Total Micro Memory, Dell PowerEdge R710, T710 - 16GB 1066MHz
Mfg # A3138306-TM
CDW # 2968100
Quick tech specs
- Memory Module
- Speed: 1066MHz
- Form Factor: 240-Pin DIMM
- R410,R510,R610,R710,R715,- R815,R910 (Xeon E7),T410,T610,T710
- Registered ECC 4Rx4 1.5V CL7
- Total Micro Lifetime Limited Warranty
- Capacity: 16GB
- Technology: DDR3
- Compatible With: Dell PowerEdge C1100,C2100,C6100,C6105,- M610,M610x,M710,M710HD,M9- 10 (Xeon E7)
- PowerVault NX3000,NX3100,Precision Workstation R5500,T5500,T7500
- Meets or exceeds OEM specs
- Eqv KTD-PE310Q/16G
Know your gear
Total Micro has been manufacturing memory upgrades for over 20 years, offering replacement parts and upgrades for every major brand of portable computer, desktop computer, and server. Using only premium quality components and state of the art manufacturing equipment, each product must pass our 100% quality audit program including complete parametric and performance testing. This attention to detail ensures that our customers will always receive products that provide the highest levels of performance and reliability backed by a Lifetime Limited Total Micro Warranty.
Enhance your purchase
Total Micro Memory, Dell PowerEdge R710, T710 - 16GB 1066MHz is rated
4.76 out of
5 by
25.
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1852446 from
Compact storage solution that can be customized to suit any environment
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution for general computing and for ESX hosts for our virtual environment.
How has it helped my organization?
We are a partner who sells PowerEdge to many different customers, and we also use it in our own environment. The solution can be customized based on a customer's needs and allows us to build whatever we need in our own environment at that particular moment.
The system management capabilities of PowerEdge has helped increase stack productivity. The solution's accelerated GPUs has helped support demanding workloads for some of our customer's environments. PowerEdge has helped to reduce data processing time in our company which has made us work faster.
What is most valuable?
iDRAC is the most valuable feature because of the ease of use and management and everything that it provides is super useful. The security features that PowerEdge provides, including firmware threat detection is good.
We do not currently use this solution's CloudIQ functionality for predictive analytic but we would like to use in the future.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used this solution for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This solution is scalable. The way this solution is able to scale is impressive. Depending on how you build your PowerEdge server, it can serve the lowest end of customer up to the highest, depending on what their needs are. Whatever a customer is trying to accomplish, can usually be customized for their environment.
How are customer service and support?
The quality of support for this solution varies. Sometimes you get agents who are amazing and other times you get agents who take a long time to resolve your query. I would rate support for this solution a six and a half out of ten.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. Deployment took one to two hours.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
Date published: 2022-05-11T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Mohammed Farooqui from
Centralized data processing solution that offered immediate ROI
What is our primary use case?
We used this solution to transfer all of our physical servers and legacy systems into a virtualized environment on the VMware.
How has it helped my organization?
When we moved to this solution, we converted all the physical legacy servers to the virtualized server. This reduced the operational cost, maintenance and availability of the environment by 30 to 40%.
This solution's analytics have helped to decrease downtime. We were previously maintaining functionality by 92 to 93%, and this has increased to 98 to 99%.
What is most valuable?
The security features that PowerEdge provides have been very useful for our environment. We have integrated iDRAC Telemetry with our internal centralized monitoring tool, HPSM.
The complete hyper-converged infrastructure of this solution has been most useful. PowerEdge has helped to reduce data processing time by 20%. The system's management frameworks have enabled us to progress towards full automation.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a very stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a scalable solution. We have almost 800 servers hosted on this solution as well as almost all major banking applications.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate the technical support for this solution a seven out of ten. Since the start of COVID, there is a shortage of support resources and it is challenging to get queries resolved quickly.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used HPE servers environment but found that Dell offered enhanced features in comparison and was the best option in Saudi Arabia. Dell offered stability and scalability.
How was the initial setup?
Deployment took approximately a week. Initially, we required three people to do the deployment and they took it for a week. After that one, the maintenance, three persons are doing, the dedicated resource are there to do the maintenance of it, operations and maintenance of it.
What about the implementation team?
The initial setup was completed by Dell.
What was our ROI?
Within 24 months, we saw return on investment by using this solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is good compared to other products.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution because it is very stable and easy to deploy, manage, and maintain. It also offers reliable performance.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-11T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1851933 from
Centralized storage solution that has minimized downtime and allowed us to solve problems remotely
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution for our SAP system to catalogue our sales, sales products and pricing. We also use this solution for all Microsoft applications.
How has it helped my organization?
The patches that are often released for this solution help us stay on top of our game, which is essential as we provide solutions to the government.
This solution keeps us up and running and reduces downtime. PowerEdge has helped us to reduce data processing time. The PowerEdge systems management frameworks have enabled us to progress towards full automation.
What is most valuable?
The automatic updates provided in the system have been the most valuable. The notifications that get sent out help us keep on top of making sure security patches are updated weekly.
The iDRAC commentary embedded in this solution allows our IT department to detect problems whenever and wherever they arise. They are then able to resolve these problems from a remote location 80% of the time.
This solution does everything we need to do.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a scalable solution. We have 35 employees who focus primarily on sales.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support for this solution is good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. The solution's deployment team that assisted are on top of their game. They are easy to contact and set it up fairly quickly.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing for this solution is competitive compared to others on the market.
What other advice do I have?
Our IT department have not had any complaints using this solution and have preferred its performance compared to what they used to use.
I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-10T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1852578 from
Has helpful monitoring and a lot of flexibility for scaling
How has it helped my organization?
We used PowerEdge as our main servers for all things virtual and as our file servers as well. We had a lot of VPN users as most of the company is remote. There wasn't as much lag time when dealing with file transfer, specifically in the office. Using the PowerEdge servers and the Dell switch stack interchangeably skyrocketed the firm in the office.
What is most valuable?
The monitoring system is really helpful. I'm a one-man team, and I run systems and IT for a pretty big company. The ease of use of being able to flip through a browser tab was the most valuable feature for me.
As for handling the evolving needs of high performance workloads, PowerEdge has a lot more flexibility for scaling. It has everything that you would want for a business that's growing.
In terms of PowerEdge's approach to security with its firmware and drift detection, there have been no issues with any updates or security breaches.
The company had to move to a new building, and one of the main concerns was energy consumption. As far as I know, there were a lot of eco settings present to make sure that the PowerEdge Rack servers used the proper amount of energy.
I've had zero downtime in the three and a half years I've been in the company. Prior to my time, I do know that the uptimes of the systems were very long. From all the records and logs of the previous IT administrator, I can see that there were no issues with the servers.
What needs improvement?
The servers get slower at the end of their life cycle. The technology needs to evolve.
Also, when you have separate servers and have to add connections between them, they slow down.
For how long have I used the solution?
I used this solution for about a year and a half since I joined the company. The company was using it at least since 2015.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
There hasn't been a whole lot of downtime and zero issues with stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
There's expandability, and you can scale with PowerEdge Rack servers.
