Dell PowerEdge R-Series Reviews

We do media transcoding. We mainly use servers with quite a lot of CPUs to be able to do transcoding. We need servers that provide us with a lot of power.

By implementing Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, we wanted to transcode media in a fairly quick way. We can have media for only about a quarter of an hour. From the moment the media gets to us to the moment it is gone, we only have about a quarter of an hour, so we need a lot of power to be able to achieve something in a minimum amount of time.

Overall, we are very happy with the fact that we managed to get servers with last-generation CPUs. Besides that, like everyone else, we are trying a bit to reduce our energy bills. There is a big effort to be made on that front.

In terms of resiliency, our servers tend to be fairly far in our infrastructure. We have a couple of layers of firewall upfront. We also have proxy and reverse proxy, so the range of attack is fairly weak, and behind that, we have Linux. We shield with firewalls and other safety measures.

Overall, we are quite happy with it in terms of energy consumption. We have a fairly low consumption.

We hardly upgrade our servers to handle the evolving needs of high-performance workloads. As a matter of fact, when we build a platform, it is for a very specific need, and it is made to last three to five years. After that, the platform disappears, and the servers also leave with that. We buy new servers according to the new platform. We have less upgrading on the servers because they are already adapted to our needs.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped to reduce unplanned production downtime. The servers that we have rarely break down, so, overall, we can change quite a lot of components on the run. We can manage to have a production that is running almost 99.99% of the time.

The OpenManage console has affected our IT staff’s productivity quite a bit. When new equipment arrives, we only have to put it in racks at the data center and all of the installation and management is done remotely, so we no longer need to spend a certain amount of time in the data center.

Using PowerEdge Rack Servers has affected the overall flexibility of our operations or business. We do have the ability to intervene on them, which is important. It is obviously easier than having a server where when we have a problem, we must go to the data center, or we must call someone to come and help. We might even have to stop the server, and that is quite annoying.

The calculation potential with modern CPUs is valuable. We have the capacity to increase the number of CPUs per machine, and there are also energy savings.

We have not had or come across any major problems. With regards to prices and support, they have always been very responsive, but we know that when we need more storage, we can easily find something much cheaper elsewhere. The equipment is very good, but the price is a bit too high. In addition, their support for parts can be better.

In our organization, it must have been a good 20 years. They have been using Dell pretty much from the start of the company. I have been with the company for six years, but we still unearth some old servers from time to time.

They are stable.

We don't scale a lot, we buy as and when needed.

Their support is very good. I would rate them an eight out of ten. They can be more reactive when sending parts. The support service is very reactive when answering us, but they need a bit of time to send us the parts. We tend to only ask for the parts. We replace them ourselves. We do not request a technician as well. We have also had a case where a part arrived at the wrong address.

Like many people, we do not only use Dell products. We also use a bit of HPE. I have a preference for Dell, but we still have some old servers from other manufacturers lying around. We have some old equipment, but everything that is recent is either Dell or HPE. We changed the old servers simply because they were at the end of their life.

I am involved in the implementation of these servers. The implementation is simple.

We know that we need half a day in the data center to do everything regarding the racks. Once that is done, we can also split the tasks because, although the servers are in the same bay, we do not want to be on top of each other when working. So, we can work in parallel during the installation of a certain number of servers without any difficulty. If you do not have a console, it is quite limiting because, with a screen at the back of a server, you are limited to working on only one server at a time.

We generally do everything related to PowerEdge ourselves.

Overall, we have seen an ROI. The ROI is in terms of productivity at the infrastructure service level. We do not have to regularly change parts, and by being able to do all of the administration remotely, we gain quite a substantial amount of time.

As far as licenses are concerned, we have very few servers. We no longer need the licenses. It depends directly on the manufacturers or the people who develop the software. Instead of taking them with the servers, because we are not always sure of the specific use for a specific server, we get the licenses afterward.

With regards to the rates, there are times when Dell is not able to match the prices of other manufacturers who offer us something cheaper. For storage, it can vary, and the cost can be twice as much.

We mainly work with Dell and HPE. To evaluate the options, we take into account how easy it is to operate the server. In my opinion, Dell is unrivaled on that front. We are not a very big company, so we are very careful with the costs of our servers.

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

We use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for running SQL and Oracle DB.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is a user-friendly solution that provides performance stability. The solution's processor and management-related things are very easy to manage. The other valuable feature of the solution is the disk mirroring and RAID 5.

It's flexible to include additional memories in the solution. It's a hot-pluggable thing where we can remove and add something without switching up the whole system.

