Dell PowerEdge R-Series Reviews

We have a lot of use cases. We have many virtual machines on them that we use for development. We have a development department with us. They work on the machines that we have installed via HPE.

By implementing Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, we wanted everything to be in-house so that we could manage it ourselves. We essentially wanted to have it all in our hands. We did not want to outsource it.

So far, these servers have been satisfactory and very reliable. Of course, we maintain updates; that is a part of it, and we plan accordingly to restart the entire machine, etc. A lot of it is automated in-house.

They have definitely improved our organization. We have centralized everything, which is the advantage. With Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, we essentially operate hardware and have various applications and solutions on one platform. They have had a significant impact on security, and there is also reliability. When you have peak loads, you can adjust accordingly. That is a definite advantage with such a machine.

In terms of energy consumption, I do not know what the consumption is, but the trend is towards machines consuming less. Dell probably needs to keep up with other manufacturers and reduce consumption. It is also likely a reason why many companies are trying to move away from traditional servers, or in our case, towards Azure Cloud, because they also want to save energy.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have definitely helped a lot in terms of the sustainability goals. I am new to the company, but from what I have gathered, we used to have a separate machine for each application area. In other companies where I have been, we had, in some cases, up to 80 machines. With Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, we could streamline the entire server landscape we had. They are designed for that purpose.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have affected the overall flexibility of our operations. In the past, we had a separate machine for each application, but now, everything is centralized. One hardware has everything on it. We have reliability, and the VMs can be moved back and forth depending on the load.

We like their quality. I have also dealt with HPE and other manufacturers. In terms of service, Dell is optimal. I have been very satisfied with it, at this company or elsewhere. That was the reason why we stuck with Dell. Good service is one of the reasons.

There are other aspects of quality. These servers are very reliable. We hardly had any failures. A hard drive replacement is routine, depending on what is built in, but otherwise, the quality has been excellent.

In general, our long-term goal is to have everything in Azure. We also work with Office 365, and we want to have everything essentially in one place. Above all, the hardware we have on-site does not need to be maintained anymore because it takes time and money. We want to simply move away from this aspect. I am not a decision-maker, but if it were up to me, I would probably prefer to have these servers rather than somewhere in the cloud.

They can consider making them smaller in physical size but retain the same quality and the same security. That can be an option. They do not necessarily need such a large cabinet.

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

These servers are stable. Their reliability is just right.

I would rate them a ten out of ten in terms of scalability.

I am super satisfied with their support. I am impressed. It is great. Assistance is quick, and technicians are there right away. It, of course, depends on the contract you have. We get immediate support. It is top-notch. They should keep it up.

In my current company, I have not used any other servers. I am new here, but we have always used Dell. In my previous company, we used HPE extensively, but we moved away from it due to issues with quality and service. Unfortunately, HPE was not as good in terms of service. So, we switched to Dell. The service was a factor for the change.

Licensing is according to the machines you have. It is a part of the process. I am not familiar with the prices, but from a company's perspective, the more cost-effective, the better, especially when managing a large infrastructure.

We did not evaluate other options.

I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a ten out of ten. In all the companies where we used Dell, I was always satisfied. That is why the decision was made back then to move away from other manufacturers and switch to Dell. I am not a decision-maker, but if I could decide, I would still stick with the physical aspect because I prefer having the device physically with me, being able to take care of it, and seeing it, rather than it being somewhere in the cloud. I am not a decision-maker, but I would choose Dell.

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. 

Our main uses for PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel are virtualization, file servers, and Active Directory, which our entire infrastructure sits on.

I have five Dell PowerEdge servers now. About 40,000 users are using these servers. About 70 to 80 people use the file server.

Support for virtualization is very important to us. It provides redundancy when booting from storage, where the servers are loaded from a separate storage. It provides full server support.

The use of OpenManage Console reduces the time it takes to manage PowerEdge Rack Servers in terms of updates and maintenance.