About 80% to 85% of our workforce is remote, and they all use laptops. About half of that actually comes back to the server through VPN. There are only about 60 people in the office using the solution on-premises.
How are customer service and support?
I've had no issues with technical support, and they've been very quick and responsive. I've had to call them, maybe, three times in the last three years. I would give them a ten out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The PowerEdge Rack servers are pretty standard servers. You put them on the rack, you plug them in, and you set up the settings.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We weren't paying very much, but it was at the end of the lifecycle. We're are now using the VxRail hyperconverged infrastructure, and the pricing was very similar for the same amount of power but with easier automation.
What other advice do I have?
Make sure that it fits your company now and your company in the future because if you don't build for scalability, you will get caught by a foot and have to buy more stuff.
I would recommend PowerEdge Rack servers to smaller organizations and not to larger ones like ours.
On a scale from one to ten, I would rate PowerEdge Rack servers at nine.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-16T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Philip Mac Kay from
Helps increase productivity and reduce data processing times
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution for SAP and for other critical information that our customers needs.
How has it helped my organization?
Our customers are really happy when we use PowerEdge because it improves the performance of their company. They also end up having more internal users or internal customers satisfied with solutions that they use in their company, such as SAP.
The system management capabilities of PowerEdge helped increase staff productivity by 50% for our latest client.
What is most valuable?
I've found the reliability, support, the capability to grow, and the ability to add other Dell solutions to be very valuable features.
As for security features, it's a good quality solution for the price. You can add different software or patches to have a better security solution.
It has helped reduce data processing time by 30%.
The PowerEdge system management frameworks have enabled us to progress toward full automation when it comes to managing more.
What needs improvement?
The Industrial and healthcare areas both need improvement.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using this solution for about three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is really good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. You can start small and then add more products that allow you to increase the productivity of your company.
We have about 300 users and plan to upgrade the solution with more components.
How are customer service and support?
We have not had a good experience with support. Technical support staff take too much time to resolve tickets. We have a per super plus level of agreement, which means that the time of response is supposed to be four hours. The result time is supposed to be 48 hours. We sometimes see 72 hours of time for response with no solution provided to resolve the problem. So I would rate technical support and customer service at 6 on a scale from one to ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We replaced Dell technology because PowerEdge is much better.
How was the initial setup?
The initial deployment was straightforward because we already had technical architects who knew how to deploy the solution.
The deployment took over a month.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented it ourselves with a team of six to seven people including a technical architect, a SAP Basis engineer, technicians, and a security officer.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price is good for the quality of the Dell PowerEdge Rack servers.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We looked at Lenovo.
What other advice do I have?
Compare PowerEdge's time for response, the scalability of the solution, the licensing cost, and support to those of other brands.
Sometimes you try to not to spend too much on technology, but there is a point at which it is necessary to invest in this solution because you will increase the productivity of your company. When you see the quote, remember that all that money can be recouped with the increase in production.
If you wait for too long, you may start having problems and lose productivity. You can really get hit hard with a loss of productivity. You have to determine the time to change the technology to a new one.
If I were to rate Dell PowerEdge Rack servers, I would rate them at nine on a scale from one to ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
Date published: 2022-05-13T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1851978 from
Good performance, secure, easy to use, and the technical support is good
What is our primary use case?
We use the servers for various use cases. A lot of our servers act as ESXi hosts that host our VMware infrastructure. We also have a lot of researchers that use them for their own compute, memory, and storage as well.
How has it helped my organization?
When it comes to running high-demand applications, we trust our Dell servers exclusively. Its overall stability and ease of use have helped to improve the way our organization functions.
I believe that our overall data processing time has been reduced, although it's hard for us to quantify that.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is reliability. We rarely have any issues and because of this, Dell is our go-to for servers.
We make use of the encrypt-at-rest security feature, which allows us to keep our servers locked down in our data centers as best we can.
We used the CloudIQ feature for monitoring and it's pretty good overall. We have a challenge in our area because our IT is very broad and there is a lot of overlap. Other people's work is visible and we have a big environment, so there is a team of people that keep an eye on things.
What needs improvement?
I'd like to take the complexities out of all the different tools that surround it, like OpenManage. There's some different licensing in there and it gets a little wonky at times. Other than that, the product itself works fine. Rather, it's some of the management issues.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for approximately 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a pretty reliable product.
How are customer service and support?
Dell support is fantastic. We've never really had any problems with them.
I would rate them an eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use another similar solution prior to this one.
We are looking for some of the newer models to replace some of our older equipment. We may not have to have as many as before, because it's more efficient.
How was the initial setup?
Once we get a server, we can have it up in a day. One person can do it, unless it's a heavy server. In that case, we need two people to lift it. Almost anybody on our staff can deploy this server if it's needed.
What about the implementation team?
We handle the deployment in-house.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fees.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
When you compare this product to using a public cloud, you definitely have to pay attention to what you're doing in a public cloud. This is because you're generally using a shared server with other people and there can be problems because of this.
What other advice do I have?
We are currently working towards full automation when it comes to managing PowerEdge. It's looking pretty good at this stage. It most definitely assists with the overall operations.
My advice for anybody who is considering this product is that Dell is a reliable partner. The product works well and you can't really go wrong with it. As the product changes over time, it's pretty seamless and you don't have to learn a lot of new things. After four years, it may only be slightly different.
I would rate this solution a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-13T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1851855 from
Storage software that is stable and easy to set up
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution for our virtual servers.
What needs improvement?
The maintenance for this solution could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable solution.
How was the initial setup?
It took one hour to set up this solution. We have 20 staff members using it.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Other
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-13T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Danno Johnson from
Good performance, small footprint, flexible, quick support team
What is our primary use case?
We use PowerEdge for the virtualization of servers, and it gives me the ability to move server images on and off of the platform very quickly.
How has it helped my organization?
The PowerEdge Rack Servers are a go-to for handling high-performance workloads. I've had positive experiences with the amount of compute that it can provide per blade. Currently, the blade that I'm familiar with is the MX740c, which has dual processors and a total of 24 core processors. There are eight of these blades in the MX7000.
It also provides the ability for networking on the backside, which connects to the mezzanine. I currently use the MX5108s, which provide four 25 gigabits-per-second connections to each blade. Each 5108 can provide you with a 100 gig uplink to your core. I currently have the MX5108s connected in two fabrics, A fabric, and B fabric. The A fabric is peered using a VLTi, and then the same with the B fabric.
Then, I have the VLTi from the two blades connecting and uplinking to our distribution core. The distribution core is using a leaf spine, going to the spine. So with that, it gives me 400 gigabits of uplink and downlink onto the chassis.
You can't have compute performance without using more power. That said, when I consider the power consumption and performance of the MX740c, depending on how much memory you install on each blade, you get the best bang for your buck. I'm not going to say that it's inexpensive or that it's sufficient. It depends on how hard you're processing, what you're running, how much memory you use, and again, what blades you purchase with the chassis. Overall, it's very flexible, and it depends on what you want to make of it.
With respect to its performance when it comes to running the latest high-demand applications, depending on your selection of hardware, it should be able to run nearly anything you would want. If you want to run Oracle servers on the PowerEdge blades, for example, then you can do that. They'll run it.
