Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers Reviews

We primarily utilize Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers as hosts for virtual machines.

We opted for the OCP primarily due to its exceptional modularity. With compute nodes and storage nodes sharing the same form factor and rack, it simplifies maintenance tasks. Any necessary adjustments can be made seamlessly without the need to unplug cables, as everything is contained within the rack itself. This user-friendly design streamlines operations, particularly for individuals with limited training in server management.

Our older PowerEdge servers consume significant amounts of power due to their age.

In terms of high performance, there hasn't been any improvement or decline. We have sufficient redundancy to tolerate the loss of multiple nodes without any impact.

In terms of productivity, we have the capability to interface directly with the servers when necessary, eliminating the need for remote access.

There is potential for enhancement in terms of its overall upgradeability.

I have been using it for five years.

In terms of stability, overall it has been satisfactory, although we encountered some issues due to outdated hardware. At one point, we experienced failures likely stemming from aging components, such as a faulty CPU that led to the shutdown of certain virtual machines.

It fulfills its intended functions, but we haven't identified any advantages to the additional features. Overall, I would rate it seven out of ten.

Compared to the older versions, and those from other vendors, like HPE servers and some other brands, this one has really saved us a lot of headaches when it comes to hardware replacements. It's something it seems that Dell has improved. You quickly log your support case and get support. The turnaround time is really fast.

Also, compared to the other vendors and generations, this one tends to be more user-friendly, so you spend less time trying to get where you want to go.

The server itself has the most stable updates. The patches and the updates will take you a long way before they release another one, so you aren't constantly doing more updates and upgrades. 

• Its ease of use. The GUI is accessible and everything is pretty much upfront. You don't get lost in navigating between the tabs.
• I also like a feature they call iDRAC. It's a feature that allows you remotely power on and off the server. 
• It's got a power plug.
• It's also almost a tool-less type of server, in the sense that when you want to open it up and change a few components inside, you can do so without a screwdriver or any aid of another tool.
• It also has a nice front panel, it looks nice in front.

Of course, the new generation of servers, I've yet to really use them, the 13th and the 14th generations of the Dell rack servers. I haven't gotten my hands on those yet. But as for the versions that I work with, they used to max out on memory, on RAM, quickly, so I'd want to think in the newer versions, they actually allocate more  processing power and more RAM to them. I'd want to think that's what they did with the newer versions.

It's a very stable product. From a software and hardware perspective, it's actually a bit more stable compared to other versions and vendors. It's definitely quite resilient, we haven't had many failures, hardware or software failures.

It is quite scalable. The other versions come with a lot of allocation or provision for you to scale more, so it is a scalable solution.

We switched because of the kind of support we'd get from the vendor itself, a quick response time. That's a very critical issue; how swiftly can they resolve an issue. That is one of the major reasons for the switch. The other reason was the resiliency of the products, which is one of the benefits we enjoy with the current choice that we made.

The initial setup is quite easy. The Dell OpenManage interface is straightforward, Obviously you have to read through the documentation a bit before you set it up, but it is quite straightforward.

It took us, I would say, a day for each site, because we set it up at three different sites and they're each about 80 kilometers apart. Each site took a day because we had to rearrange our server room, how the cooling would be done, and the power and things like that. Obviously, there were other things contributing to the setup of the server, not the server itself.

Yes, we did also consider other options but we took this option over the other ones because of the response time, support, and we feel that these guys were a leap ahead in terms of the technology itself.

I would tell colleagues to go for it. It's a great product, and as long as they can just stay on the latest and greatest versions, they shouldn't have any issues.

I would give it an eight out of 10. And the chief reasons are its simplicity and ease of use. 

The two points I held back I wouldn't necessarily blame on the product, I would blame it on the area, the part of the world that we are in. I think it tends to take a bit long, like one to two weeks, to replace a spare part. Sometimes it can take long because of the customs issues. Really it has nothing to do with the product itself but with area that I'm in. So someone who's in Europe will likely get better service because they are closer to the manufacturing plants and they can get the equipment in, whereas where we're from, the shipment of that stuff would have to hop notable distances. So if they could have a hub that's more central and closer to where we are, then maybe it would be a perfect 10.  