Unfortunately, PowerEdge Rack Servers do not support NVMe storage.

OpenManage Console is slightly confusing, especially after upgrade releases. There isn't a manual for what to do with lifecycle management and in what sequence. I have to rely on user forums instead of Dell in these cases.

This is my third purchase. I bought my first three PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel two years ago.

The primary reason that we chose PowerEdge - they are stable and don’t crash.

I keep my firmware, BIOS, and drivers up-to-date. Regarding security, we have not had any incidents.

The two Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers that I am using solve my needs completely in terms of redundancy and scalability.

I used Dell support a couple of times, and it was okay.

I would rate Dell’s support as eight out of 10. When resolving an issue, they transferred me to multiple support techs. This is because when you reach global support, your request is processed by the operator. Then, there are a few other steps. Usually, I am asked primitive questions before being transferred to Tier 2 or 3, who take a couple of days to get back to me.

Positive

One of the reasons that we choose to use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is because we never had a problem with the previous ones. Whereas, we have had servers and blades from Lenovo with a lot of problems. There were constant motherboard failures.

In addition to Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, we also have Dell's storage. Since there have been no problems with them, except for routine battery changes, we continue to use Dell’s reliable hardware. 

It was straightforward with the help of the Dell wizard. I just needed to connect it to VMware. Obviously, someone has to study when preparing to deploy and configure PowerEdge Rack Servers. In my case, deployment and configuration of two PowerEdge Rack Servers with VMware, cloud, and integration with our storage took about three days.

My strategy was to launch these servers as quickly as possible. First, we made sure that there was communication. Then, we installed clients in VMware. After that, we started installing the PowerEdge Rack Servers.

As an educational institution, we have certain budget restraints. So, we work around our budget and what hardware we can get from it.

We considered Lenovo and HPE, but chose Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers because of their reliability.

Choose stable servers when considering fast servers, because even though they might work fast, they might not last. We have been happy with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

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

We use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers powered by Intel for research calculations. 

With Intel Xeon processors, the solution has helped improve our target workloads' performance by 50 percent at times, depending on the exact calculation we are doing.

It's great at handling high-performance workloads.

They have also done their job when it comes to security features. We haven't ever had a breach, although it is a closed network.

When it comes to energy consumption they're also very good. They don't use power because they're power-hungry, but because we use them very hard.

I don't know much about the new Intel CPUs, but they need to put more than two CPUs in the servers. It may be an Intel limitation, but I'm not sure.

I have used Dell solutions for six years.

We haven't had any downtime with them due to anything on Dell's side. So far, they haven't failed.

We have hundreds of them, and adding as many as we can is as easy as the first one.

The support has been great. We haven't needed it much because the servers just work. But when we had issues, I called Dell. If it was a malfunction of the hardware, we had a solution within a day, and that was usually because of my schedule, not Dell's schedule. I would tell them, "Okay, come tomorrow or the day after. That will be better for me."

Positive

We used to have HP servers but they were horrible. We maintained them for about three years, but by the end of the three years, we didn't get all the features of the BIOS. The Dells, from day one, worked like a charm, with no additional fees or hidden costs, like we had with the HPs.

It's easy to handle. You just put it in, connect it, and it works. The average time it takes me to set up a server and get it to work is about 15 minutes.

We have seen ROI compared to cloud solutions. Similarly, compared to the HPs that we didn't select, we don't need to handle and pet them all the time. We didn't need another system engineer to handle the computers. I was enough.

The pricing is great; very competitive. That's the reason we bought hundreds of them.

We mainly evaluated HPs and Lenovos. Dell was the most cost-effective, power-efficient, and the easiest to handle.

The solution is a great service. They do their job. It requires minimal effort from my side as a system engineer, with very few errors or malfunctions.

My advice is to buy them. They are really good servers. They're straightforward. You don't need to research hidden definitions in the BIOS. They're simple to handle.