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reviewer2544222 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT System Administrator at a aerospace/defense firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Enables us to be more productive and flexible
Pros and Cons
  • "PowerEdge Servers helped to reduce unplanned production downtime because of the configuration of our product, it is active-active. It has 99% high reliability."
  • "In terms of energy use, it takes up a lot."

What is our primary use case?

We are in the aerospace industry. We use the servers in a security-type production.

How has it helped my organization?

It improved our management and the product manager's life. The product is a bit complicated but it does the job.

The lightness, automation, and the automatic process that it performs without too many interventions are good. It's just plug-and-play.

What is most valuable?

In terms of PowerEdge's cyber-resilient architecture approach to security, since the product is on-prem, it is very protected.

PowerEdge Servers helped to reduce unplanned production downtime because of the configuration of our product, it is active-active. It has 99% high reliability. 

What needs improvement?

So far, we haven't thought of anything that could be improved in the product.

In terms of energy use, it takes up a lot. I wouldn't say it's economical, compared to other products. It's not as economical as HP. NetApp, for example, is 2800 against 800, and Dell is almost three times more massive.

Buyer's Guide
Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers
April 2025
Learn what your peers think about Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is easy and convenient. The product enables us to be more productive and flexible.

How are customer service and support?

I give the support a 10 out of 10. The people are a 10 but I´ll give the waiting time that it takes to get to the technical support and the people an eight.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

In the past we used other products that were not Dell, they were both very durable. Dell is on another level.

How was the initial setup?

I use Dell's professional services during failures and upgrades mainly. The service is excellent.

I did not deploy the product because the company asked to bring in an external professional service to do the installations. My experience with them was pretty straightforward.

What other advice do I have?

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

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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PeerSpot user
Gateri Hafid Bonfoh - PeerSpot reviewer
Chef de project IT at Messer France
Real User
Top 20
A strong and reliable solution that is easy to use and provides excellent technical support
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is very strong and reliable."
  • "The vendor must provide cheaper versions of the tool for smaller use cases."

What is our primary use case?

The product is used for virtualization. I work for a gas company. We have a lot of locations in France. We use some applications to pilot the process of making gases. In each location, we use Dell PowerEdge to implement and supervise the process of gas production and processing.

What is most valuable?

The solution is very strong and reliable. The capacity is very good. Whenever I want to add an application server in a production location, I choose Dell PowerEdge. The solution is simple to manage. The maintenance and support are really good. It is easy to use. We did not face any big problems that we couldn’t resolve.

What needs improvement?

The solution’s sales policies must be changed. Sometimes, we need the tool for a small use case. The vendor must provide cheaper versions of the tool for smaller use cases.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution since 2015.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The tool is stable compared to other products.

How are customer service and support?

The support is really good. The support team is reliable. Compared to HPE, Dell's support is better. The support contracts of Dell are very clear. The communication we have with the salespeople is also very clear. The support team is quick. When we have a problem, we can find a solution quickly. We do not have to wait or send multiple emails to explain our problems.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We were using other servers before. However, there were long delays in deliveries. We use Microsoft’s operating system. I choose Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers because its compatibility with Microsoft is really good. We can use it with other operating systems, too. We also use HPE's servers.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution is expensive. We buy it for three years but use it for five years by extending the guarantee. We have been using it for ten years. It makes it past the depreciation value for a long time. We have to buy new servers every five years. If we need two servers, we buy one, use it for five years, and replace it with a new one. We are using it economically.

What other advice do I have?

We provide products to beverage companies. We also provide medical gases to hospitals. In my company, we are not managing energy. We have a special team with many people who manage energy. We are buying energy. We need to do all the things that are needed to keep the production safe. Energy is not our focus. I have never thought about energy conservation in three years.

We use MPLS and SD-WAN. We have a private network for all our locations. The PowerEdge connects our VLAN and the users’ VLAN. When we want control of our servers, we can take the control directly. If we want to see whether the equipment is working well, we can take control of the switch that communicates to the server.

We have a special VLAN. It’s an administrative VLAN. Only IT persons like me have access to the VLAN. The access is quick and easy because of Dell PowerEdge. The implementation is simple. We use it every time and do not have a problem with it.

We don't use many other servers. We do not have problems with switching Dell PowerEdge on and off. It is really simple for our technicians. The tool has helped us reduce unplanned production downtime. In all our racks, we have an inverter. We have a program to notify the server to back up and shut down cleanly.