Recently, I've seen my use case migrate from the M1000 chassis to the MX7000 chassis. The improvement that I saw was increasing the uplink bandwidth from the M1000, which I was able to get a maximum of 160 gigabits a second, and now my maximum is 400 gigabits a second. I could have selected different switches, but the MX5108 is adequate to provide the uplink bandwidth that I need from the chassis.
Overall, I've seen an improvement in the network bandwidth, as well as an improvement in the speed of the blades and the processors.
The PowerEdge has also helped to reduce data processing time in the company, which makes things run better because it's faster to move data onto the blades. It is also faster when it comes to the deployment of compute images. It's hard to pinpoint how much time we have saved because it also depends on the network infrastructure that's in place. In my experience over the last couple of years, migrating from the M1000 to the MX7000 has moved the deployment of images from a few minutes to several seconds.
What is most valuable?
The MX7000 gives us the most concentrated amount of compute in the smallest area possible. It also has the ability to provide a large amount of bandwidth to the blades. This is important because it gives the user the ability to move as much data on and off of the blade platforms as quickly as possible.
The iDRAC telemetry is very useful for monitoring the system and providing analytics. You can use commands from the CLI, you can use scripting, you can use the REST interface, or you can use the point and click GUI. It's very flexible. I prefer using scripts because I monitor many blades and many chassis. I can script a lot of my monitoring requirements.
The accelerated GPU feature helps to support demanding workloads that we run. For instance, they provide better performance for remote desktop sessions.
The blades are hot-swappable and in a virtual environment, being able to upgrade your hardware platform to better and faster hardware easily is a benefit.
What needs improvement?
On the MX7000 platform, they should continue to release better and faster blades.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for the past couple of years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Stability-wise, this product is solid. We have very little downtime.
I need to make sure that the images that are running on the blades are reliable, and it provides that. Beyond that, I'm happy with the performance.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is up to the engineer. It is easily scalable depending on what native architecture you use to connect it all together.
How are customer service and support?
I have been in contact with technical support a lot. Sometimes I run into little anomalies that I need an explanation or workaround or fix for, and by bringing it to their attention, they usually get their developers on it and come back with a solution rather quickly.
I would rate the technical support a ten out of ten. We have really good Dell support.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have worked with other solutions from other vendors, and I like Dell Power Solutions. I worked with them years ago and then went to a different vendor, on a different job course, and in this particular job I've come back to Dell.
I've got to say that Dell hardware and the support are very good, and I'm happy with it.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. For somebody with experience with Dell products, to begin with, it's simple. It's no more complicated than deploying the M1000, which was the predecessor chassis to the MX7000.
I can deploy and network an MX7000 chassis and have all the blades loaded with ESXi within a day. I make use of a lot of my own scripts and usually, I employ a script to mount the ISO images that'll be installed on all the blades through a shell script, and then the script also reboots the blades, and then the blades mount the ISO image and install VMware, and all that happens quickly.
After that, I simply put in the network parameters for the ESXi hosts, and then add the host to the V-center, and then they're ready to go. The network blades, the MX5108s, I already have some predetermined configurations that I use. I use those as a template for all four blades on the back of the MX7000, and simply paste them in. I can usually have all four blades configured within 30 minutes to an hour.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing is very competitive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
When you compare against public cloud solutions, having the compute onsite is always going to be faster. However, that really depends on how big of a pipe your institution or your data center has to the cloud. If you have more bandwidth to the cloud and back, perhaps latency will be less but I don't see how it can be faster than having the compute on site.
What other advice do I have?
This product has built-in security features, although that's up to the system engineers and network engineers to properly upgrade their firmware. They need to follow Dell's baseline release for the chassis to ensure that the firmware and software for the baseline of the blades and the network cards meet the baseline requirements. If you can match those requirements then the security will follow. It's easier to manage when you're baseline is all matched.
Overall, this is a good product but there is always room for improvement.
I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-12T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Auke Van Der Linden from
Compact and reliable storage solution that is reliable in supporting high performance workloads
What is our primary use case?
We run the 900 and 700 models.
How has it helped my organization?
PowerEdge Rack Servers offer good performance in handling the evolving needs of high performance workloads and offers good value for money.
The Intel Xeon scalable processor has helped to improve the performance of our targeted workloads. Dell EMC's OpenManage console is easy to use.
PowerEdge Rack Servers has affected the overall flexibility of our operations. We are able to build our data centers with multiple clusters, and that provides sufficient scalability for us to do bigger deployments.
What is most valuable?
The support that you receive from Dell after buying this product is very valuable.
What needs improvement?
There are long lead times in receiving hardware. That could be better.
We have experienced issues with memory. We received helped from the Dell team and this has been resolved.
The security for this solution could be improved. We have very specific needs as an engineering company and require multiple layers of security. This is not offered when implementing the Dell hardware.
Dell EMC's OpenManage console is easy to use but could be better by offering additional features. The console has not decreased the time it takes to deploy new data centers.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for over 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a scalable solution.
How are customer service and support?
The customer service for this solution is very good. I would rate it an eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have used different solutions including Lenovo. We currently use Dell for all of our needs from our user hardware to our infrastructure data center.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. We had 10 staff members involved in the deployment. The server bill team set up the hardware and the DMR team ran the virtualization layer over it. The security team completed the checks. We have about 55,000 users supported by this solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing is expensive and inflexible.
What other advice do I have?
For anyone looking for a reliable storage solution, I would recommend PowerEdge.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-12T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1851996 from
Storage servers used for many years to host clusters and run high demand applications
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution as a host for clusters. We use 750, 740s, and 730s.
How has it helped my organization?
PowerEdge is able to run the latest high demand applications for our use case. They host our clusters and facilitate the building of environments.
We also like the iDRAC feature for monitoring system data and providing analytics. The newer iDRAC is a lot better than older versions.
What is most valuable?
The management features of this solution have been most useful.
What needs improvement?
We have experienced some challenges with iDRAC when upgrading firmware.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using this solution for a couple of decades.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate the support for this solution a seven out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward.
What about the implementation team?
Implementation was done as a combination of a vendor and our internal reps.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-15T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1851987 from
Good performance, intuitive user interface, and helpful support
What is our primary use case?
We are a solution provider and this is one of the products that we implement for our customers. Their use cases can be everything from storage to simple compute to network traffic analysis. We have a lot of customers that just do everything with these servers, and it's difficult to keep track of.
We will architect and help the customer identify the best solution for their software, and then essentially modify whatever they need. This might include adding cards, deploying their software onto the server, and then managing their inventory.
How has it helped my organization?
The PowerEdge is good when it comes to dealing with the evolving needs of high-performance workloads that our customers have. Whatever software they're developing seems to be able to take advantage of it.
The system's management frameworks have enabled at least one of our customers to progress toward full automation. Their internal scripting works with automation, which means that they can leverage the tools that Dell has created and merge them with their own software. This is something that's benefited them.
What is most valuable?
iDRAC is one of the most valuable features, as well as having the BMC.
