Which Brand for Servers - HP, IBM, Dell or other

[flyinghaggis]

If you were looking to buy new server equipment which would be your preferred brand and why ?

[FN-GM]

Not used IBM. We currently have both Dell and HP server. The support for them has been far better with Dell than HP. For example Dell support people are from a country where the first language is English. I have also found HP will stop support for new operating systems quicker than Dell. We are currently replacing all servers with Dell blades.

[flyinghaggis]

We're currently using Dell blade servers and they seem to work fairly well. From past experience I would say that I preferred some of the HP management software which came with them and that the build quality of the HP kit was better but I don't know if this has changed so wanted to get some opinions from other folks on the forum before we decide.

[Jonah]

All our servers here are Dell (with the exception of the Xserve) - because that is what was put in as part of BSF and we carried on because the support is second to none, and we've not had a single component fail in anything for 5 years now.

[TomCollins]

XServe 2006 and Mac Mini Server 2011

[teejay]

Mainly Dell but with two HP servers, switch the HP servers off and the whole rack of Dell kit emits just a gentle hum, turn the two HP servers on and you need ear defenders to go in there from the fan noise. HP support reckon this is normal:rolleyes:

We had one hard drive fail on the Dell kit, phoned support and a replacement was with us in under 2 hours. HP, phone them up, claim server is out of warranty, have to dig out purchase invoice with the extended warranty (yes this had been registered with them), phone them back, get passed from pillar to post, engineer comes out next day without a replacement part, wait over a week for replacement part and engineer, wrong part, wait 3 more days and they finally fix it.

[mister_z]

Used to be Dell, now moved to 100% HP. Excellent Linux support, good hardware, breaks less often that Dell has for us. YMMV Edited June 14, 2013 by mister_z
misspell

[Lmsgpm2012]

HP. Used them for all my servers for the last 5 years and never had any problems with them at all.

[MatthewL]

Used Dell for 8 years when I was in the NHS, prefer HP stuff, quality I find is a little better.

 

Dell Support is great from the many times I have dealt with them, mainly for PC side of things.

 

We were forced down the Dell route so never saw HP on our network, have got 2 tower and a micro server sat here at home, best bit of kit and really sturdy.

[seawolf]

Dell have great support, and their lower end stuff is fantastic value. HP support is not always so great, but quality seems to be higher from what I've seen.

 

I personally favour Sun gear though. At one point I had two 14 year old Netra servers still chugging alone doing full time duty in a test environment (software dev testing). We rebooted them at least once a year just because, but never had a single issue with them. The quality control is just higher on them. The x4170s I have in my rack now were partially assembled and tested in the USA before they shipped to Australia, which may be one reason for this.

 

Are they more expensive than Dell or HP? Definitely if you are looking at the low-end. Sun used to make great value x86 servers than Dell or HP when they made the 2200 series before Oracle bought them, but Now, they don't make an entry level low-end server, which is a shame. If you need x86 servers for virtualisation or serious work though the Sun servers such as the X3-2s are fantastic and reliable.

[localzuk]

We stick with HP here. Support has been good, quality is excellent and their management tools are superb.

 

Used Dell at the school I was in last and it was fine. Support was good. Although, pricing for new stuff was higher with Dell than HP.

 

Just a note - Sun no longer exist, it's all Oracle now and I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole based on the support issues some on here have.

[seawolf]

Just a note - Sun no longer exist, it's all Oracle now and I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole based on the support issues some on here have.

 

Oracle still uses the Sun name for hardware and many of the former Sun Microsystems employees still work for the division. So, that's kind of like saying Jeep or Porsche don't exist anymore because Daimler or Volkswagen bought them.

 

Anyway, I've seen a few instances of bad support here for HP hardware and overall good support for Sun (Oracle), so it looks like depending on where you are in the world any particular company's support may vary. Of course, I have very rarely needed to call support for Sun (Oracle) kit over the past 20 years...

[mrbios]

HP for all of ours here, same for switches, supports always been great for all aspects, albeit i've only needed support 3 times in 7 years: one for a power surge that killed a switch, one for an issue with a new core switch and one for a hardware issue on a server..... the latter had a replacement part sent out and with us within 12 hours of opening a ticket.