excited. We have new ideas popping up left and right like new accelerator cards because there are GPUs. Dell is already working with Kalray, for example, that builds accelerator cards. There are new FPGA cards available on the market that are not in the portfolio. The last time I looked was when buying the new 760 Servers because it changes every couple of months, and not all Intel CPUs were certified. The adoption speed of new CPU and GPU technologies has room for improvement. 

However, I know coming from the technical side this is a lot of work, and it's difficult. I know they are working on it and it's not something you do in five minutes. We have to stay fair. It would be nice but I know that now Intel and AMD come up with new CPUs twice a year. In the past, there was a new CPU generation every two years and now it's every six months. So the developers of servers and all the devices and programs are running to keep up with the speed itself.

I have been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for 11 years.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are stable.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are scalable.

The support is efficient. We have access to the spare parts catalog, We can diagnose a file and send it to them, and within two hours we have somebody on the phone. They are reactive and the problems were solved in the first attempt. This allows us to pay a little bit more for the initial investment but over the lifetime of the equipment, we have zero manpower costs to keep them running. The total cost over the lifetime of the equipment, we are largely positive compared to other brands where we have to pay a team of ten people to manage the equipment.

During the deployment, the amount of rails turned out to be a disaster. We asked for two fewer rails and I had the whole team come over and install the rails for PowerEdge. I had a colleague, who did the Rack all by himself, he was so fascinated with it. From the mechanical aspect, it's extremely easy and solid. 

There is also the engineering of the chassis down to the rail and how to put it in was well thought out. It was not some rails that were purchased out of a catalog from Taiwan. 

I use OAK Management Enterprise to control the whole cluster. Once we plug in the cable, the service tag is realized, and the server is deployed by itself. From plugging in a new machine to installation ready if there are not too many firmware updates, it's ten minutes. It's easy, requires little manpower, and is fast. 

When we had to install five hundred servers in the rack, there was a discussion about whether we should call on the professional deployment services from Dell to do that, and then we decided not to. Because we are two people, we could install 25 servers in two hours. It was done in two weeks.

We do the implementation in-house.

We have the equipment itself, but Dell also provides the full software framework infrastructure around it. That is crucial in monitoring in terms of what's going on and also that one allows for example one person to have a view over thousands of machines. I have CloudIQ on my phone so I can see what my servers are doing. I can predict its failure so we can react before something explodes. We can react before things fail. That, of course, reduces downtime, and increases happiness, on the customer side. 

As scientists, we want as much data as possible. In the experiment equipment running, there are no official numbers, but we are in millions per hour. Therefore, half an hour of downtime is costly. Not everything will be down, but if the data is unusable because there's one piece missing, it's as if everything will be lost.

I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers ten out of ten. We never have problems and if there is an issue we get help, and the issue is resolved quickly. I never found myself sitting around, not knowing what to do or not getting help. With other full-brand vendors, I couldn't get a support person to look at an issue. These vendors always underestimated support and the follow-up with the customer afterward. In my experience, Dell is the best.

I also spend a lot of time on the advisory board for the Dell HPC Community. I spent time with the developers in most of the service. Ten years ago, the Servers had two power supplies and they were both on the same side. Now on the new ones, one of the power supplies has moved to the other side. That was something we injected seven years ago into the development process because it makes installations in the Rack much more efficient.

On-premises

Our company offers various solutions, but for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, our clients had specific requirements such as a very new, unsupported CPU, extensive RAM support, and numerous PCIe lanes. Only Dell met all these needs.

The learning curve for Dell products is not steep due to the excellent support and easily accessible information. Compared to other projects I'm involved in, I found it much easier to learn and use Dell products. 

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have redundant power supplies that would help reduce downtime.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers offer flexibility due to their remote management capabilities, redundant components, and ease of diagnosis and repair.

The most valuable aspect of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is that they don't require support for card installation and offer extensive diagnostic software. I was able to work on the servers installed in our lab remotely from my office via the management tools. This eliminated the need for a physical display connection, requiring only an ethernet cable and power for remote access and management. 