When there is a downtime, we only check whether the processing is fine. We have not had any problem with it for many years. It works well. We can do everything we want to do with the tool. When we chose other servers, we faced problems within a year. Dell PowerEdge is a good solution. We have been using it for a long time. The vendor must provide servers for smaller use cases.

Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Foreign Language:(French)

Une Solution Robuste Et Fiable Qui Est Facile À Utiliser Et Qui Offre Un Excellent Support Technique

Quel est notre cas d’utilisation principal?

Nous nous servons de ces produits pour de la virtualisation. Je travaille pour une compagnie de gaz. Nous avons beaucoup de sites en France. Nous utilisons certaines des applications pour tester le processus de fabrication de gaz. Sur chaque site, nous utilisons des Dell PowerEdge pour implémenter et surveiller le processus de production et de transformation des gaz.

Qu’est-ce qui est le plus utile?

Cette solution est très robuste et fiable. La capacité est très bonne. Chaque fois que je veux ajouter un serveur d’application sur un site de production, je choisis Dell PowerEdge. Cette solution est simple à gérer. La maintenance et le support sont vraiment très bons. C’est facile à utiliser. Nous n’avons pas rencontré de gros problèmes que nous ne pouvons pas résoudre.

Qu’est-ce qui peut être amélioré?

La politique de vente de cette solution devrait être changée. Nous avons parfois besoin de cet outil pour un cas d’utilisation à petite échelle. Le fournisseur devrait pouvoir proposer des versions de cet outil moins chères pour des cas d’utilisation à petite échelle.

Depuis combien de temps j’utilise cette solution?

J’utilise cette solution depuis 2015.

Quelles sont mes impressions sur la stabilité de cette solution?

Cet outil est stable par rapport à d'autres produits.

Comment sont le service clients et le support?

Le support est vraiment très bon. L'équipe de support est fiable. Par rapport à HPE, le support de Dell est meilleur. Les contrats de support de Dell sont très clairs. La communication qu’on a avec les commerciaux est également très claire. L'équipe support est rapide. Quand nous avons un problème, nous pouvons trouver une solution rapidement. Nous ne devons pas attendre, ni envoyer plusieurs courriels, pour expliquer nos problèmes.

Comment évalueriez-vous le service client et le support?

Positivement.

Quelle solution ai-je utilisé auparavant et pourquoi ai-je changé?

On utilisait d’autres serveurs avant. Par contre, on avait de gros délais de livraison. On utilise le logiciel d’exploitation de Microsoft. Je choisis les serveurs Dell PowerEdge Rack parce que leur compatibilité avec Microsoft est vraiment bonne. On peut s’en servir avec d’autres systèmes d’exploitation. On utilise également des serveurs HPE.

Quelle est mon expérience avec les tarifs, les coûts d’installation et du licensing?

Cette solution est chère. Nous l'achetons pour trois ans mais nous l'utilisons pendant cinq ans en allongeant la garantie. Nous l'utilisons depuis dix ans. Cela dépasse sa valeur d’amortissement de beaucoup de temps. Nous devons acheter des serveurs tous les cinq ans. Si nous avons besoin de deux serveurs, nous en achetons un et on s’en sert pendant cinq ans et puis, nous le remplissons avec un nouveau. Nous nous en servons de manière économique.

Quels autres conseils avez-vous?

Nous fournissons des produits à des compagnies de boissons. Nous fournissons également des gaz à usage médical aux hôpitaux. Dans ma société, nous ne gérons pas l'énergie. Nous avons une équipe spécialisée composée de plusieurs personnes et qui gère l'énergie. Nous achetons de l'énergie. Nous devons faire toutes les choses nécessaires à la sécurité de la production. L'énergie n’est pas notre priorité. Je n’ai accordé aucune pensée à l'économie d'énergie en trois ans.

Nous utilisons des MPLS et des SD-WAN. Nous avons un réseau privé pour tous nos sites. Les PowerEdge sont connectés sur notre VLAN et le VLAN des utilisateurs. Lorsque nous avons besoin de contrôler nos serveurs, nous pouvons directement prendre le contrôle. Si nous voulons vérifier que l'équipement fonctionne bien, nous pouvons prendre le contrôle de la commande qui communique avec le serveur.

Nous avons un VLAN spécial. C’est un VLAN administratif. Seul le personnel informatique, comme moi, ont accès à ce VLAN. L'accès est rapide et facile grâce au Dell PowerEdge. L'implémentation est simple. On l’utilise à chaque fois et nous n’avons aucun souci avec.

