Dell PowerEdge R-Series Reviews

My role in using or managing Dell PowerEdge R-Series is that I'm basically the HPC administrator, so my role is installing and taking care of applications on the HPC platform. We basically do rack maintenance and handle the software and application installations and maintenance on Dell PowerEdge R-Series servers.

While I'm not exactly clear about the features of Dell PowerEdge R-Series that are most valuable since it has been quite recent since I've used it, the Dell solutions have been helpful. The solutions from Dell PowerEdge R-Series are quite quick and targeted in the sense that they are more precise to the problem we're facing. The response times are also quite quick. In our organization, the team which is actually taking care of the HPC solutions consists of around six of us. The company as a whole is quite huge; it's a university with around 2,000 plus employees.

The solutions from Dell PowerEdge R-Series were targeted and quite quick, which was helpful. However, I think the approach towards the solutions could be improved. I realized during the session that we had a lot of back and forth before we finally arrived at the solutions. If this could have been made quicker or if there was a more convenient platform for discussions, it would have been much easier for us. I know another solution could be having a Dell engineer visit to look at the equipment, but if there was a quicker method, such as a video call to scan through the equipment and see what's happening, that might have worked better.

From my one instance with Dell PowerEdge R-Series, I find it targeted and quick, which makes me happy with its approach. For cases concerning applications or network arrangements, those can be solved quickly by sharing error reports. However, if it's something related to hardware, it could be improved; if there was a platform or solution that hastened that process, it would have been better.

I have been working in the current field for about a year and six months.

Regarding the stability and reliability of Dell PowerEdge R-Series, they have been quite reliable based on my experience and the support has been pretty good.

Currently, as we are expanding our resources, I think this will also include more customers and large scale resource utilization. Therefore, I would say that Dell PowerEdge R-Series will scale with our increasing hardware needs as with software support. I expect that when we scale this to a larger platform, it will be more helpful, especially since we will encounter more frequent cases, and based on the response time we experienced, I believe it will be equally helpful.

We haven't had many of these issues lately. I would rate Dell support around eight because they have been quite quick in their response and providing solutions. One of the cases was when one of the servers had a fault in it, and we couldn't figure out what the issue was. It was a GPU machine generating a lot of noise and heat. We tried everything that we could do from our side, but it really didn't work out. Later, we asked for Dell support, and then we figured it out. It took some back and forth discussions, but it ultimately turned out that one of the fans was at fault.

Positive

Before we used Dell solutions, I think we had been using HP machines, but this was in a different workplace and a different country altogether. I wouldn't be able to comment on the pros and cons of the previous HP solution because I had a different role there and wasn't closely involved with the hardware.

The team which is taking care of the HPC solutions consists of around six people.

With just this one instance, it was quite helpful, so I would say we have seen a return on our investment into Dell PowerEdge R-Series.

For the prices we offered for Dell PowerEdge R-Series support, I find the kind of response and assistance provided by Dell solutions to be quite excellent. I don't know if Dell PowerEdge R-Series plays a role in our AI initiatives because it's usually the customers who work with AI platforms and they have their own specific needs. Currently, we haven't heard any issues or requests from the AI team. I received feedback from Dell solutions once they reached out to us with an online feedback report. I have rated Dell PowerEdge R-Series an eight out of ten.

Currently, we have some database loads on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. I can name the database as Sequel. We are just getting into running AI workloads on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

The feature I appreciate the most about Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is their reliability; they are very reliable servers. In terms of customization, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are very highly customizable and we appreciate that feature.My impression of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers' impact on our organization's sustainability goals is good; they are helping out. Using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers has helped me to reduce unplanned production downtime by 100%. We used to use Lenovo and IBM servers, and with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, I would say we have at least 20% better reliability and more uptime.In terms of stability, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are very stable, with no lagging or crashing.

I don't have any dislikes about the solution. The pricing for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers would be absolutely better. Regarding energy consumption, we haven't really focused on that; it's not our primary goal, so I can't provide any information on that.

We use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for our server infrastructure, and I have been using them over the last 20 years.

Regarding scalability, it's excellent with 100% effectiveness.

The quality of support from IBM and Lenovo is good; they are helpful, easy to reach, and providing value, so it's worth getting extra support.

Positive

We used to use Lenovo and IBM servers.

The initial deployment of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers was easy from my point of view; I've been doing this for 20 years. The first time I deployed it, it took me a few hours to put it in working condition.

I handled this deployment myself; it was just me.

To be honest, we're more concerned about providing the right solution for the organization rather than controlling costs associated with technology lifecycle management, so cost isn't as important.