Their servers are modular, but there are specific applications for which I wish they would publish the specifications, such as the specs of internal connectors. If Dell doesn't provide a connector, I'd like to be able to provide it myself.

The limited connectivity of the Rack Servers, due to having only three USB ports, is an area of improvement for Dell. Dell continues to use micro USB for the management port, and that cable type is increasingly more difficult to find. A shift to USB-C for the management port would be a welcome improvement from Dell.

I have been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for one year.

We sometimes build in-house using components from vendors we represent, but this project required something completely different, so we went with Dell. I hadn't worked with Dell before and had no prior experience. I had designed PCs based on Dell-style motherboards from one company and cards from another, handling integration, software support, and everything else. This was different because they didn't conform to usual standards and used their own products. There was a learning curve, but it was much easier overall.

I rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers nine out of ten.

We collaborated with Dell Professional Services to obtain cable design specifications. The power supplies used DC voltage, and we needed to determine the recommended cable thickness and any other pertinent design considerations. We planned to install our cards, which necessitated an internal power supply, so we needed the specifications to ascertain the maximum power draw from each connector.

Dell Professional Services were great compared to others I have used. I would rate them ten out of ten.

We use PowerEdge servers for backup and VxRail. 

PowerEdge is flexible and adaptable. You can you can build whatever you want from it. It's used for Data Domain and many other purposes. Since Dell purchased EMC, you can use it for most solutions. It's better than other solutions in terms of heat and power consumption. PowerEdge servers reduce unplanned downtime for our clients. 

It's easy to install. The GUI is user-friendly. Everything is well organized, and you can see everything. You can do the command line remotely. I've done 20 servers in bulk.

The GUI could be improved. I primarily work with the command line, which enables you to do many things faster.

I have used PowerEdge servers for four years.

PowerEdge servers are highly stable. I haven't experienced any failures, and updates resolve all bugs. 

We primarily use PowerEdge for other solutions, and the software combines everything. PowerEdge is a node in a bigger solution.

I rate Dell support nine out of 10. We did not use professional services for deployment, but we contact support when we have issues we can't resolve ourselves. They are cooperative, and if the frontline support can't answer our question, they escalate it, and we get an answer later. 

Positive

PowerEdge servers are easy to install. 

I rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers eight out of 10. It has all the features our customers need. 

We are an MSP that sells, deploys, installs, and maintains Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for our customers who use them for storage and as their main server.

Our customers implement Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for better performance and lower prices. They have a lower price and the best performance. 

Dell is an established and trusted name for our customers. They have proven themselves as a leader in storage. 

PowerEdge cyber-resilient architecture approach to security is good. The updates come regularly and quickly when there is a zero-day occurrence. We trust that security is tight. 

PowerEdge does a good job handling the evolving needs of high-performance workloads.

PowerEdge has minimal downtime. Out of 100 servers, we may have an issue with two servers per year.

The OpenManage console has improved productivity through ease of maintenance. It's easy to use and it's good for the team. We use it every day. 

Because the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are stable and work well, our customers can work around the clock, giving them the flexibility to do what they need.

From a technical perspective, the iDRAC system's most valuable feature is its performance, while from the customer's perspective, it is the other features. It's easy to manage. 

I want Dell to offer more virtualization platforms because the cost of VMware is getting too high.

I have been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for almost ten years.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are stable.

We are able to plan for scalability based on the customer's requirements and have not had any issues with it.

We use Dell technical support two to three times a year. They are professional and always meet our SLA time. However, there are sometimes service delays on weekends.

Positive

We also sell HPE and Lenovo servers. When we buy a Dell PowerEdge server, most of the features are included in the price, but for the others, such as HPE iLO for connecting or IBM X servers, we must purchase add-ons.

The deployment of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is similar to that of other vendors in terms of complexity. It's easy.

We implement the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for our customers.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are reliable, ensuring customers see a return on investment as they don't need to extend warranties on their servers.

I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers ten out of ten. I also deal with Lenovo and HPE, and we must pay extra for support and add-on features. This is not the case with Dell PowerEdge. With Dell, it includes all the servers. 

It is very easy to sell Dell.