Currently, the solution does not have the in-process memory encryption technology. All Intel and AMD processors are now integrating with their CPUs. Dell can add that to the processor so that whenever it does any processing, it will just encrypt those into the memory. That is a new technology most cloud providers are following through with right now.

I have been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for six to seven years.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is a scalable solution.

We previously used some of the IBM Power Series to host Linux-based operating systems. We also use NetApp storage.

The solution’s initial setup is easy.

We have seen a monetary return on investment with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are better suited for database applications, and they support a lot of applications.

The solution's Cyber Resilient Architecture approach to security has good features like file integration and monitoring. Since a lot of ransomware and cybersecurity attacks happen nowadays, the data should be encrypted end to end. That will give more security to the customer or whoever is using it.

The solution is more suited for database applications. It gives more efficiency in processing CPUs and gives constant improvements in performance.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers has reduced our unplanned production downtime by 5% to 10%. We have annual maintenance, where we easily do a lot of software and firmware upgrades.

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

We are using R640 and R740 models. We use the solution as the back end and front end of our environment.

We use it for computing, storage, and server capacity for our back-end and front-end workloads.

The product provides good quality for its price. PowerEdge is one of the best in the market. We have been using it for 12 to 15 years, and the server has broken only once. The product is reliable. It is really important for us. The tool delivers everything we need. It does what we want it to do.

The product must improve its integration with VMware. It is really important to us. They should make the management more out of the box so we have less maintenance.

I have been using the solution for 12 to 15 years.

The tool is stable.

The scalability depends a little bit on the software we use.

The initial setup is pretty easy. It is an out-of-the-box experience. It's plug-and-play. We click it in, attach the cables, and start.

As an enterprise customer, the pricing is fine for us. There are also possibilities to interact over the price and discuss. We have no complaints.

We have evaluated HPE and Cisco. The main difference we noticed is interoperability. We use a lot of VMware software. The integration with Dell is always perfect. It is a big advantage for us. HPE lacks interoperability.

The Cyber Resilient Architecture approach is a good step. Hackers always try to get into infrastructures or use ransomware to encrypt files. Dell has taken it very seriously. We can see there's a lot of development in PowerEdge. New services are coming out. It's more powerful. It also has less energy consumption. They're going in the right direction.

We use the OpenManage console to patch our servers. It made some really good developments in the last few years. We can just press a button, and the upgrade continues. We're very happy with it. It has made our staff's work easier and reduced the time spent on tasks. A task that took us 40 hours before now takes us 20 hours to complete.

The product has provided us with reliability in a positive way. 

HPE and Lenovo are the product's competitors.

Overall, I rate the product a nine out of ten.

We're using it for various purposes, such as DB servers, web servers, application servers, file servers, print servers, etc.

We can use the OpenManage console for managing multiple rack servers. We can manage all of them in a single console. The firmware can be pushed on multiple servers via the OpenManage console. It's very user-friendly, and it makes it easy to download and update the firmware. There are multiple options. If I have 15 servers of the same model, to update the firmware, I don't need to download the firmware on each server. With the OpenManage console, we can download it just once and then push it to multiple servers.

The OpenManage console has affected our IT staff’s productivity. Upgrading firmware on each server generally takes two hours. So, upgrading firmware on multiple servers would take a lot of time. For example, for 15 servers, it would take at least 30 hours, whereas, with the OpenManage console, we can update all the servers within two hours.

The OpenManage console also decreases the time it takes to deploy new data centers. It would take more time to deploy the individual servers.

We can use Dell Lifecycle Controller for remote server management. If something happens, I use the iDRAC console to check the impact. It's easy to identify the issue from the iDRAC console. If there is a blue screen or purple screen, it's a hardware-related or software-related issue. I am based in India, but I can easily support US operations. iDRAC allows me to work remotely to troubleshoot. So, troubleshooting, as well as firmware downloads and updates, are very easy. All the firmware and drivers are available on a single page. I can download or update the firmware if there is a purple screen or a driver is missing. In the OpenManage console, everything is visible. We can see the installed version and the available version in a single console. It shows anything that is non-compliant in your list. If my environment has 1,000 servers, it will show whether all 1,000 servers are up to date or not. I can then identify and plan for the firmware updates. After updating the firmware, the hardware runs smoothly.

It supports multiple operating systems. I have experience installing Windows servers, ESXi, and Linux. It's not only for Windows. We use the VMware ESXi operating system. On ESXi, we run around 6,000 virtual servers. We have app servers, DB servers, and file servers. There are also manufacturing applications, where they are running robotic machines. So, there are different applications running.