I have tried using alternatives to Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers in my career overall. I can name IBM and Lenovo as the solutions I have used.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are usually reasonably priced; they're not the cheapest, but I think it's worth a shot and worth checking out. To my colleagues considering purchasing a Dell PowerEdge Rack Server instead of a hyperscaler, I'd say that even though the hyperscaler is trendier and a lot of people go there, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers still offer a lot of work and can provide significant value to the organization. I rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers nine out of ten.

Everything from bare metal to ESXi host, any kind of hypervisor is what I've used Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for. 

Currently, we are using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for AI initiatives; one of our projects I cannot discuss, however, it has been really good. Everything about it, including the Redfish hooks and the automation, is very easy and streamlined for the AIs regarding Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

The iDRAC is the most valuable feature of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers; the out-of-band management is absolutely fantastic, especially when you institute roles that prevent access to the data center, and being able to do it remotely is fantastic. 

Initial setup, troubleshooting, repair, and maintenance have benefited the organizations I work with since everything has been more streamlined, especially when you add OME into it. Whether it's connected to the internet or not, the on-prem versions still function fantastically.

For the internal SD card of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, I would add driver packs so that when you're trying to image bare metal, you don't have to worry about trying to find all the drivers you need to install whatever OS it could be, specifically in our environments in the fed space, since trying to use USB devices is difficult, so adding things on the USB stick and plugging them in for drivers is most of the time not possible.

I've been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for probably eight years now.

The resiliency and stability of the products are fantastic. We have devices that have been around until end-of-life, but we're still using them for things, so stability has been great with very minimal issues. When issues occur, it's usually a hard drive failure, which is expected, so I think it's excellent.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are very flexible, whether you're doing a vSAN ready node or whatever may be your hyperscale of choice, because they scale easily, and adding them into whatever environment you have is straightforward.

Customer support is usually really good for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. My only complaint would be if you're calling the specific fed line, sometimes they don't transfer you, and they want to get information that you can't give them before they do, even if you call the dedicated fed line, which is not always consistent, depending on the time of day.

The support is actually a big part of it when evaluating other solutions. The warranty support and keeping your hard drive for the fed space is key. Typically, the contacts we have on-site are very knowledgeable, they come in within a day and usually have it fixed and taken care of if there are issues. Even when they don't need something replaced, they usually suggest helpful troubleshooting steps, and it's usually really good support.

Positive

It's really easy to deploy. It's pretty straightforward. Whether you're having it automated through OME and it's pushing your configs or you're doing it just directly connecting into your iDRAC. Out of all the devices I've used in the industry, it's probably the easiest I've used. 

I actually work for a value-added reseller, and I support many federal customers, which means my organization is a giant. On a scale of one to ten, I rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a nine out of ten.

The main use case for the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is SAP hosting, as we are using it for SAP under Linux. This is specifically within the pharmacy sector, as we work in the pharma industry.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped to reduce unplanned downtimes, as our downtime is nearly zero, with approximately 99.5% availability in a five-year period.

The best features of the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are the service, the availability of the equipment, and the relational price quality. 

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are very useful for our organization's sustainability goals, as the system is running flawlessly. We have experienced trouble with the memory unit and a hard disk, but this occurs in all servers at the end of their useful life. In the five years, we had a few minor problems, but they were always addressed by Dell in Argentina.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers offer good flexibility and expandability to our business. The migration was very easy since the SAP consultants handled the migration of the databases and the ERP, SAP. We contracted them, and it was flawless, managing to conduct the migration of the two servers over a weekend.

They need improvement in spare part availability in Argentina, but the servers are very good from a hardware point of view.

I have overall eight to ten years of experience with the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. I have used the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers within the last 12 months.

We have experienced trouble with the memory unit and a hard disk, but this occurs in all servers at the end of their useful life. 

It offers good flexibility and expandability.

We do not utilize cloud solutions. We run everything on-premise and work with specific software for the pharma industry. We operate only client-server within our facilities.

We have a support contract with a Dell distributor in Cordoba. I would rate them a seven out of ten due to the unavailability of spare parts readily in Argentina.

We conducted internal research on servers within the company. We evaluate offers in Argentina and consider Dell a good option due to the price and availability of the equipment.

The initial setup of the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers was contracted to an external company for the migration of data from the old servers to the new servers. We needed to install SAP on the new servers. This was flawless due to the fact that we bought the servers with pre-installed Linux.

We have not formally calculated the ROI with the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. A new manager has indicated we need to calculate it. We performed a crude calculation of ROI comparing IBM and Dell and found that the cost of support and extended warranty of IBM is too costly compared to Dell. Thus, in this instance, our crude ROI calculation shows that Dell is the better option.

We have a contract with the OEM of the equipment for licenses, so we possess all OEM licenses for the Dell software. We have licenses for Linux and VMware software, with a special price and an annual contract for updates of Linux and VMware. Additionally, we have an Oracle database on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

We have received an offer from IBM to replace the servers with new IBM servers. We received a very good offer from IBM for some amount of money for the servers, but we prefer to stay with Dell. IBM's service contract is very costly.

