Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers Reviews

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

We primarily use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for VMware and Hyper-V environments. We deploy them in financial and manufacturing industries, focusing more on small businesses. While most of our servers are diskless, we do employ disked options for small businesses, mainly in a tower configuration.

Cooling has decreased because we have fewer servers. Everything's been a plus. We don't have to attend to them as much. We have iDRAC Enterprise on them, so we can have quick access if needed.

The quality of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is excellent; they never experience downtime. They are highly effective as VMware and Hyper-V servers. They have helped reduce unplanned production downtime considerably. There is a model for anything we need, and we have the flexibility to match servers to client needs, which can vary from diskless servers to setups involving disks. Another advantage is that they are not made in China, unlike some HP servers.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have pretty much progressed a lot if we look at what features are on them now. I don't know what more could be asked for, perhaps just faster performance. Every product release seems to be an improvement over the previous one, so it's hard to point out specific areas for improvement.

We have been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for twenty years.

The Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are very stable. They run like a truck, with hardly any issues.

Customer service and support are excellent. Although we are self-sufficient and rarely need assistance, when we do use Dell's support, they have never ignored an issue. They address problems promptly.

Positive

We previously used Lenovo servers and switched because Lenovo's support was inadequate. The Lenovo SANs were not as robust as Dell's offerings.

We are totally self-sufficient and generally don't need external implementation support.

We find the server pricing fair and reasonable.

Buy Dell. Dell is an American company, and their headquarters are here, which makes them a reliable choice over companies with products made in China. Tariffs on Chinese products could make Dell more advantageous. I would rate the overall solution a 9 out of 10.

We are using the Dell PowerEdge Rack Server for core banking applications. It is working fine and we are happy with it.

Dell PowerEdge Servers have had an impact on our organization’s sustainability goals. Their power consumption seems to be fine. We have not seen any issues.

We have not experienced any security incidents or vulnerabilities with our PowerEdge Servers.

We do not have much workload right now. We are happy with whatever we have tested.

Currently, we are facing issues with updates, particularly on the driver side. We did not receive proper communication about upcoming driver upgrades and other aspects. We are lagging in that area. We need to know about any upcoming updates so that we can plan accordingly. It could be that our emails are not registered properly.

It is a new company, and we started using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers only six months ago.

Until now, it has been working fine. It is stable.

Dell PowerEdge Servers have not helped to reduce unplanned production downtime. We are a start-up company, so we do not have much downtime. We have a downtime of five minutes or ten minutes over here and there.

I have not had the need to scale yet. Currently, we have only 50 users. We are planning to grow next year and have about 25 more users.

When it comes to hardware replacement and other issues I faced previously, the response has been good. I would rate them a nine out of ten.

Positive

I used HPE in my previous organization. We are an entity within a group, and we were asked to go for Dell servers.

All the backend work is supported by a company in India.

We started only six months ago, so I cannot measure the ROI.

We are a new company, and we are at the initial stage of our AI journey. We need proper engineers for our AI journey.

I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers an eight out of ten. We do not have much load at the moment. We are at the beginning stage, but so far, we are happy with it.

I am an IT infrastructure guy, and I use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for a variety of workloads, including data imported from machines, file shares, and many other applications.

Using Dell PowerEdge Servers has helped us reduce planned production downtime by approximately 15 percent. PowerEdge has improved the overall flexibility of our business operations. 

I'm still working on reducing power consumption. I'm working with one of Dell's partners to get some power consumption certificates. I need to submit some certificates of sustainability showing how we are working on that. I'm still working on it. That is something entirely new for me. I don't know how to drive that, but I'm getting help from the Dell coordinator on how to do that.

We have only begun our AI journey. We want to use AI to analyze our data, and we're also trying to coordinate. We don't have any AI workloads on our servers yet. We're only capturing data. Currently, our data is being washed, and our data scientists are enriching it to prepare it for the next level. After that, we'll bring AI in to build reports and things like that. It's a work in progress.

I find Dell PowerEdge Servers to handle diverse applications and evolving needs effectively, but we have to upgrade the hardware periodically. PowerEdge's cyber resilience architecture approach to security is good. I don't have any concerns on that part.

Dell has already started working with NPUs and AI, which is a good thing. Right now, data is everyone's primary concern. Every company wants to evaluate data to advance technology and improve its business. The server should work better on the data side. Data is a priority around the world. 

There are a lot of data platforms around, but it would be helpful if we could perform some basic data operations on the server so we don't need an extra vendor. Azure is their Microsoft Cloud solution, and they collaborate with data companies like Databricks. We are also on the cloud and work with Databricks, but they could add some basic features so an enterprise doesn't need to go for extra Databricks to do their data things. 