You can use Dell PowerEdge hardware for anything. It supports everything such as file servers, web servers, and DB servers. It can support all critical servers and applications. There are bank applications running on PowerEdge servers.

PowerEdge rack servers are good in terms of energy consumption.

Dell hardware is not as stable as HP. I have not seen any issues with HP in five years, but with Dell, I am getting multiple issues. It's not stable. They need to verify why it has multiple issues and why Dell hardware is not as stable as HP hardware.

I have 15 years of experience in the IT industry. I have worked in multiple companies, and I have more than 10 years of experience with Dell hardware. I have worked with Dell PowerEdge R720, R730, R740, R830, R840, and R940, and I have also worked with Dell PowerEdge VRTX Chassis M630 and M640.

Dell hardware is not as stable as HP hardware.

Their support is number one worldwide. I never got that much support with other hardware. I would rate them a 10 out of 10.

Positive

I have also worked with HP hardware in one of the companies. In five years, I generally did not see any issues with HP hardware, but in case I had any problem with hardware, they took more than 10 days to replace the hardware or troubleshoot the problem. I don't like that. Whereas Dell provides support within four hours for hardware replacement. They provide better support. Within four hours, they arrange for a replacement. Their support is number one. I would recommend Dell because their support is very good.

Dell's hardware is not as stable as HP's. We see multiple issues, such as hard disk failures. We need to apply updates or patches. Dell is user-friendly. So, it's very easy to apply and download, but the hardware is not stable. This is the only part that needs to be developed from Dell's side.

HP is more expensive than Dell. Dell provides better quotes. They give multiple options to buy the hardware.

Its deployment is very easy. Anybody can deploy it. They provide everything. Its deployment is easy and user-friendly.

For deployment, we have customized ISO for our environment. We use that. For ESXi, we are using the Dell custom image that they provide on their website. We can download that directly from there, and that's it.

One of the clients has been offered a price of $18,000 instead of the regular price of around $25,000.

It supports everything. You can install anything you want. If you want DB, you can do that. If you need high-performance workloads, you need to increase storage capacity. It depends on the configuration, but it will support that. The PowerEdge server has 16 slots. You just need to buy maximum capacity during the purchase.

I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a 10 out of 10.

I run network function workloads on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers has some power-saving options and employs various green IT concepts. PowerEdge servers consume a normal amount of energy. Like any system, it requires significant energy, but the thermal design limits power consumption. Depending on the type of CPU or hardware you add, it will draw the necessary amount of energy. 

They have implemented small measures to reduce planned downtime. You can schedule upgrades and do other things to limit the total downtime, but it isn't significant compared to other solutions. 

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.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are competitive, but there is room for energy efficiency improvement considering the thermal design and power consumption. The OpenManage Console offers smart features, but its impact is not significantly better than competitors.

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

I haven't experienced any failures with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, so I find the stability to be good.

The scalability of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is good as well.

I rate Dell support 10 out of 10. Dell support is excellent. They are proactive and maintain regular contact to ensure successful deployments.

Positive

The initial setup was conducted in-house and was smooth. The deployment and ongoing management of the servers are satisfactory.

The implementation was done internally, without external help.

The biggest ROI comes from transitioning to commodity hardware and removing legacy hardware. This includes adopting generic x86 hardware offered by different vendors.

Before using Dell, we evaluated multiple vendors. Dell was selected because they fulfilled all the requirements during an RFP process.

I rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers 10 out of 10. The system doesn't perform better or worse than competitors, but it performs exactly as expected. I'm getting what I purchased.

I have been using PowerEdge servers primarily for file storage.

Using PowerEdge rack servers has allowed us to use less space. Previously, we used the regular servers, but PowerEdge rack servers take up less space and are easier to handle.

The OpenManage Console improves our IT staff productivity by simplifying platform management. We can keep track of all those servers and do more jobs. The server effectively handles the evolving needs of high-performance workloads. 

The management of the security architecture could be improved. It takes some time and can be challenging. 

I have been using PowerEdge servers for over 20 years.

The overall stability is okay. We had some disk issues with an older version, but newer versions have worked fine.

PowerEdge infrastructure is scalable, but we don't have much need to scale it.

We used HP servers before. The main differences between HP and Dell are price and management. Dell is better priced. 

The initial setup was straightforward. We deployed PowerEdge in-house using OpenManage. 

The biggest return on investment for me is the stability of the product.

Dell is priced better than alternative solutions.

I rate Dell PowerEdge eight out of 10. PowerEdge servers have improved the overall flexibility of our operations and business a little by simplifying operations and rationalizing placement. 