Nous n'utilisons pas beaucoup d’autres serveurs. Nous n’avons aucun problème à allumer ou éteindre les Dell PowerEdge. C’est vraiment simple pour nos techniciens. Cet outil nous a aidés à réduire les temps d'arrêts de production imprévus. Nous avons un inverseur dans tous nos racks. Nous avons un programme qui alerte le serveur pour tout sauvegarder et s'éteindre proprement.

Lorsqu’il y a un temps d'arrêt, nous vérifions seulement si le traitement fonctionne bien. Nous n’avons pas eu de problème avec ça depuis plusieurs années. Cela fonctionne bien. On peut faire tout ce que l’on veut avec cet outil. Lorsque nous choisissons d’autres serveurs, nous avons des problèmes la même année. Dell PowerEdge est une bonne solution. Nous nous en servons depuis très longtemps. Le fournisseur devrait fournir des serveurs pour des cas d’utilisation à petite échelle.

Globalement, je donne une note de huit sur dix pour cette solution.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers
April 2025
Learn what your peers think about Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: April 2025.
849,190 professionals have used our research since 2012.
reviewer2007348 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Manager at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees
Real User
We have seen a very positive performance increase
Pros and Cons
  • "The fact that they came pre-installed was quite good. We didn't have to worry too much about that process... Also, the maintenance part makes it very easy to raise queries and get repairs done."
  • "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."

What is our primary use case?

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.

How has it helped my organization?

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.

What is most valuable?

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.

What needs improvement?

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.

For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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."

How are customer service and support?

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.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

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.

How was the initial setup?

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.

What was our ROI?

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.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

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.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

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.

What other advice do I have?

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.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
PeerSpot user
Programmer Sysadmin at a university with 10,001+ employees
Real User
They are stable and don’t crash
Pros and Cons
  • "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."

What is our primary use case?

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.

How has it helped my organization?

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.

What is most valuable?

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

What needs improvement?

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.

For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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

How are customer service and support?

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.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

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. 

How was the initial setup?

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.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

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

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

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

What other advice do I have?

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.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1068876 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Director at a manufacturing company with 201-500 employees
Real User
Is stable and includes security features such as firmware, drift protection, and systems management
Pros and Cons
  • "PowerEdge is one of the top solutions when it comes to the security features that it provides including firmware, drift protection, and systems management."
  • "One of the things that I've noticed is that over time, the system degrades, meaning that little things don't work. For example, the hard drive would need to be replaced or iDRAC would not be functioning properly. We may have to flash the firmware. It is not like some other hardware where it just runs without issues for four or five years. With Dell, generally, there are little hiccups here and there."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution for our on-premises infrastructure to mainly provide office support and data storage.

How has it helped my organization?

We use it for data storage and it allows for easy access to the data on-premises. It has helped increase staff productivity.

What is most valuable?

PowerEdge is one of the top solutions when it comes to the security features that it provides including firmware, drift protection, and systems management.

It's a pretty nice system. You can log in to iDRAC, you can look at the logs, the temperature, etc. Essentially, all of the metrics of the server are there, so you can get a complete view and immediately know what's going on.

What needs improvement?

One of the things that I've noticed is that over time, the system degrades, meaning that little things don't work. For example, the hard drive would need to be replaced or iDRAC would not be functioning properly. We may have to flash the firmware. It is not like some other hardware where it just runs without issues for four or five years. With Dell, generally, there are little hiccups here and there.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used PowerEdge Rack Servers on and off for about 20 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's very stable. I would give it a ten out of ten. The system is pretty redundant, so we never really have any downtime.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have about 250 users. It's used 90% in the company, in terms of our infrastructure. We do not plan to increase usage because we're moving more things to the cloud. We're trying to reduce our server footprint on-premises.

How are customer service and support?

Dell's technical support is pretty good. I'd give them a ten out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We've always switched between Dell and HP, depending on the current state and the cost. The reason for switching is primarily the cost involved.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is not intuitive. The first one took a while, but after that, we were done within an hour.

When deploying the PowerEdge solution, we were able to use the automated server and OS deployment features, but I had to talk to Dell support. They had to walk me through it. However, once you do it once, it becomes very easy.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented it ourselves with help from Dell's technical support.