We're having increased performance. That's one of the big reasons we went with these PowerEdge servers.

The iDRAC that comes with the systems is great. It allows us to scale out a lot faster than before.

PowerEdge servers are good for handling and evolving high-performance workloads. We get everything that we need.

The biggest needs within our company are performance, stability, and support. If and when something goes wrong hardware-wise, a quick resolution is always a wonderful thing to have.

We do not use Dell's memory in our PowerEdge environment. We do use them separately.

PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped to reduce unplanned production downtime. The firmware updates that have been pushed out have reduced the amount of DIMM memory failures or false alarms. That's been really good. That's the main concern we have.

In terms of the iDRAC software, when selecting systems, especially multiple systems to upgrade, there's really no way to confirm specific systems that are selected. It'll just tell you a number and it's very vague. It says, "Hey, you're about to perform this action on X amount of systems." If it had more visibility, then that would provide more peace of mind for our team and everyone else who uses the iDRAC software as well.

We've been using these PowerEdge rack servers for about two years now.

The technical support is good.

Whenever we ask for clarification on an action plan, we get the required feedback so that we can make informed decisions on our end. We'd love it if they'd keep up with the process that they currently have.

Positive

We switched over to Dell as they were highly competitive in their pricing, and their specs were either identical or gave better performance than some of the other options we were looking at.

The pricing was extremely competitive, and it's one of the big reasons why we went with Dell.

We use the servers on multiple of our data centers located throughout the United States, and the performance and stability of these systems have been phenomenal.

We did not consider public cloud services before choosing PowerEdge DRAC services.

Performance-wise, hardware-wise, it is solid, however, it could use some improvements around iDRAC. Therefore, I would rate the solution eight out of ten.

For those considering the solution, I would advise starting by doing some research. The system is incredibly stable and performs similarly to other systems that we're reviewing.

I chose Dell PowerEdge servers to tackle key issues in our setup. It adds extra security, aligning with our data protection goals. Gold Service support ensures reliable assistance, minimizing downtime. The smooth integration between services makes switching to Dell a confident move for our server needs. PowerEdge Rack Servers boosted our organization's flexibility without any issues. They just worked perfectly, with no negative impact. It has also boosted our IT staff's productivity. I now have more time for other tasks, and while it's hard to quantify, it saves me a few hours each week.

The product is well-rounded and has been effective in meeting our needs. The customer feedback has been positive as well.

For the next release, I would like for PowerEdge Rack Servers to be a bit more compact.

I have been working with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for 12 years.

The overall stability is excellent. There is almost no downtime, and the system runs smoothly. PowerEdge servers have significantly minimized production downtime for me. They run smoothly without causing any hassles, allowing me to focus on administration. Updates are infrequent, and the system operates seamlessly in the background, requiring minimal attention.

I would rate the support as a ten out of ten.

Positive

Quick customer support, especially with gold support, has been key for maximizing return on investment. In a hard disk issue, they fixed it within three hours.

In terms of pricing and licensing, it is a trade-off. If you find it expensive, you can limit access, but if the budget allows, you can expand.

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

Foreign Language: (German)

Bietet reibungslose Integration, hohe Stabilität und effizienten Kundensupport

Wie hat es meiner Organisation geholfen?

Ich habe mich für Dell PowerEdge-Server entschieden, um die wichtigsten Punkte in unserer Organisation zu lösen. Sie bieten zusätzliche Sicherheit und entsprechen unseren Datenschutzanforderungen. Der Gold Service-Support gewährleistet zuverlässige Unterstützung und minimiert Ausfallzeiten. Die nahtlose Integration zwischen den Services macht den Wechsel zu Dell zu einem sicheren Schritt für unsere Serveranforderungen. Die PowerEdge Rack Server haben die Flexibilität unserer Organisation ohne Probleme erhöht. Sie haben einfach perfekt funktioniert, ohne sich negativ auszuwirken. Außerdem hat sich die Produktivität unseres IT-Personals erhöht. Ich habe jetzt mehr Zeit für andere Aufgaben, und obwohl es schwer abzuschätzen ist, habe ich dadurch ein paar Stunden in der Woche gespart.