We use the solution to host on a private cloud. We use a lot of the 600 and 700 series.

Dell has grown a lot since the fourth generation. When I buy Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, I don't have to worry about servers, stability, and ease of deployment.

The solution is easy to use and very stable, and we are happy with it.

Some of Dell's competitors have already been feeding a lot of the performance and availability data to an online platform. We haven't seen that with PowerEdge, or at least we never used it. It would be nice if it were all included as a part of PowerEdge so you can check your server's performance and availability online.

I've been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for a long time. I have been using it before it was called PowerEdge.

The solution's scalability is very good. Nowadays, you can jam so much infrastructure into very small 1U or 2U servers, which is very impressive.

The solution’s technical support team is pretty responsive.

Positive

We use a lot of Supermicro servers, which are very good in terms of customizability. Supermicro servers can also be a lot aggressive in pricing. We use Supermicro for really lower-end and high-end servers. We use Dell for a lot of the middle-end servers.

It is easy to deploy Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

We have seen a return on investment with the solution in terms of stability and ease of use.

I wouldn't say the solution's pricing is the best, but it's very competitive.

Right now, we're using a lot of 13, 14, and 15-gen PowerEdge servers.

Many of our customers who do encryption at rest use Dell's TPM chip capability, which works.

PowerEdge Servers are very good for handling the evolving needs of high-performance workloads. We were able to use the solution to scale many of our compute nodes, which are used by many of our customers who need a lot of high computing. So, we're pretty happy with it.

Nowadays, PowerEdge is very reliable and has helped reduce unplanned production downtime twice as much as five years ago.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

We buy the servers without an OS and use Linux and open-source options with it. As we are a web hosting company, these servers primarily serve our customers by hosting their Websites, VPS, Emails, Domains, and other services. We also use them for our own infrastructure and our products.

We're a global web hosting company with data centers throughout the world, so we need lots of powerful, reliable, and efficient servers. That’s what Dell PowerEdge servers are. We've been using them for many years and trust the product. 

It has good quality control, and some of my colleagues were able to see this first-hand during a visit to the Dell factory.

We received good demo equipment that helped us pick the best solutions for our business. Plus, we can choose optimal setups and configurations that best fit the needs of our web, cloud, and virtual private server hosting clients.

The servers always arrive with the latest firmware and are very good at handling high-performance workloads. They meet our ever-growing needs, including those associated with AI.

The pricing is very flexible, and the commitment to delivery and working with partners is excellent.

Dell offers us good warranties and is very good at delivering on them when necessary.

In terms of energy consumption, PowerEdge servers are okay. We do find Dell servers to be more efficient than others; however, it depends on the CPU usage and workload. Our newest processors are more power-efficient, and NVMe SSD disc drives help save even more energy. User-friendly OpenManage console helps us efficiently manage the lifecycle of PowerEdge servers. However, we are not using it at full scale.

The servers are easy to set up, and we use a variety of server security features in our current environment. An important advantage is that we can make OS patches and hotfixes without a reboot.

We are quite satisfied with our latest configurations. We don't have big complaints at the moment. 

The response time could be better. Everyone is very busy nowadays. It's important to get issues resolved fast. 

We've used the solution for around three and four years.

The stability is very good. I'd rate stability nine out of ten.

Dell PowerEdge servers improved our IT infrastructure. We have fewer failures and good warranties, and by keeping everything up to date and patched, we reduced unplanned downtime by 20% to 30%. We've also noticed that these servers are 20% more powerful than similar configurations.

As the fastest-growing web hosting company with over 2.5 million clients worldwide, scalability is crucial for us. Dell server scalability is good. If we need more capacity, we just buy more servers. The most recent example is our purchase of 800 Dell servers.

Dell offers helpful technical support, including help and guidance when we have new server configurations.

Positive

We've been on the market for 20 years and tested a lot of the competition. We've used at least three different vendors before Dell.

The initial setup is straightforward. 

First, we need to ship our servers to a remote location. However, for racking and installing operating systems, et cetera, it takes about one hour. 

The ROI is good. I can’t give the exact numbers, but in terms of outcomes, it is profitable.

While pricing is very important, it's not all about the cost. With Dell, we have fewer issues, and updating processes are faster—which makes it worth the cost.

Overall, the solution is fairly priced and cost-effective. The overall pricing is moderate. 

We have considered a public cloud server before choosing Dell.

We are Dell partners and customers. 

I'd advise potential users to try Dell. I would recommend the solution.

I'd rate the solution ten out of ten. I'm quite satisfied with how everything is going. We do not have any complaints.