We have not run any AI workloads on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers locally. We have a test drive in the cloud. The principal reason we haven't run AI workloads yet is that we are trying to find the right direction to incorporate AI into our business model. Currently, we focus on the distribution of medical and pharma products to pharmacies, meaning the only way to incorporate AI is possibly in the management of the warehouse. I believe the demand for medicine is inelastic, making forecasting sales very difficult in the market. This reflects the market in Argentina, not other global markets. However, I personally see the only way to incorporate AI in our business is through warehouse management, considering the market's seasonality. Medicine deliveries vary in summer versus winter, as more medications are needed for influenza in winter, while summer requires more medication for sun exposure complications.

I would rate the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers an eight out of ten.

My role in using or managing Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers involves storage, virtualization, and server support.

The features of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers that I find most valuable include the ability to have different servers and different services hosted on one server, and the ability to connect them between other storage servers or appliances. These features definitely provide additional value to the end user, customers, company, and are reliable within the time frames that customers and clients demand.

Looking at the new models, they have greatly improved the cooling system, which is a significant advantage. In my experience, there were times when components overheated, but they have improved that aspect.

One area where Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers could improve is integration. The BYO feature, which allows users to bring their own license, is a particularly good aspect of the system.

I have been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for 10 years at my current company. Our company has been using PowerEdge for at least 20 years.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are very stable overall. The support, components, and OS are all reliable. We have experienced occasional downtimes, crashes, or performance issues, but nothing serious. When we need hardware replacement, such as RAM or a hard drive, the support is very fast.

To expand the usage of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, we simply have added more servers and equipment.

I would evaluate the support from Dell as exceptional. They have highly capable and trained personnel who are knowledgeable. We have a very good relationship with them, and they maintain transparency regarding reported issues and solutions.

Positive

We have Pure Storage, which we implemented less than two years ago, alongside Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. We chose Pure Storage based on the benefits of flash storage and rapid support. As a global company, everything our corporate office decides is replicated to all locations around the globe, which is one of the key differences.

The deployment is typically very smooth. We haven't had many issues. Usually, when we deploy a server with PowerEdge, it's a very smooth transition.

We started leasing with Dell, which has provided good CapEx and budgeting return financially. We are on a 16-month lease. One of the advantages is that we don't pay the CapEx immediately, and it allows us to have the latest Dell technology after three or five years, depending on our leasing contract.

When trying to quote devices and servers for our Mexico City offices directly with Dell instead of through a partner, we encountered some challenges. It took several months to negotiate appropriate pricing, requiring escalation to the director of Dell Mexico and communication with Dell US. Eventually, we reached an agreement with satisfactory pricing.

We are currently at the early stage of AI usage. However, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers will definitely play a part in our AI-driven initiatives in the future. Currently, we haven't applied AI on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers as it's still in development. It will be part of our future development of AI. We are planning to focus on automation.

For companies considering Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, I recommend relying on Dell technology and their expertise. The innovation that Dell offers is crucial.

I rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers as nine out of ten.

My use case for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is running virtual machines mostly. We have one that I just deployed that is running Hyper-V and this is the first time we have had to deal with Hyper-V. 

It is going to be more or less the same thing, running virtual machines.

The most valuable feature of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is pretty much the same thing that I mentioned with PowerStore: the simplicity, the resiliency, and the fact that it just works. 

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers benefit me because if I'm not having to use my time to troubleshoot something, I can use that time to implement new technologies for the company and similar tasks. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have been one of those things where I can set it and forget it. It just does its job and rarely ever has issues. Time saved equals new technologies for the company to use.

If I could improve Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers in any way, it would be something with OpenManage itself. I need more transparency on how OpenManage can help me with our company being an SMB. I want more documentation for SMBs regarding Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

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

I haven't had any downtime, crashes or performance issues with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. We've had downtime but it's usually when we're upgrading something. It's never been downtime because the servers themselves need to be troubleshooted or anything similar.

For a small-medium business, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have supported our growth probably because of how easy it is to scale with them, as we have grown exponentially. We went from a company of just 200 users to a company of over 600 in just five years. Just increasing the amount of servers that we got has been easy.

I may have used the customer service or support for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers maybe nine years ago. I honestly can't even remember what it was about, but I think I've only really had to use it once. We still pay for support all the time, but it's nice to not have to use it.

Positive

I believe we've always used Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. Even when I came on board, my previous experience with my previous company was with Dell PowerEdge and when I came on board it was all Dell PowerEdge also.

I was part of the deployment of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

I have seen some return on investment, but since I'm not a finance person, that's not something I'm able to answer beyond peace of mind.

For servers, I have not evaluated any other vendors and have no interest in doing so.