The real advantage to Dell when I look at some of the other competitors is the support. The support is better than Lenova and HP. For example, it's much easier to get replacement components, and we can get service out to customers as quickly as possible. There aren't as many hoops to jump through. It's just not as challenging. This is one of the big reasons we stick with Dell.
The iDRAC telemetry for monitoring PowerEdge system data and providing analytics is a good feature. We have a lot of the sensor data that we capture, and it's very useful to our customers. Being able to be able to pull that out and tell them the consistency of their product is a good value-add to sell them.
What needs improvement?
The big problem that we have at the moment is with the supply chain. If it were more realistic then we'd probably be able to expand some of these systems a little bit more. This might be more CPU options, different memory, or overall consistency.
Certain customers have requirements that they prefer. I've had some trouble where the customers are not happy with the Toshiba drives, and it's a challenge when it comes to specific requests for Dell to a non-deviate, and only use Seagate drives.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers for approximately 14 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This product seems stable to me. Compared to products from other vendors, I don't have as many problems with them.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
From a scalability standpoint, getting more systems or expanding capacity has never really been an issue.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate Dell's technical support a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Compared to other solutions, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are very good.
In general, the user interface on Dell's products, including iDRAC, is a little bit easier and more intuitive than those of competing solutions from vendors such as Lenovo and Supermicro.
What was our ROI?
Our customers have seen a return on their investment with this solution.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing for PowerEdge servers is reasonable. Our customers continue to purchase them from us. When it comes to pricing, often, our customers are doing the work for us. They compare pricing and costs against other hardware vendors to see who is going to come out on top. More often than not, they choose Dell.
What other advice do I have?
We do a little bit of support for our customers, depending on the contract that we have with them. When there is a problem with a sever, some people just want to replace it immediately. They don't really care about trying to replace single components. They just want to get their server up and running, so they swap it out. It's very much done on a case-by-case basis.
My advice for anybody who is considering this solution is that it's the support from Dell that really makes things easier for us. There is always a little bit of movement when it comes to the costs and getting the numbers where they need to be. But, at the end of the day, dealing with Dell means it's easier to support a customer, especially with critical response times. This is something that's been really beneficial for us.
Overall, this is a good product, and judging by the feedback from my customers, there are very few additional features that they want or need. Dell seems to have done a pretty good job with what is currently released.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2022-05-15T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Sekou Knox from
Storage solution used to host databases and support a company with more than 10,000 users
What is our primary use case?
We use it as our database solution and for ESXi hosting. We use the R7-30s, 7-40s, 8-40s and 7-50s. Our whole company uses this solution and we have over 10,000 employees.
How has it helped my organization?
The solutions accelerated GPUs have helped to support demanding workloads and to reduce data processing time in our organization.
The PowerEdge system management frameworks has enabled us to progress towards automation.
What is most valuable?
The Ormi product is the most valuable for me because it streamlines all the necessary information that can be viewed in one place.
What needs improvement?
The iDRAC Telemetry for monitoring PowerEdge system data and providing analytics could be a little bit more in depth. Someone was wanting more information on the RAM and the hard drives and we couldn't retrieve this information.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a scalable solution.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support for this solution is very good and we can contact them at any time. I would rate them a ten out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. Deployment took a couple of minutes and involved five people who are system engineers.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This is an expensive solution.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-15T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Mostofa Kamal from
Simple installation, good technical support, and highly durable
What is our primary use case?
We are using Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers for many use cases but primarily in banks and multinational companies.
What is most valuable?
Our customers do not ask for any service for the Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers because they are very durable.
What needs improvement?
The solution could improve by making the warranty policy better, which is a little bit complex because our local service partner Smart Technologies has long delays. Whenever we open any case for any customer, it takes more than five days. If we could handle it by ourselves, we could have the issue solved in one day. They should work on a way to fix these delays.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers for approximately three years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers are scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Dell technical support has been good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers is reasonable compared to other solutions.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:partner
Date published: 2021-10-14T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Kiran Rasukachula from
Easy to upgrade with great security and lots of features
What is our primary use case?
We mostly use Power Servers for our R&D lab where we deploy the labs for developers and other testers to do their high-end testing, et cetera.
How has it helped my organization?
The burden on the IT team has been reduced thanks to this solution and the monitoring and other features. The deployment as and when we give access to the end-users have been easy. Overall, the amount of work that the IT team has to invest in has come down drastically.
What is most valuable?
There are a lot of features. To be specific, the amount of virtual memory that we can use and the scalability is something that I like much. If you ask me what is the best feature, I would say the scalability. I don't have to invest in the new servers when I can scale this one itself. That is something which helped us a lot.
PowerEdge is great for handling the evolving needs of high-performance workloads. I'd rate it eight out of ten.
I would rate PowerEdge’s approach to security with its signed Firmware, drip detection, and BIOS at a ten out of ten. Everything is easy to upgrade. It's easy to maintain and easy to work with.
In terms of energy consumption, it's consuming less - lesser than the previous servers.
We use PowerEdge for artificial intelligence applications. Our developers and QA use that; our developers develop the AI feature products.
Using artificial intelligence does solve problems for us in terms of using the servers for our developers.
The PowerEdge Eye Track telemetry for monitoring system data and providing analytics helps us get the job done and makes it easier in terms of monitoring.
PowerEdge has accelerated us in order to help support our demanding workloads.
What needs improvement?
The solution should give us an option to add on the new hardware features. For example, the new hardware, specifically the SoCs that are coming in, and the NB RAMs that are coming, should have that feature as well. The existing ones are okay, however, the older version that we currently use, which is two years old, doesn't have that feature.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been in the company for the last six years, and we were using the product even before that.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is very stable and serves its purpose.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is very good. We had issues with the hardware replacement that was to be done on a PowerEdge. They made sure that they stood by their four spare replacements.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
I was involved in the initial setup of this solution. It was easy.
I was using these Power servers for the last 14 years and it was transferred from the day I started working on the servers. It was always easy to set up for me and easy to train my employees. I don't do that anymore, however. My staff does it for me. However, it remains easy to set up.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I can't comment much on the licensing as it is not directly from Dell. It's our partner that we have to depend on. Pricing is competitive compared to others in the market.
What other advice do I have?
I'm not sure which model we use. it's been three years.
We do not use the cloud and new predictive analytics.
I'd advise other potential users to go for it and evaluate it with the other vendors. However, in my experience, PowerEdge stands out.
I'd rate the solution ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-17T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1852455 from
Cost-effective, reliable, and helpful management frameworks
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for compute servers. We use them as compute servers to run our virtual machines on load, mainly on VMware.
What is most valuable?
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 actually go and log into BIOS to change certain settings.
PowerEdge is good for energy consumption. PowerEdge servers are running on optimal voltage. Compared to other competitors or other brands, the power rating is great.
We have been using iDRAC for many years already. It's actually an item we need to buy. We’ve had no problems so far. We have been using it for monitoring purposes to configure SNMP and the servers.
PowerEdge analytics has 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, of course. 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, of course, we will take away analytics to save costs.
PowerEdge has 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 runs 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 just run after that.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for quite a long while. Likely, it's been more than 10 years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
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.
How are customer service and support?
Dell support is responsive. They dispatch an engineer on-site to help us within their SLA plan. They have been very good so far.