If data could be handled within the Dell server, we can achieve a milestone on all the low-level sites. Our company is global, with many sites in Sweden and small sites in other countries. We don't need a complete Databricks solution for them. We need Dell servers to handle basic data and talk to our application. We have to configure a bridge between Dell servers and use Databricks for analysis. We could save a lot of money if the fundamental data functions can be done within the server.

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

The stability is excellent. Our only problems are software issues that our technical team can manage. 

I rate PowerEdge six out of 10 for scalability. As our needs have grown, we've faced some challenges. 

I rate Dell's support five out of 10. Sometimes, the technical skills are lacking. I'm not an expert, but I have worked with Dell solutions for 10 years.  Not everyone is an expert, so sometimes I have to help them with the troubleshooting part. Sometimes, someone is having a bad day, or you get the wrong person. 

They improved communications by adding a point person in Sweden. That person is more of a salesperson but has helped in many ways. That was missing for a long time, but they implemented it in the last few years.

They needed someone who could connect with the customer. Dell is a massive global company, but we are a big customer, and sometimes I feel they forget about us. They should treat every customer as if they're your biggest. Biggest. I felt a few times like we weren't prioritized.

Neutral

Dell has been our traditional server, and we have not evaluated other brands because we've worked with Dell for a long time. It's significantly better than other server brands on the market based on key metrics, so we haven't looked at other ones. 

The initial setup has always been smooth because we take our time and have never rushed the deployment.

We did the implementation in-house. We used autopilot integration, but nothing beyond that.

I rate PowerEdge Rack Servers eight out of 10.

On-premises

We are running VMware vSphere and regular Windows servers. We use Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for server implementation, virtualization, storage, so basically virtualization and server support.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped to reduce unplanned production downtime. They have also helped to reduce the consumption of energy. We have seen decreased consumption levels through our monitoring systems. The cooling system has been significantly improved in the newer versions and models of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers.

The optimization of hardware and the ability to extend the hardware are valued features.

Pricing might be an area for improvement. There is competition, and lowering prices could be beneficial.

We have been using it for at least ten years.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have managed to reduce the consumption of energy. We have seen that in the levels of our monitoring systems, which definitely show a decrease in consumption.

I've contacted them many times. The overall support is very good with first-class service.

Positive

We are using Pure Storage—the flash drives from Pure Storage.

It was easy. 

At the end, the cost benefit will be greater than the original investments. We just implemented the solution in our Mexico City offices. This is the first month for the actual payment. The benefit in the long run financially is structured so the company does not decapitalize. In the three or five years, we will have the newer equipment once the leasing is over or is renewed.

We are at the initial stage in our AI journey as a multinational level company. We are still working on testing, but it hasn't been totally implemented yet. We have done some automation with Python and are trying to use CoPilot for small tasks, but it hasn't been developed to a large scale. We are still in progress at this point.

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

My company's use case for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is that we use it internally for our office purpose and also we resell it to our customers.

The features of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have benefited our organization as they simplify the IT manager's job. It gives them entire visibility of the device which enables them to keep growing their applications or data, and it basically simplifies the IT manager's jobs. 

The feature of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers that I value the best is the iDRAC, as it is extremely good and simplifies tasks. It is very rigid and very durable, which is why most people continue buying these servers on a regular basis.

Dell has supported growth and operational success within those companies we resell to through the backend support, which is extremely good. Dell is the only organization now that has products from clients to storage, networking, and all data center devices. There is no other organization in the market which has all these products.

Dell makes it extremely easy for customers to buy. They get one-on-one support for all products. The support has been extremely good compared to other brands. AI is something very new, and Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are currently coming up with integrated GPUs for AI, which are getting implemented now. There is a lot of demand in the market, and customers keep asking for it.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are already the best, and there is nothing new that I would suggest to improve. The only aspect that could be improved is the price. The product is extremely good, so it is always priced high. To improve product sales, reducing the price would help.

I have been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for the past 10 years. I have been a Dell employee, so I have been using it for more than 15 years.

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers scale with the growing needs of organizations as the solution is built with scalability options. As long as your data or application requires scalability, the PowerEdge already has the feature which helps to scale.

The customer service and technical support from Dell is extremely good. That has been the biggest plus point of Dell and one of the biggest reasons for it to have a good market share.

Positive

It's extremely easy to deploy Dell. The products have been made in such a way that it's user-friendly, and it's extremely easy to implement.

In terms of pricing and licensing for Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, what can be done is stocking the servers with distributors as much as possible to bring down the price, similar to what other OEMs do. 

Dell is more expensive since it has more B2B orders compared to HP or Lenovo who focus on stock and sell business. This helps them to bring down the price. 

Additionally, the sourcing of spare parts could be streamlined better to reduce the price.

I do sell other solutions, such as HP and Lenovo, and Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have been far better compared to the others in durability and support, except for the price.

Overall, I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers eight out of ten. It is a bit expensive compared to others.

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.

Positive

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