For deployment and maintenance, we need one person.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

When you compare public cloud solutions to PowerEdge in terms of cost, initially the cost of Dell servers or Dell technology was really high. However, right now it's on par and maybe even cheaper when we use Dell hardware. If we don't swap it out in three years and stretch it to four or five years, then we can get even more of an ROI versus cloud cost.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We've always chosen HP or Dell depending on the year, the product, and any promotions offered by the respective companies. We generally use Dell laptops, so by default we often go with Dell servers as part of the ecosystem.

What other advice do I have?

I highly recommend Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers; they are solid. If you do your due diligence and do your homework or your janitorial work, they'll never break.

I would give this solution a ten on a scale from one to ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
PeerSpot user
reviewer2380644 - PeerSpot reviewer
Chief Executive Officer at a cloud solution provider with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 20
Enables exceptional stability, scalability, and ease of deployment, supported by reliable tech support and energy-efficient design
Pros and Cons
  • "The enduring stability and longevity offered by Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers stand out as their most invaluable features."
  • "The pricing structure could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We use it in the media industry.

How has it helped my organization?

Our customers have numerous benefits, including an array of features such as RAM quantity, CPU power, and storage capacity.

Our energy consumption was quite high five years ago when we were a service provider. Today, over the last two generations, our power consumption has decreased significantly. This reduction is highly beneficial for our operations.

The flexibility is commendable. Whenever we need to perform any task on our records or servers, the process is smooth and swift. In the twenty years of using Dell, we haven't encountered any troubles, problems, or issues, which speaks volumes about the reliability of their products.

What is most valuable?

The enduring stability and longevity offered by Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers stand out as their most invaluable feature. These qualities enable organizations to deploy and utilize the same server model for extended periods, bolstered by Dell's steadfast guarantee.

What needs improvement?

The pricing structure could be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using it for over ten years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability is excellent overall. We've encountered only one issue, which pertained to a SAN rather than a server. This occurred due to a peak in energy, affecting the controller within the rack. Nonetheless, stability remains consistent for our servers.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is truly excellent, as we can start with a certain number of memory units, and when a customer requests additional memory or space, we can easily upgrade. This process is fast and straightforward, making it highly beneficial.

How are customer service and support?

We've relied on tech support for at least twenty years, and every time we've reached out, we've received swift and effective solutions. I would rate it nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

The advantage of Dell over other vendors lies in the fact that over the course of twenty years, we've consistently opted for solutions that include mission-critical assistance. However, we've only needed to utilize this assistance twice in two decades. This demonstrates the exceptional quality of Dell's hardware, which has been thoroughly tested and proven reliable—an essential feature and service for us.

What about the implementation team?

Deploying was simple. We were assigned directly to the data center. As consultants, we began by working directly in the rack. We initiated the installation process, starting with the hypervisor, and everything proceeded smoothly.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Twenty years ago, we used to purchase directly from Dell. However, they later decided to sell only through partners in Italy. Consequently, when we transitioned to buying from partners, we also became partners ourselves. At present, the pricing seems a bit high for us. While we manage to procure products through competitive bidding, the list pricing remains challenging for us. This difficulty primarily arises when selling to customers, especially medium-sized ones requiring only two or three servers.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
PeerSpot user
reviewer2380641 - PeerSpot reviewer
Director at a cloud solution provider with 1-10 employees
Real User
Customizable, highly reliable, and energy-efficient
Pros and Cons
  • "I like the reliability and ease of swapping out failed equipment. It is very easy to replace power supplies and drives."
  • "From the licensing model perspective, it might be useful for enterprises to get an overall enterprise license, rather than licensing each server. That is one option because we tend to buy the service with the licenses, but some of our older equipment does not have them."

What is our primary use case?

We are a web hosting company, so we host websites. They are predominantly high-value websites. They tend to be very intensive applications, so we use CPUs with lots of cores and memory. We try to get as much performance as possible out of these machines.

At the moment, we are using Dell R640 and 740XD, and we have some 540s for backups.

How has it helped my organization?

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are very good for handling the evolving needs of high-performance workloads. Even though we do not use the very latest generation servers, they are in line with our customers' needs. Our customers do not know or care what the specs of the servers are. They just want the results, which speed from websites or whatever applications they are running. We have a very strong reputation in the industry for producing those fast results, and at the moment, Dell servers support that very well. Our knowledge perhaps is not as good as it could be on some of the latest technologies. We do not even use NVMe storage yet, but I am quite interested in seeing some of the new technology for NVMe support.