That said, we would appreciate it if the engineer came down with the parts beforehand so they can actually resolve hardware issues on the spot.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have deployed many series of PowerEdge for many years. We've 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.
How was the initial setup?
The deployment time depends on the size of the setup. So far, we haven't had any problems with the setup.
What about the implementation team?
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.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The product meets our requirements. Cost-wise, certain configurations in the PowerEdge maybe cost a bit extra. Especially the SSD drives.
The cost will increase if we go with the rack-and-stack approach.
What other advice do I have?
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.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2022-05-17T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1852674 from
Great performance, reduces unplanned production downtime, and handles high-performance workloads
How has it helped my organization?
We're having increased performance. That's one of the big reasons we went with these PowerEdge servers.
What is most valuable?
Definitely, the iDRAC that comes with the systems is great. It's allowing 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 and stability, and then also support. If and when something goes wrong hardware-wise, a quick resolution is always a wonderful thing to have.
We do not use Dell EMC's memory in our PowerEdge environment. We do use them separately.
PowerEdge rack servers have helped to reduce unplanned production downtime. Definitely, 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 right there.
What needs improvement?
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 definitely provide more peace of mind for our team and then everyone else who uses the iDRAC software as well.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using these PowerEdge servers for about two years now.
How are customer service and support?
It is good technical support.
Whenever we ask for clarification on an action plan, we do 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 good process that's currently going on right now.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
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.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
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 center locations located throughout the United States, and the performance and stability of these systems have been phenomenal.
What other advice do I have?
We did not consider public cloud services before choosing PowerEdge DRAC services, not for the type of services that we are running on them.
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.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-17T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1851948 from
Has integrated management and can handle compute- and network-intensive workloads
What is our primary use case?
We use this solution for data protection and for securing customer data using a solution from Veritas Technology and Dell's hardware.
How has it helped my organization?
The PowerEdge systems management frameworks have enabled us to progress towards full automation when it comes to managing PowerEdge. Especially on the security front, we extensively rely on the APIs provided by Dell management systems, and we do integrate it with our software.
In terms of operations, this gives a lot of flexibility. Also different customers have different choices and options, and we can enable different security modes and options for our customers using these features.
What is most valuable?
The features I've found to be most valuable are integrated management, hardware flexibility, and the latest technology that Dell brings to the table.
We deploy PowerEdge servers in a hyperconverged environment, and often, the workloads are compute- and network-intensive workloads. The PowerEdge servers are capable of taking on more workloads and offering more benefits to the customers.
We extensively rely on PowerEdge servers' security features, and we use APIs offered by Dell systems so that we can enable those security features depending on customer requirements.
iDRAC Telemetry does offer a lot of capabilities, and we expose those capabilities to our customers. We use iDRAC extensively for managing the systems, report generation, understanding firmware deviation and drift, and many other capabilities.
What needs improvement?
There needs to be more flexibility for business options.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using it for the past five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a pretty stable solution; no issues have been reported. All of the customers are pretty happy with the Dell PowerEdge Rack servers.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's scalable. The hyperconverged solution is all about scaling based on customer demand. Our software and the Dell hardware are pretty linearly scalable, which helps our customers have a predictable way of expanding to address increased demands.
We have storage and backup administrators in the data centers and enterprise world who use this product.
We definitely want to increase usage and accelerate and expand more.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is awesome. Every time we have run into some typical third party firmware issues, which may not be Dell's problem, we have always got great support from Dell. I would give them a ten out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is pretty straightforward. We haven't run into any complexities when setting up Dell systems for our end-customers.
For the deployment, one person is sufficient to handle it without any hassles.
The maintenance and management are pretty simple, and an administrator can manage hundreds of these systems efficiently.
Deployment typically takes no more than 20 to 25 minutes maximum if the customer is ready with the network and has taken care of any other environments.
We definitely want to leverage the automation capabilities in terms of deployment because the deployment times will be even less. Moving forward, that's the plan.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented it ourselves.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I don't see any issues with respect to licensing. It's power-efficient, so it's beneficial to the customers price-wise. There are no costs in addition to the standard licensing fee.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We looked at well known server vendors. The main reason we went with Dell PowerEdge servers is the stability of the product.
The predictable linear scale and the fact that most of our customers love Dell hardware were the other reasons.
Also, if we integrate and support Dell hardware, then it stands to reason that our solution will also get a wider read option.
What other advice do I have?
The biggest lesson I've learned is that with modern technology the parameters are rapidly changing. So, you have to make sure to look at all the current and future growth requirements and evaluate accordingly.
I recommend Dell PowerEdge Rack servers and rate them at ten on a scale from one to ten. Go with the latest technology, the latest server, and the firmware that's offered by Dell. Leverage all the scalability features, which are built for the next generation, that is, for hyperconverged and cloud type of deployments.
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
Date published: 2022-05-19T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
JEAN Quesada from
Fast to implement with good performance and helpful support
What is our primary use case?
We made a renovation of our infrastructure, and the problem we're solving is our performance and it is collectivity in our infrastructure too.
How has it helped my organization?
We have a full-scale infrastructure for six countries and are able to centralize it. With this kind of product, we are solving a lot of problems, or issues that we had before with regards to performance. The centralization of the platform for the company has helped immensely.
What is most valuable?
The go-to-market implementation was pretty fast. The go-to-market speed for us was pretty important at the time we had to implement that infrastructure.
In terms of the performance of the servers, I'm already pretty comfortable with that.
When it comes to PowerEdge rack servers handling the evolving needs of workloads, I have support from partners from Dell. They constantly assess for us as to the improvements and other versions of items on products. That's the way that I keep up to date with it, via my partners.
We use Dell EMC's Optane to obtain memory in the PowerEdge environment. It helped save money in that aspect, as far as adding memory capacity. We used to negotiate these kinds of platforms and renewal with our partners on a full scale. We have a lot of cost-saving with this infrastructure.
PowerEdge helped to reduce unplanned production downtime. We have an IT continuity plan that is actually based on the infrastructure we already have implemented with Dell.
What needs improvement?
They could improve the time between new versions of the product. They could move faster, or maybe offer a little bit more support with the partners.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the solution for our years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have 6,500 people across six countries using the platform.
How are customer service and support?
We have good support from Dell and good support from our partners. That said, sometimes it takes a pretty long time to get the answer from Dell. However, it's pretty cool, pretty good support that we have from those folks.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We had been using HP solutions and others as well. We changed as I had some experience with this product and we had comfort in the security that Dell gives us as a platform. The cost and the go-to-market implementation alongside the partner support are the main drivers we looked at when changing.
How was the initial setup?
I was involved in the setup of the product. It was both easy and difficult to set up. However, thanks to the partner, it was more easygoing. There were a lot of people and it was useful to have somebody help as well.
We have a pretty big platform. It took two and a half months to implement the solution. That said, for our needs, it was pretty fast. We had to deal with multiple locations and we migrated everything to just one. We centralized the entire platform.
What about the implementation team?
