Dell PowerEdge R-Series Reviews

Our primary use case is for Hyper-V server virtualization.

The reason we adopted Dell PowerEdge is because we wanted to simplify and streamline our IT infrastructure as much as possible. That is the challenge we were facing.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have made my organization much more organized. Before, we didn't have DRA cards or a centralized overview of servers, so managing them required local access. Now, I can centrally monitor and control server issues across all locations.

PowerEdge Server's Cyber Resilient Architecture approach to security, including silicon-based firmware, signed firmware updates, user access, and supply chain security and integrity is good. It's especially good with regular updates that instill confidence.

I can't provide details on the processor architecture, as I'm not deeply familiar with it.

PowerEdge Rack Servers' handling of evolving high-performance workload requirements when equipped with the appropriate server is sufficient and very good. Although it's crucial for a customer to plan for future resource needs.

The servers have had an excellent impact on our organization's sustainability goals. The longer lifespan of Dell servers aligns well with the typical server lifespan calculation of five to seven years.

The OpenManage Console has affected the productivity of our IT personnel. It has become much more manageable. It's easier to administer servers, even for colleagues who are less technically inclined.

The DRA cards for server management is the most valuable feature. They provide a clear overview of server settings and issues. We also like that the notifications are well-organized.

The price could possibly use improvement. Dell servers are not the most affordable, and pricing is always a consideration. Otherwise, I don't see any specific areas for improvement.

In a future release, having a ten-gigabit LAN onboard from the start would be a significant advantage. It would eliminate the need for aftermarket upgrades.

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

The servers have good stability. Servers need to run smoothly, and Dell servers do that reliably.

Scalability depends on how you plan and allocate resources. With proper planning, it's scalable.

I would rate their support a nine out of ten. It would be even better if ProSupport for servers were integrated and didn't require additional fees or licenses.

We were previously using HPE ProLiant and Microtech servers. They were not as user-friendly or easy to manage.

We did the setup. We installed a Windows server and configured the hard drives.

The complexity of the setup is as complex as setting up any server. It's not as simple as a laptop but not excessively complex if you've done it a few times.

Our strategy was to set up the servers and then we migrated VMs from the old servers once the new ones were ready.

Microsoft licensing for Hyper-V servers is a challenge, but Dell's hardware may be slightly more expensive. Overall, it's manageable.

We looked at HP again but decided on Dell due to our positive experience with Dell laptops.

Also, Dell's Pro Support is something I find valuable, and I believe it's not available to the same extent as other providers.

PowerEdge Rack Servers' energy consumption depends on how the server is utilized. I can't provide specific details, but every server requires power.

The use of PowerEdge Rack Servers hasn't had a significant impact on the overall flexibility of our operation. If anything, it has ensured everything runs smoothly.

I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a nine out of ten. There's not much that needs improvement. Your success with it largely depends on how well you plan.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

We use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers mainly for virtualization and as hypervisors.

We are currently converting from VMware to Hyper-V and trying to use Dell's Azure Stack HCI solution to converge the storage instead of using separate storage devices. We have one environment for network storage and computing, which gives us more flexibility and standardization in the solutions.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are reliable with no serious issues. Now, standardization makes things easier in exchanging components and knowledge.

We have a lot of branches. The most valuable feature is standardization because we have a small group of IT resources that need to do the operational tasks. As long as we have standardization everywhere, it's easier to maintain the environment.

The way we can manage the environment through the solution's GUI could be improved. You need different management tools at the moment for doing different things, and it would be helpful if there were one global tool you could use to monitor and manage updates.

I have been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for a couple of months.

We never faced any stability issues with the solution.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is a scalable solution.

We previously used HPE Compaq and IBM. We were taken over by another company that was already using Dell, and IBM was quitting with those devices because Lenovo took it over. That's why we switched to the new standard Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

The solution's deployment is pretty good, and we used ProDeploy from Dell. We gained a lot of information during the deployment, and it's also been a learning curve for us. It's very helpful that knowledgeable people are doing the ProDeploy so you can also learn about the implementation.

We deployed Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers in two weeks.

The solution’s pricing is competitive with other products.

The solution's security by itself is pretty good. The hardening of the server itself is good enough at the moment. We have automation for updates and upgrades that ensure things are tested before they are published instead of running into issues while you do the upgrades.

Our old computers use power supplies of 800 Watts. The new ones were offered twice, 24,00 Watts, which was quite the difference. I'm not saying they are using it, but the fact that they were delivered with 24,00 Watts was shocking because then you think you require more capacity in the data centers, and that isn't the case. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers should improve their power consumption.

We don't currently have very high computing power, so it's standard business applications. When I implement it with Azure Stack HCI, we can hopefully improve the IOPS, using the cluster storage instead of a SAN or a NAS solution.

We discussed technology within Dell during the design phase, which was pretty good. They help us a lot with the sizing of the systems.

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

We use Dell PowerEdge servers for various purposes, including running databases on Windows platforms, blades, and chassis for high-performance computing. Our VMware environment relies on PowerEdge servers, particularly in the HPC setup, which involves complex networking and interconnects. 