I feel Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers specifically caters to the needs of SMBs. There's a reason why I don't have any experience with any other vendors in terms of servers, just because I don't want to not use Dell PowerEdge. 

On a scale of one to ten, with one being worst and ten being best, I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a ten.

We use Dell PowerEdge R-Series for virtualization platforms, VMware and OpenStack nowadays. 

Since I work on the Microsoft team, we utilize it for SQL Server clusters, Microsoft clusters, file shares, and other types of clusters. Dell PowerEdge R-Series plays a role in our organization's AI initiatives, though I'm not entirely aware of all the initiatives in the company. 

Dell PowerEdge R-Series is used for everything in our company. We have some AI use cases and are currently using GPT in-house, however, I'm not on the team that has deployed that. I'm just on the end-user end of the spectrum.

Dell PowerEdge R-Series has given us a stable platform to build on. That is significant for us because we do high-frequency trading, so stability and performance are crucial. We have had some specific use cases that Dell has helped us develop and deliver.

I would say the pain points are better power usage and consumption; that's not up to Dell, that's up to the CPU manufacturers.

I've been working in my current field for about 20 years.

I see Dell products growing with our future needs. The Dell PowerEdge R-Series is as scalable as they can be, as they have consistently demonstrated their ability to support us in specific use cases. They will go out of their way to support us and create new products that they will sell to everybody else, making it a win-win for both of us.

I wouldn't personally evaluate Dell customer support. I don't interact with customer support directly, but people in my company work extensively with Dell's customer support, and I can see the results. I would rate them 9.5 out of ten for customer support, and also in terms of having the technology to meet demand.

Positive

Prior to adopting Dell PowerEdge R-Series, I used other solutions such as HP and IBM to address similar needs, howver, that was many years ago. If I had to draw a comparison against Dell, HP would be as close to Dell as it can get, but not as supportive as Dell is.

In using and managing Dell PowerEdge R-Series, we don't rack them since that's handled by the particular team that manages it. However, we build them from the ground up. After they've been racked, cabled, and everything else, another team manages to scout them and have all the line of work, drivers, firmwares, and everything installed. Then it comes to our hands, and we have the OS installed and built from there.

Regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing, we have VMware, so license costs went through the roof in the past couple of years. Now we're moving away from VMware onto competitors or other players. We are still using the Dell PowerEdge R-Series.

My advice to someone who is considering Dell PowerEdge R-Series is to go for it. I rate Dell PowerEdge R-Series solutions as a ten out of ten based on the stability, robustness, maintainability, troubleshootability, and the speed of the throughput of the servers.

My role in using and managing Dell PowerEdge R-Series is focused on Veeam backup for local storage. The Veeam application is installed on this server, which is the primary use case where I utilize it as a backup server. 

Currently, I am using a Dell PowerEdge R-Series server solely as a backup server to manage growing data, including a large amount of metadata that we also back up and transfer to the cloud for another repository.

I appreciate the iDRAC management for Dell PowerEdge R-Series, as it is a nice management tool that I'm using frequently. 

Everyone in my organization believes Dell PowerEdge R-Series will play some role in AI initiatives in the future. Currently, we are discussing the potential of Dell PowerEdge R-Series for AI initiatives step by step. 

In my company, we have a developer department that develops programs for our products. The management and CRM systems we are developing will be supported by AI.

For storage, I find that Dell PowerEdge R-Series is not useful. Regarding improvements, due to the cloud area and cloud platform, the on-premises server, Dell PowerEdge R-Series, might become less prominent. However, it won't disappear, as the cloud platform will remain the primary concern.

I have utilized Dell PowerEdge R-Series for about five to six years now.

The services of Dell are good, and the performance of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is also good. I didn't face any problems, and the issues I did encounter were resolved by their excellent support services, even though they're based overseas.

I may plan to scale the usage of Dell PowerEdge R-Series in the future.

If I were to rate Dell support on a scale of one to ten, I would give it an eight. 

I would not rate it a ten as I sometimes struggle with communication while speaking with support representatives in English. I believe it would be beneficial if Dell opened a support branch in Israel to support Hebrew language.

Positive

I didn't face any challenges with deployment. 

I've seen a return on my investment into Dell PowerEdge R-Series as it's still working.

This server was priced more cheaply than other options such as IBM and HP, making it quite cost-effective. 

I have looked at IBM and HP and understand the pricing differences. Although price was not the primary reason I chose Dell PowerEdge R-Series over competitors, a recommendation from a colleague influenced my decision.

For anyone looking at Dell PowerEdge R-Series, I recommend ensuring to have lots of memory and high-speed SSD disks when purchasing their server. 

I rate Dell PowerEdge R-Series an eight out of ten. I didn't face any main problems with my server, and the few issues I encountered were resolved through support.