We had a great partner, a great planner, involved.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
For us, it makes more sense to have an on-premise platform rather than a cloud due to the cost. The cost-saving we have in the on-premise platform still is the driver.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did consider public cloud servers before choosing PowerEdge racks. We looked at servers for AWS, Azure, and others.
What other advice do I have?
I'd rate the solution ten out of ten. We are quite satisfied.
It's a good scalable product. It's a good cost-saving product too. That aspect helps us as a company. In my experience, it's a pretty good implementation too.
I'd advise new users to keep up with the timing of new deployments. That way you can take advantage of new features.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-18T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1852587 from
Easy-to-use OpenManage console, versatile, and offers good security
What is our primary use case?
We primarily use the solution for virtualization.
What is most valuable?
The versatility has been great. We have several different configurations with different networking capabilities, different capacity, throughput, and configurations. I work in a dark site in a classified environment. I can't really comment too much beyond that.
PowerEdge is great for handling the evolving needs of high-performance workloads like VDI, AI, and SAP on multi-cloud. We're very happy with their performance. We're lucky enough to also have Dell and VMware. We call them a TAM specialist on-site. If we have any problems, they respond to them quickly.
Since we are in a classified environment, we appreciate the security specifications very much. It helps us as we have to do our own assessments and those security features help us to get our paperwork done.
We use Dell's Optane Memory in our PowerEdge environment. I’m not sure if it’s saved money. I’m really not on the financial side. We have a budget, yes, and then we go and we shop for the best bang for the buck. Since we are using that feature, it does save us money. However, I can’t say how much.
We do use Dell's OpenManage console. It is easy to use this console for lifecycle management or PowerEdge servers. We use it primarily when we have a network issue or if we can't access the servers our usual way. It's very convenient as a secondary way to access it. As far as a life cycle management, that's what we use when we need to do our upgrades, firmware, and that kind of thing. It's very valuable. It’s increased our IT staff's productivity, however, I can't tell by how much.
Using PowerEdge helped to reduce unplanned production downtime by 20% to 25%.
What needs improvement?
We'd want the solution to be faster, and of course, for them to bring down the price.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've probably been using PowerEdge servers since probably 2010.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is very good to excellent. We have a dedicated Dell support, TAM, and they are very knowledgeable. We have two. If they don't know the answer and they almost always do, they'll get the answer right away. We're very satisfied with their help.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We are moving to VxRails. We are using it for virtualization, and for some file storage, and then we're going to be moving to VDI solutions as we get more VxRails that have GPU capability.
In the past, we've used HP. We've used Oracle hardware as well. Oracle has its own hard drives. Basically, they buy their servers and then put their logo on them and then they resell that. Those are probably the two biggest companies that we've used in the past.
We switched to Dell due to the cost and feature sets. We liked the feature set of the Dells, however, mostly, the operating costs and maintenance costs, contracts, and that kind of stuff were a big selling factor. A lot of the hardware that we used to have was older as well.
I've used HP servers. They have a service like Dell OpenManage called iLO. It does the same thing. You can access the servers through the network to help with firmware upgrades, that kind of stuff. The HP hardware, at the time, was more expensive for maintenance and to buy new. When we went to VxRails and PowerEdge, it was a better deal, more bang for the buck, That's why we switched.
How was the initial setup?
I was not a part of the initial setup.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I did not evaluate other servers from other vendors before choosing PowerEdge.
We did consider public cloud servers before choosing PowerEdge. We use both.
We compared latency and costs when looking at PowerEdge versus the public cloud. At the time, the public cloud looked more attractive on paper. When we did testing, the latency, throughput, and all of that stuff were comparable. However, with the Dell PowerEdge servers that we had on-premises, it was a little bit better performance as the cloud was quite a distance from where our data center is. It's comparable, however, when we looked at the overall cost of a public cloud, it was much more expensive to do a public cloud, and it was less expensive to do on-premises. Most of PowerEdge is mostly on-premises.
What other advice do I have?
The first one we ever used, or I ever used, was an R710 PowerEdge server. We're using 740s now. We also use VxRails. I know those aren't specifically PowerEdge, however, we're moving from PowerEdge servers to VxRails.
I don't really do much on the data center side of things, so I can't really comment on the power consumption. That's not my focus.
We do not use Intel Xeon Scalable processors in our PowerEdge servers.
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-17T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Brian Moreno from
Reliable with great support and good analytics
What is our primary use case?
The setup is hybrid right now. It was formerly just strictly on-premise and we used it for our file storage and for our virtual machines.
Originally, it was purchased for just strict file storage and access on-prem. However, when COVID hit, we ended up purchasing laptops for every single employee that we had. We sent them out. It was easy, having to use our new file storage device, which is no longer on-prem as they're now at home. That's why we went with a hybrid environment where we put a lot of the stuff into the cloud and backed it up on the on-prem file storage.
How has it helped my organization?
It allowed us to move some file storage stuff that we had around. It allowed us to really look into what we had and what we were using. It's setting us up for, once it becomes needed to refresh or end-of-life, looking at Apex.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable aspects include hot swapping and the elasticity as far as being able to scale. We had a bunch of stuff on an old, existing EMC. The company was unaware that they had to keep the files that they had for so long. Once we realized that, once they were meeting the seven-year mark and we could start purging some of those files, we had to scale down a little bit.
The initial purchase that we got was a little big, however, as we started adding more users and they were working from home and then they had their own drive, OneDrive, we had to expand it up a little bit. Dell was able to ship me bigger hard drives for it.
PowerEdge, when it comes to running the latest high-demand applications is good. The VMware that we had was currently almost end-of-life, so we had to upgrade it and Dell helped out with that quite a bit, putting it on our PowerEdge and actually assisting us with a lot of stuff that VMware didn’t. VMware just said, "Here. Here's your product. Good luck.” Dell was a lot more helpful. They had a lot of engineers that knew about that service that we were trying to tap into a little better.
The BIOS recovery was something we used because we had a huge power outage and a power strike when one of our air conditioners had a bad power surge run through it at our facility. Dell helped us rebuild our actual BIOS system in it, as one of the mirror arrays that we were using just wasn't being seen. We were afraid it was a hardware issue, however, it was really a BIOS issue that we couldn't see right off the jump. We’re glad Dell was there to help.
The solution's analytics helped to decrease production downtime by at least 30%. I'm in Arizona and down in Tucson we don't get that much downtime. We have a lot of battery backups, we have a generator system and this and that. However, when it does happen, the analytics of it, as far as the trends on what months my monsoon season hits and all that, it kind of kept all in the logs and stuff. It was good to go back and find out what issues they had run into before.
The system management capabilities of PowerEdge helped increase stack productivity. We've had a little bit of turnover in our system admin department, however, having the ability to go back and look through the logs and stuff and see how users ended up using their home drive, their shared files, and their encrypted files really helped out my new guys coming on board.
The solution's accelerated GPUs help support demanding workloads in our organization. We had a couple of changing workloads due to the fact that when people shifted from home, they were hitting the server from a different angle. They were coming in off a virtual private network instead of being on-prem and the system didn't blink.
I’m not sure if PowerEdge helped to reduce data processing time in our organization as we don't crunch a lot. We do have a lot of videos coming in and a lot of video editing going on, so in that way, yes, it does help.