While the infrastructure can be intricate, the consistent performance of Dell servers makes maintenance easier. Coming from a Unix environment, I find the reliability of these servers comparable, if not better, and they require less time for repairs.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have been stable and reliable over the last decade.

There is room for improvement in certain aspects of the deployment process as it is a bit complex.

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

Evaluating the stability of Dell PowerEdge servers, we focus on security patching and follow-ups on vulnerabilities. While our team emphasizes security core aspects, our primary concern is a balance between green IT and cost efficiency. Power and heat consumption are challenges across all brands, mainly influenced by Intel chips. 

The server's reliability in storage is dependent on how storage is divided over multiple storage arrays. Although downtime is required for server replacement, the overall architecture provides a good overview and easy management of multiple servers. 

The stability of Dell PowerEdge servers is excellent, with minimal hardware defects in the last three years. The impact of server maintenance is reduced due to virtualization, allowing easy movement of VMs within the cluster. I would rate the stability as a nine out of ten.

Comparing Dell to Lenovo in our hybrid brand solution for HPC, Lenovo is sometimes a bit more expensive but can be easier to install with less driver complexity. 

Dell, on the other hand, can be cheaper. Dell's recent shift has resulted in a larger data center footprint, but the cost-driven nature of IT decisions often favors the most economical solution. While our return on investment with Dell is generally good, IT views these solutions as costs rather than revenue generators. Overall, the reliability is strong, but our focus remains on minimizing costs.

Deploying Dell servers feels like rocket science, but as a seasoned professional, it is generally straightforward and intuitive for me. I rarely use manuals and rely on my experience. Occasionally, finding the right person with multi-disciplinary knowledge can be a challenge, leading to minor delays. Overall, the experience is good, but there is room for improvement in certain aspects.

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

I'm using the server for Exchange and it gives me good performance.

I like the iDRAC feature.

I have also seen long life from each part and haven't had to call support, as far as I remember. I use competitors like HPE and we need spare parts every year. I have been using this server for 10 years and haven't faced any problems with the hardware or performance.

The BIOS interface could be improved; it is very poor. PowerEdge is very good overall, but if you compare the BIOS interface with HPE, it is not very good. HPE's is very advanced but Dell's is very simple.

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

The stability is about a seven out of 10.

It is scalable, but we are not planning to get more PowerEdge servers. We are planning to go with hyper-converged. We are looking to extend our environment and deploy a new DR site.

We have multiple locations and about 400 users.

Their support is excellent, but here I'm referring to all our Dell products, because I haven't had to contact them about PowerEdge.

Positive

I didn't have a previous solution, but I work with HPE servers at the same time. There is no major difference between them in performance or specifications. I prefer Dell for its warranty, which is very good here in Egypt. I am able to extend my warranty for one or two years.

For me, the setup was easy.

The only maintenance is cleaning it and adding hard disks.

I did it, as a system admin, with my team of three people: technical support and our help desk team.

Dell is somewhat more expensive than HPE.

In terms of money, if I compare a cloud system and an on-premises server like PowerEdge, if I rent the same type of product in the cloud for 10 years, it will cost more than if I get a PowerEdge server for five years.

If you invest in your network, it will be advantageous. 

We have two that we use as domain controllers and power servers. We're running an ERP system that is critical to the business, but the majority of our other stuff is cloud-based.

In comparison to what we had before, which was some older Dell equipment, the performance of the PowerEdge Rack Servers is stunning. They have improved the performance of our systems. We've been a Dell house for years and years, and replacing the older Dell equipment with these machines has given us a very positive performance increase.

We're quite a small company, so anything we can throw at any of these servers— they will just eat it for breakfast. We've had no problems with them.

We haven't had any unplanned production downtime. That is down to the quality of the Dell servers.

The fact that they came pre-installed was quite good. We didn't have to worry too much about that process. 

In terms of the usage of the machines themselves, one of the most valuable features is the Hyper-V element, although that's an application on the servers. 

Also, the maintenance part makes it very easy to raise queries and get repairs done.

In terms of handling the evolving needs of high-performance workloads, while I don't have anything to compare these servers against, I have no issues with the performance of our systems. They work as well as I could expect them to. They will be perfectly fine for our workloads.

The rate controller interface is difficult to get to without installing additional software. It would be helpful if they had preinstalled software to make that easily accessible.

The company I'm with at the moment purchased Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers back in 2018 or 2019.

We've never had any outages, so the stability is perfect, or as close to perfect as you can get.

We've had the UPS kick in a couple of times and they've stayed up; they haven't died instantly. They are perfectly acceptable and I can't see any issues with them at all.

We haven't really had to upscale anything on the servers, other than a bit of memory. The particular modules we have are about as high as we can go, but that's fine because we purchased them to be "high-spec'd."

The technical support is very good. We have access to our own account manager and he will pass queries on. And on occasion, I've spoken directly to their support teams. We have been very pleased with the account management from Dell. It's been good.

Positive

We previously used Dell, but older machines. We made the switch because the old kit was getting too old. It was getting to end-of-life, and we needed some performance improvements. The PowerEdge definitely gave us that.