Was ist am wertvollsten?

Das Produkt ist gut ausgestattet und hat unsere Anforderungen erfüllt. Das Kundenfeedback war ebenfalls positiv.

Was muss verbessert werden?

Für die nächste Version würde ich mir wünschen, dass die PowerEdge Rack Server etwas weniger Platz benötigen.

Wie lange habe ich die Lösung verwendet?

Ich arbeite schon seit 12 Jahren mit Dell PowerEdge Rack Servern.

Was halte ich von der Stabilität der Lösung?

Die allgemeine Stabilität ist ausgezeichnet. Es gibt fast keine Ausfallzeiten, und das System läuft reibungslos. Die PowerEdge-Server haben die Ausfallzeiten in der Produktion für mich deutlich minimiert. Sie laufen reibungslos, ohne Probleme zu verursachen, so dass ich mich auf die Verwaltung konzentrieren kann. Es werden nur selten Updates durchgeführt, und das System arbeitet nahtlos im Hintergrund und erfordert nur minimale Überwachung.

Wie sind Kundendienst und Support?

Ich würde den Support mit zehn von zehn bewerten.

Wie würden Sie den Kundenservice und -support bewerten?

Positiv

Wie hoch war unser ROI?

Der schnelle Kundensupport, insbesondere der Gold-Support, war der Schlüssel zur Erhöhung der Investitionsrentabilität. Ein Problem mit einer Festplatte wurde innerhalb von drei Stunden behoben.

Welche Erfahrungen habe ich mit den Preisen, den Einrichtungskosten und der Lizenzierung gemacht?

Was die Preise und die Lizenzierung angeht, handelt es sich um einen Kompromiss. Wenn Sie es teuer finden, können Sie den Zugang einschränken, aber falls Ihr Budget es ermöglicht, können Sie es erweitern.

Welche anderen Ratschläge habe ich?

Insgesamt würde ich die Dell PowerEdge Rack Server mit zehn von zehn Punkten bewerten.

We primarily use the solution for compute servers. We use them as compute servers to run our virtual machines on-load, mainly on VMware.

The R6 series has been very valuable as it's more cost-effective and it has a lot of features. Based on the requirements, we found the R6 Series would be best suited for our customers. Reliability-wise, it's also great.

PowerEdge is for handling the evolving needs of high-performance workloads, including VDI, AI, and SAP. We did run PowerEdge servers with virtual workloads, especially on VDI. We realized that SSD is necessary, especially with VMware vSphere platforms as the IO requirements are quite high.

In terms of security, there’s been no issue from our side. In terms of BIOS, it is secure and we can go and log into BIOS to change certain settings.

PowerEdge is good for energy consumption. PowerEdge Servers run on optimal voltage. Compared to other competitors or other brands, the power rating is great.

We use iDRAC for many years already. It's an item we need to buy. We’ve had no problems so far. We use it for monitoring purposes to configure SNMP and the servers.

PowerEdge analytics helped to decrease production downtime.

The data points I’d draw attention to for potential customers depend on how much the customer is going to spend. If there is a certain budget, we would plan around their budget. In terms of analytics, most of the time, our monitoring service is able to collect the data metrics already, so having PowerEdge analytics is a complement to our existing monitoring system. While it's good to have, it depends of course on the customer's budget. If their budget is small, we will take away analytics to save costs.

PowerEdge helped to reduce our customer’s data processing time. In fact, they were getting a lot of data from here, from their data processing. We also partner with some Big Data Analytics which run data points. In terms of PowerEdge, it's running fine except for certain power failures from time to time. In terms of how much they’ve reduced the data processing producing power, I don't have the metrics to comment on.

PowerEdge systems management frameworks enable us to progress towards full automation when it comes to managing PowerEdge. We find it very useful in terms of automation, the setup, and configuration, as it does offer setup and proper checks. With the servers, we just need to set our black bar and then push down the setup and configurations box into PowerEdge and we run after that.