The PowerEdge system management frameworks enable us to progress towards full automation. We knew what we were looking for when we refreshed this last model and we purchased a new server just from the analytics we got off the first one.
It helps me forecast better. We don't grow exponentially. Teachers are hard to come by, however, some will leave and some will stay. The business model's the same, yet they expect more. Now they want to do a video. They want to capture and record the videos and the Zoom meetings that they're doing, therefore, it's a little different.
What needs improvement?
It's more from the pandemic, however, just the logistics part of it could be better. Getting an actual bare-bones server was a little difficult when we ordered it in beginning. I'm still waiting on the printers that I ordered last year as well. That's the only thing I would really say and I'm sure it has to do with the pandemic.
The latency of it is what we're running into, as our teachers do a lot of video capture, video teaching, Zoom, and Teams video conferencing, and their latency is getting worse with the public domain.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution since I've been with the company - probably for the last three years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is very good. There were different options that we could have gone to. We could either have gotten smaller hard drives and/or downsized if we needed to. They knew our business model was going to change when the pandemic hit.
We have about 650 end users on this particular solution and 80% of them are teachers. The rest are administrative professionals.
Currently, we are planning to put a new server that we have in the mix online and up and running with the PowerEdge server that we have. Now, with Apex and all that coming out, we're looking to possibly pivot.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support is very good. We had to call Dell technical support when our BIOS got corrupted and they were on the spot. They escalated us to tier two within 20 minutes. It was really quick.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did previously use a different solution, however, I cannot remember what our large area network's device was.
Dell came in with a very competitive offer with the first model of storage that we got, so that's what my predecessor went to, and we kept it around.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was very straightforward. We knew exactly where we wanted to put it in our array of things and how we wanted to set it up, what the power requirements would be, where it would fit on my battery backup system and the plan for system recovery in case it had to be gracefully shut down. It was super easy.
When deploying the PowerEdge solution, we didn't get a chance to use the automated server and OS deployment features.
The deployment was scheduled for six hours and it took three.
We actually had to migrate users off of an older version that we had onto the new box that we had. The implementation strategy was all about really getting our users off the box and making sure nobody was trying to access it. After that, it was just migrating users over, setting up the new box, putting it online, and running tests.
For maintenance, normally we use a server admin, myself, and maybe one other developer that helps us with the syslogs on it. There are probably three of us altogether.
What about the implementation team?
We used an integrated reseller for the deployment. They were amazing.
We had an issue with a brownout or a power strike; our BIOS got a bit corrupted, however, it was nothing that couldn't be recovered on the fly.
What was our ROI?
We've seen an ROI. I don't have any details offhand. I know when we first purchased it, we got a pretty good deal on it and we didn't know if it would actually meet end-of-life due to the usage that we had on it. However, it outperformed our metrics.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I'd advise others to use the pro services that come along with it, that are available for purchase with it. It helped us immensely. If you were to extend the service contract and get the pro level, it costs a bit more.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did evaluate other options. When it's over a certain dollar amount, we have to go out and get at least four bids.
What other advice do I have?
I can't remember the exact version we have. We just purchased a new EMC SAN.
We do not use PowerEdge for artificial intelligence applications yet. We're looking into it. Right now, a lot of our video data capture that we do is on children, school-aged children, and children in a preschool environment. We were thinking the AI might be able to help us where the teacher might not be looking. If they had a camera in the room to capture the relevant stuff that was going on as far as what the lesson plan was about that day, it might be helpful.
I have not had a chance to use the solution's iDRAC telemetry for monitoring PowerEdge system data and providing analytics, however, we're really looking into that right now. We got the new SAN going in and we'd like to monitor it a little better.
We do not use the solution's CloudIQ for predictive analytic capabilities yet.
It is a very stable product. It's something that we used reliably for backups. It's something we use reliably for our main ser...
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-17T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Dragan Lazic from
Memory processing and storage solution that has increased staff productivity by 25%
What is our primary use case?
We specifically used the VMware and ESX host.
How has it helped my organization?
The system integration details is our favourite feature and the fact that we can maintain and control the systems remotely.
The iDRAC Telemetry for monitoring the PowerEdge system is useful. Some of our servers are not in our data centers so we are able to manage them remotely, in case of an outage or any other problem.
What is most valuable?
This solution is really reliable. The storage functionality is our favourite feature. I would rate this solution a ten out of ten when it comes to running the latest high demand applications. It is easy to work with, maintain and deploy.
Lastly, this solution has helped decrease production down time by 25%. The system management capabilities of PowerEdge has helped increase staff productivity by 25% and helped to reduce data processing time in our organization by 10%.
What needs improvement?
The data analytics for this solution could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable solution. It offers reliability and we have not had any outages. It improves with every generation.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a scalable solution. We have 200 employees making use of a full stack of applications supported by this solution.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate the support for this solution a seven out of ten. This is due to the fact that there is sometimes a shortage of parts.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. Deployment took two days. We implemented new power servers in a cluster one by one.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This solution is reasonably priced and licenses are easy to acquire.
What other advice do I have?
The PowerEdge system management frameworks has enabled our business to progress towards full automation. This has freed up time to focus on different parts of the business, rather than constantly monitoring issues.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-08T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1068876 from
Is stable and includes security features such as firmware, drift protection, and systems management
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 into iDRAC, you can look at the logs, the temperature, etc. Essentially, all 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, just 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. Once you do it once though, it becomes very easy.
What about the implementation team?
We implemented it ourselves with help from Dell's technical support.
For deployment and maintenance, you 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 or, maybe, even cheaper when we use Dell hardware. If we don't swap it out in three years and if we 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.
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:
Date published: 2022-05-08T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
Tim Villa from
Are powerful, don't break, and have great security and performance
What is our primary use case?
The ones we just bought are going to be hypervisor servers, and we have on-premises Exchange that is running on a PowerEdge server.
How has it helped my organization?
The the hands-off demand of the servers and the fact that they're not constantly a thorn in my side has been a big factor. They're running, and I don't have to worry about them. That is the most valuable part about it.
There is no downtime with these servers, and the system management capabilities of PowerEdge have helped increase staff productivity.
PowerEdge has, without a doubt, helped to reduce data processing time in our company. Every time we get a new PowerEdge server, we definitely notice an impact on, say, the SQL databases that are part of our ERP. I do have users come and tell me that they've noticed that things have sped up and that even simple file searches are faster.
What is most valuable?
Dell PowerEdge servers are powerful. They don't break, and I love that. In my career of over 30 years now, all the Dell servers we've ever used out of the box have never broken.
On top of that, when we had an air conditioning failure and I came in after a weekend, the temperature in the server room was 110 degrees. Inside the cases themselves, it was over 220 degrees. The only thing we lost was a backplane on one of the servers. This alone speaks for the durability of the Dell servers, and we've never gone away from Dell servers ever.
They are fantastic in terms of performance as well.
As for PowerEdge's approach to security, I would rate it very high. The tools provided by Dell update the BIOS and everything else, and the software is running on the server all the time. It is proactive and alerts me. It's taken a load off of my shoulders compared to how it was 20 years ago, for instance. I would have to go to their site and find out what was new. Now, I can just go to the computer or the server, and right there, it will tell me what needs to be done.