It did the initial setup, more or less, by itself. I did a little bit of fine-tuning here and there, but nothing drastic. It was very easy. 

I was the only person involved. I was responsible for everything from physically getting the stuff in the rack to configuring it and making it live, and everything in between.

We have seen a return on investment because of the performance improvements and the fact that we have had no downtime. That's enough for us.

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.

I've been working with Dell for a number of years and never had any issues, so Dell was the go-to solution for me. We had a quick look at other machines in terms of pricing, and there wasn't any particular benefit in terms of pricing by going with someone else. With the history and trust I had in Dell, I went with Dell.

One native OS security feature we use in our environment is Windows Defender, but at the same time, we are running a third-party endpoint protection solution. The native OS security features have had no negative impact. The endpoint protection is on both the clients and servers. We run vulnerability scanning regularly, and we do penetration testing, internal and external, on a regular basis.

As for public cloud servers, we did not consider them before choosing PowerEdge because we use them for internal management. We are looking at cloud solutions, but not for the core, critical servers.

We use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel for Windows Servers and VMware Servers.

With Intel’s Xeon scalable processors in our PowerEdge Rack Servers, we have been able to reduce the number of servers we need when we change our workloads to the new generation, once every five years or so. I can feel a big improvement in terms of workload.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel

• are easy to use 
• are easy to manage with Dell's OpenManage Console
• have extended support for five years.

When it comes to handling the evolving needs of high-performance workloads, they're good. They deliver like they're supposed to.

And while I haven't had to use the BIOS recovery, it's a nice feature in case there is a problem.

I've been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for 15 years.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel are reliable, so I can say that they have reduced unplanned production downtime.

We use PowerEdge in a VM environment, so it is scalable.

We haven't used Dell's tech support.

We are also using HPE and Lenovo servers right now.

Deploying PowerEdge is straightforward. To get it up and running takes about an hour.

We always implement with in-house team.

We've been using the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for a long time and have found them to be very reliable. With the extended support, we can use them for five years, so it's a good investment.

The pricing could always be better.

When I compare PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel to the other vendors like HPE or Lenovo, I can say that it's a bit better than them. It delivers good value. Dell provides longer support for operating systems when compared to HPE. We also considered all the public cloud servers, but they were not a cost-effective solution for our college. When we buy the on-prem service, we can use it for five years, and with a physical solution, we see a return on investment after about two years. If we were to use public cloud, we would lose after two years. This solution saves us about 1 million shekels (about $289,000 at the time of the review).

Dell's PowerEdge Rack Server is the best solution that I've seen, compared to other vendors.

My division is backup. We use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel to deploy backup systems to back up the entire area or region where we are setting it up. We actually use it as a media server for backup.

For this server, we bought several with a net of 30 terabytes to use with a memory of about 256 gigs.

We have benefited in performance, especially when installing the media server for the backup and performing backup for high performance and fast storage.

I like Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel. It is a good, high performance server. It is easy to manage, especially with the iDRAC. 

iDRAC is its most valuable feature. The management from the iDRAC port is useful for me because my server is located in Australia, and I need to manage it from Israel. Therefore, it is useful for troubleshooting.

There is flexibility to use a lot of storage on the server. It has the ability to have it as a RAID and support that. This is most useful for me in the case of a malfunction in one or two drives. It is like having a server and storage together, i.e., hyperconverged. We can manage this remotely.

In regards to security, I have noticed that we can implement Active Directory to the iDRAC. It is more secure that way. Then, everyone can access it as they please.

We use Intel Xeon Scalable processors in our PowerEdge Rack Servers. They have very much helped to improve the performance of our targeted workloads. 

I would like them to add more NVMe slots. That would be good. That way, it would have better performance, e.g., enough storage for better performance than a spinning disk.

There is some improvement needed in the site (with its arrangement) when trying to find some configuration or troubleshooting matches.

We just bought two Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for a region. We installed them about a month ago.

It is very stable.

I am using it for backup, so it has to be reliable. Even in cases where there is downtime, we can then use the solution to retrieve data. 

Its scalability is great. I can add more storage and shelf to that server.

I have not yet needed the help of Dell support for PowerEdge Rack Servers. In the past, I have enjoyed my experience with Dell support for storage. I would rate them as eight out of 10.

Positive

Previously, we had an old HPE server that was backing up systems but taking a lot of time. Now, with the Intel Xeon and Dell server, it is a lot faster.

The HPE server was no longer supported, so we tried to check with some other vendors. Because of its flexibility to have more storage and scalability, we choose Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

The deployment of PowerEdge Rack Servers was new for me since I used to work with HPE servers. The setup was a little bit different, but it was easy to catch up and do the installation.

It took several minutes to determine how to work with PowerEdge and configure the BIOS. The one thing that surprised me is the ability to configure the BIOS from the iDRAC, not going directly inside the BIOS in order to do so.

I deployed it.

We installed the servers, and they are currently working.

The pricing and licensing are fair.

We evaluated HPE, Dell, and IBM. We chose Dell PowerEdge mostly because of the price and extendability.

It is easy to manage and extendable. Compared to other vendors, the prices are much lower. Go for it.

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