We do encounter power supply failures from time to time, however, in terms of operations, the production uptime, the production is not affected, and the SLA is still within the stipulated time.

In the future, we hope that the noise level will be lower.

I've used the solution for quite a long while. Likely, it's been more than 10 years.

We've had no issues with scaling so far. We have been using PowerEdge for years and we are able to scale well. For networking, we need to build the network to scale, and it hasn't been a problem.

Dell support is responsive. They dispatch an engineer on-site to help us within their SLA plan. They are very good so far.

That said, we would appreciate it if the engineer came down with the parts beforehand so they can resolve hardware issues on the spot.

Positive

We deployed many series of PowerEdge for many years. We also used other vendors, including HP and Cisco among others. I would say that in terms of reliability, they are a bit better than Dell in terms of power supplies. 

The deployment time depends on the size of the setup. So far, we haven't had any problems with the setup.

We engage with vendors to do the setup as unboxing PowerEdge and mounting them onto racks. This is especially true if we are talking about hundreds of servers.

Dell can actually do everything in their staging environment, in their warehouse, before shipping everything to customers. We've been quite satisfied with Dell's level of service so far.

The product meets our requirements. Cost-wise, certain configurations in PowerEdge maybe cost a bit extra. Especially the SSD drives.

The cost will increase if we go with the rack-and-stack approach.

We are partners with Dell.

We use the R series, namely R620, 630, then after that 720, 730, and with the XD series as well. We deploy them in data centers. Inside the data centers, there are systems as well as cloud systems; typically the deployment is hybrid.

We don’t use Dell's cloud view for predictive analytics.

I can’t speak to PowerEdge's accelerated tuning in terms of helping to support demanding workloads. We have not used GPU yet.

I'd advise new users to go ahead and assess PowerEdge. Of course, companies need to get their representative to send some metrics, especially the MTBF or certain components on Dell products. We realize that the power supply may be a weak link when running high loads constantly. In terms of other components, there are no issues. 

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

I use Dell R740 servers series as the main compute server to host IT workloads.

It's an excellent choice and it's integrated well with Dell-VMWare virtualization OS (ESXi).

Dell R series are very good engineered servers. Reliability and durability are the key to choose this product. This is a cornerstone to build a highly available IT system.

The reconstructive compatibility with VMware ESXi is the most valuable.

The only thing that could be improved is documentation. The product is highly customizable with a lot of options for each component. These options are not easily understood. It would be great to offer more user-friendly interface/Documentation to build up the system. 

I have been using this solution for four years.

It is very stable.

It is scalable. We can scale it by adding nodes, but some software and licenses are required for that. We have around 60 users using it on a daily basis

I never contacted them. We are usually able to resolve any issues within the company.

Yes, I installed and administered HP Proliant servers. It was a good product in my experience.

I switched because we got a competitive price.

The initial setup was straightforward.

We have three team members for its deployment and regular maintenance.

It's easy to install and configure with suitable server administrator.

iDrac management solution is included with the server. It provides suitable zero-cost solution for monitoring and managing your hardware.

Yes we evaluate all possible alternatives like:

HP and Lenovo

I would recommend this solution for rack servers. It is perfect.

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

• OpenManage Essentials: Loading new firmware is easy, either via OpenManage Essentials, OMIVV, or the iDRAC. It’s just so easy.
• OpenManage Essentials facilitates the build of a desired template (including disk configuration) and pushing this out to multiple hosts at once. This greatly speeds up our deployment times.
• iDRAC 8: Being able to provision and manage RAID virtual disks from the iDRAC is a huge bonus. You don’t have to boot the machine via the console to do this.
• The firmware rollback is great. The iDRAC can store previous versions to make this very quick.

• iDRAC 8 allows you to configure so much of the server without having to use a console. For example, RAID configuration, disk health, and SSD wear.
• It also displays a great amount of environmental history, including temps and power usage, with up to a year of history stored in the iDRAC.
• The vFlash capability is handy, allowing multiple SD partitions to be created and mounted. Being able to load all kinds of firmware via iDRAC is great, e.g., disk, controller, BIOS.
• OpenManage Essentials is better than OneView in my opinion. While it lacks the visual finesse of OneView, it has far more functionality.