The security is pretty strong. When we use ethical hackers to hack us, the Dell servers are never the issue.
In terms of power consumption, I have no complaints at all about PowerEdge Rack servers. My server room's APC, which is a battery backup system, is a full mounted rack. It handles all the power coming from all our PowerEdge servers. We have never once had to scale it up at all in the almost 20 years that I've been working with them. It's moving technology in and out nonstop, and it shows you that these servers are fantastic. They don't really shift that much in power needs.
What needs improvement?
Dell needs to focus more on SMB's, helping us get the most out of our products. For example, at events there should be very specific SMB sessions where there are Dell technicians, engineers, and Dell executives meeting with us and finding out what we need. Dell is big on promoting the fact that they're part of our team and that they want to be our partners, and I would like to see them actually partner with us. Do it less with the big Fortune 500 companies and do a little bit more with us SMB's.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working this solution for the last 17 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
For stability, there's really no other product that I would trust.
How are customer service and support?
Dell's support, throughout the years that we've used it, is typically fantastic, but, again, because the PowerEdge servers are so durable and good, I haven't used them as much. When I've had to contact them for other issues, they've resolved the issues within within a week, if not a day or two.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is pretty straightforward. It's out-of-the-box, and I've never found a snag or anything like that in the process.
We deploy everything by hand; everything is manual.
It doesn't take that long, and we can even do it with our laptops and desktops. We do not do any ghosting or imaging, and a server usually takes me a day at the most, with me really taking my time with it and getting all the updates in.
What about the implementation team?
We do it ourselves, or we have one consultant that we use if it's something that is out of our wheelhouse.
What was our ROI?
Every time I don't have to work on something and my servers are just running without an issue, that is a return on investment for me. The fact that my coworkers and owners are never complaining to me about things being down all the time is the biggest ROI there is.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I have no issues with the pricing and licensing costs. They are fine.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I've looked at HP, and in a previous job, I've actually worked on HP's. I didn't love the HP servers. Even more so than the hardware, I couldn't stand HP's service and support. They're really bad.
When it comes to servers, Dell would be my first choice, and IBM would be my second choice.
We have one other server that is an IBM i-series server. (It used to be called AS/400.) If I were to compare it to the PowerEdge servers, there really is no comparison. It's a monster of a machine, and we have a lot more problems with that than we do with any of our Dell servers. Plus, it's finicky. The performance on it is questionable. You have to really baby it a lot more than the Dell servers, whereas the Dell servers are those that are the set-it-and-forget-it type. I work far more on issues with my applications that are running on the Dell servers than I ever do with the actual Dell servers themselves.
I would consider Dell and HP in the same area, whereas I look at IBM as being more specific. My only experience with IBM servers has to do with the AS/400 i-series Power9 line. Those are built specifically to house an ERP, whereas the Dell and HP servers are built to handle everything you need.
When it comes to the servers, I trust Dell PowerEdge Rack servers. They're who I'm going to stick with. I don't consider HP to be a realistic competitor.
What other advice do I have?
If you are comparing Dell against anyone else, just get Dell PowerEdge. It's not even a question. The servers don't break, and they don't give you issues. Your applications are going to cause enough problems for you as it is, and you don't want the hardware they're sitting upon to also be another issue. After all, the servers were 220 degrees during an air conditioning outage and still churning and not causing problems!
If I were to rate Dell PowerEdge Rack servers on a scale from one to ten, I would give them a nine.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-09T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1851828 from
Effective storage solution that has helped reduce our rack footprint and power consumption
What is our primary use case?
I use a mixture of versions of this solution including R440s and R430s. I also use FX2Ss for the blade chassis and FC630s and 640s for the actual blade servers.
We use the blade solution as a host cluster environment for virtualization of multiple servers and the standalone R440s and 430s for best practice when we don't want to necessarily complete virtualization. We use physical servers in different locations in order to have different firewall contexts, so we can push data across. We use the physical servers as simulated distant ends in a test environment out at the actual sites.
How has it helped my organization?
This solution has helped us reduce our rack footprint. It reduced our power consumption including size and weight. For example, we could increase the amount of systems we were deploying in Iraq, if we needed to.
The solution decreased the time it takes to deploy systems due to needing less hardware. When you start managing all your servers in a cluster, it increases your oversight management. Ease of management with smaller hardware footprint has equaled faster deployment.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature of this solution is the fact that it is a reliable server and does the job we implemented it to do.
What needs improvement?
We are leaning away from this particular product because Dell's VxRail solution makes you buy four nodes at a time which is not scalable. Other solutions such as Cisco offer more innovation on this front.
The switching for this solution is lagging behind other products. Cisco has built the best iOS that other solutions need to match. Dell has recently done an overhaul to allow networking switches but it still cant scale the way we need it to.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable solution.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Blade servers are not scalable anymore.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not complex but it is counterintuitive, specifically the chassis. The FX2S chassis holds up to four half widths blades and has a pre-builtin two module network card and eight ports that mirror each other.
It's the PCIe slots on the back of the chassis are hardwired and challenging to setup.
We did not use the automated server of OS deployment features. We installed the hardware and then installed the software manually. We are a dark site. Dell could be a little bit more friendly to dark site management. There's a huge customer base out there that just cannot utilize a lot of their solutions in a classified environment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing for this solution is reasonable. We pay a basic premium with a military premium on top of that.
What other advice do I have?
This solution has met my needs. We have not run with the latest versions of this solution due to security concerns.
This solution has helped me to view the health and status in our environment in a user friendly way. The TPM features have helped us a lot because, from a configuration management standpoint, there are trusted platform modules that operate consistently.
For anyone considering this solution, I would recommend looking into all the finer details to understand how it could be integrated. Ensure every facet of the solution is going to meet your needs.
I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Hybrid Cloud
Disclaimer: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
Date published: 2022-05-06T00:00:00-04:00
Rated 5 out of
5 by
reviewer1851834 from
Server storage solution used for ten years that has decreased production downtime by 60%
What is our primary use case?
We have used this solution in HPCs and other workloads. It works well for some of our large customers. We plan to use this solution for artificial intelligence applications in the future.
How has it helped my organization?
This solution has allowed us to have all of our applications and data in one place with good agility. The solution's analytics has helped to decrease production downtime by more than 60%. PowerEdge has also helped to reduce data processing and has reduced the timing for any workload.
What is most valuable?
Remote management has been one of the most valuable features. This is because it can be remotely accessed from any place.
What needs improvement?
The flexibility of using the cards could be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used this solution for ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
This is a stable solution. We have been using it for many years. New versions are sturdy and easy to deploy.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a very scalable solution.
How are customer service and support?
The support for this solution is good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is straightforward. We have only required one or two staff members for deployment and maintenance.
What was our ROI?
This is a good solution that always provides a return investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
This solution is very affordable.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated IBM and a few other solutions. We use Dell for other solutions so decided to stay with the same company.
What other advice do I have?
This is a good and reliable product which can be used for all kinds of application loads.
I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclaimer: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer:Partner
Date published: 2022-05-06T00:00:00-04:00