Due to our environmental compliance, we are very aware of our consumption, and it is pleasing to see regular improvements in that area. We are regularly looking at and reviewing our power consumption. We replaced some of our older Dell models with newer ones, which are way more efficient. They are very good in terms of energy consumption. There is a useful calculator available on their website to work out how much we are going to be using, so we can tell in advance. Before we populate a new data center cabinet, we can see how much we should expect it to be using. That makes it a lot easier. We then do not underfill or overfill a cabinet. We can maximize the use of the space by knowing with some degree of accuracy how much power is going to be used.

What is most valuable?

I like the reliability and ease of swapping out failed equipment. It is very easy to replace power supplies and drives.

What needs improvement?

We use older-generation servers. We are two generations behind. There can be remote access management and iDRAC improvements, but I do not have many complaints about that.

From the licensing model perspective, it might be useful for enterprises to get an overall enterprise license, rather than licensing each server. That is one option because we tend to buy the service with the licenses, but some of our older equipment does not have them.

For how long have I used the solution?

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

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

They are very reliable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We tend to buy quite high-spec servers, so we do not need to upgrade, but storage-wise, typically, we always have an empty base in the servers we deploy. So, we have plenty of scope for scaling.

How are customer service and support?

We do not use their support. We use a third party. We rarely need to get support because the equipment is so reliable. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We used to use HPE many years ago. We moved to Dell because their servers were more customizable. We were able to use our own disks, for example, whereas HP would not allow us to do that. They had to ship the disks, and that was the main reason we moved.

Dell is just a little bit more logical. Even when you open up the box and carry out the replacement tasks with the components, it seems a little bit more logical. In every generation, there is a change, but when you open up a new box, it does not take long. Without reading the manual, you can figure out what needs to be done. We have never been disappointed with the new products that do come out, so we are quite involved now and attached to the Dell ecosystem.

How was the initial setup?

They are very good in terms of deployment. Our automated system is there, and there is no problem with using our deployment tool with it. I cannot think of a case where we have hit a problem. It has been fast. There is nothing to do with the hardware. There are no obstacles.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We looked at Supermicro, but we never found them very reliable. The chassis and the build felt a little bit more flimsy compared to Dell. Dell servers felt a lot more like enterprise hardware.

What other advice do I have?

In terms of the impact of PowerEdge Servers on our organization’s sustainability goals, we have not recycled much old equipment. I am not sure what to do with it. I do not know whether they have any incentives for returning old hardware. One thing we need to factor in is how to dispose of older hardware.

For the simple needs that we have, I would rate Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers an eight out of ten. 

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Analytics at Israel InterUniversity Computation Center
Real User
Good for handling the evolving needs of high-performance workloads
Pros and Cons
  • "PowerEdge Rack Servers are very good for handling the evolving needs of high-performance workloads."
  • "The specs for the benchmarks are very good, but the firmware and software are lacking. There are some issues with the Linux kernel and the long-term support (LTS) for some of the firmware's dependencies. It is causing the kernel to dump. The support for the Linux brands isn't optimal. We would like them to optimize the kernel drivers for benchmarks."

What is our primary use case?

We use PowerEdge Rack Servers for quantitative analytics, data simulations, and machine learning.

What is most valuable?

The hardware makes it a good solution.

PowerEdge Rack Servers are very good for handling the evolving needs of high-performance workloads.

Its tuning and performance are good.

What needs improvement?

The specs for the benchmarks are very good, but the firmware and software are lacking. There are some issues with the Linux kernel and the long-term support (LTS) for some of the firmware's dependencies. It is causing the kernel to dump. The support for the Linux brands isn't optimal. We would like them to optimize the kernel drivers for benchmarks.

There are some issues that need to be solved with our model in regards to UEFI and firmware. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using it for about 10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There haven't been any issues with downtime.

How are customer service and support?

Dell's open source support is very good. There are a lot of issues that they need to handle though, like the firmware and UEFI.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We previously used IBM and Lenovo.

How was the initial setup?

It is a cluster, so you just plug and play.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Lenovo is very good with updates.

We use AMD Opteron instead of Intel Xeon.

We chose Dell because of its open source. Our community likes Dell because of its open source delivery.

What other advice do I have?

We use GCP Spot and AWS Graviton as our failover solutions.

I would rate this solution as eight out of 10.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: April 2025
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.