OpenManage Essentials could do with a visual “birthday” as it still requires the Silverlight plugin.

OpenManage for vCenter integration is powerful, but also a little buggy. Hardware-wise, they are great. I much prefer the iDRAC architecture over HPE iLO.

We have used the solution for about nine months.

We have not encountered any stability issues.

We have not encountered any scalability issues.

So far, the technical support has been very good. The self-service portal for requesting replacement parts is extremely easy to use and it is fast.

For technical support tickets, the experience isn’t quite as good. There were some delays in communication.

We used HPE ProLiant. We switched due to significant cost savings in capex as well as operational improvements.

For example, having OpenManage Essentials is better than OneView, at least for rack servers.

The setup was extremely simple.

iDRAC is easier to configure, with the front LCD panel, on the non-XD models, being very handy.

The NFC option for the front bezel combined with the mobile app is great for on-site troubleshooting.

For a small, extra cost, you can get OpenManage Essentials with configuration management. This allows you to deploy pre-configured hardware templates making mass deployment easy.

DELL is typically much cheaper that HPE, for example. Their licensing is far more transparent and simple.

iDRAC licensing is significantly cheaper. Extended support costs are also lower.

We evaluated HPE ProLiant.

It is a great product. Just be mindful of some of the current bugs in OpenManage and OpenManage Integration for vCenter. Other than these, we’ve had a great experience.

These servers have been real work-horses. Dell has done a nice job at including more management tools, with OpenManage and the likes. The DRAC Enterprise is an amazing feature, especially when managing decentralized server farms.

One of the main factors in helping efficacy is having like-branded servers, which have compatible tools. There are are more universal management tools out there, but they are generally pretty costly. The fact that the servers have generally been quite reliable, has really decreased expenditure. I know that when I put a server in place, they will simply run. I had servers that were still from the PE2650, and PE4400 up until fairly recently when everything got replaced. There is something to be said about reliable hardware.

Unfortunately, I am now more in the space of IaaS, so I am a little bit removed from that particular area. In my experience when I was actively using Dell's servers, they were always improving their hardware, and coming up with more efficient solutions. One of the things that I had started using pretty extensively is blade servers, as they are more efficient on energy, and can provide the same computing power as racked servers, yet consume much less rack real estate.

I have used all series of Dell PowerEdge servers for about 12-14 years, through to the 12th generation.

For the most part, my experience with Dell was in conjunction with VMware vSphere, and VMware View. There were some issues that I encountered with the servers, but it is a result of having multiple server generations with different processors in place, which caused some problems with HA and DRS with VMware, but these don't necessarily quality as issues with the servers themselves. From a hardware perspective, these servers have always been rock solid.

I think the customer support at Dell is adequate, at least when it comes to their server support team. Some other areas are more lacking, but over all, and as it relates to servers, I have no complaints.

Most of my experience has been with Dell servers, so I can't comment much on different solutions.

If you're familiar with deploying servers, then it's not really complex. There is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to setting up the OpenManage server and agents, but nothing unsurmountable.

I have always deployed my own servers. If you are operating in an SMB, I would recommend that you get your hands dirty, and learn how these servers are setup, connected, etc., as it is going to be a matter of when, not if, that the server is going to have some failed component, that you're going to want to know how to deal with. Typically, if you have your Dell support, even the basic one, I believe you are able to get a technician to come help with hardware repair/replacement.

Well, since this is a discussion about hardware, one would argue that ROI isn't really much of a relevant argument in this case, as the factors for it would depend more than just the actual server purchased. This is really a CAPEX expense, and given today's technology, and the business need and requirements, I personally would much rather start moving my computing resources to the cloud, (i.e: AWS, Azure, Rackspace, etc...), and shift that CAPEX into an OPEX and free up some funds for more fluid cashflow.

I have worked very minimally with HP servers as well, which were also pretty good servers.