The EOL and EOSL dates for the Dell PowerEdge R740 and R740xd differ from model to model. Publicly available data does not exist for every model.

Dell brought the PowerEdge R740 and the R740xd variant with its larger storage capacity to market in 2017 as part of the 14th server generation (14G). Both models are 2U rack servers with two sockets for Intel Xeon Scalable processors and, according to Dell’s technical specification, they run under the same regulatory model, E38S. In many data centres they still work today as virtualisation hosts, database servers or storage servers.

Anyone planning continued operation soon runs into a problem: for the standalone servers, Dell publishes no fixed EOL or EOSL dates. A Dell moderator writes in the Dell Community that there are no documented dates. Five to seven years of support is usual, depending on how long spare parts remain available. The actual end of support depends on the service tag of the individual server. Official manufacturer data exists only for appliance variants of the R740xd that Dell sold in the PowerFlex context.

The following table summarises all the dates. Where Dell gives no date, the figures in brackets are those that third party maintenance providers and resellers derive from their own stock.

Full overview: EOL and EOSL for the R740 and R740xd

Table: EOL and EOSL for the various models in the Dell PowerEdge R740 and R740xd range.

PowerEdge R740

The R740 is the standard model in the range. It takes up to 16 drives in the 2.5-inch format or eight 3.5-inch drives, and manages up to 3 TB of memory across 24 DIMM slots. Many companies use it as a virtualisation host or for GPU workloads.

The end of sales was in the fourth quarter of 2023. According to our data, the EOSL is 31 August 2028.

Table: EOL and EOSL for the Dell PowerEdge R740

PowerEdge R740xd

The R740xd has the same mainboard as the R740, but offers considerably more room for drives. According to Dell’s specification for the R740xd, up to 24 drives in the 2.5-inch format fit at the front. With middle and rear drive cages, the system reaches up to 32 drives, up to 24 of them NVMe SSDs. That is why the R740xd often sits as a node in software-defined storage environments such as vSAN or PowerFlex.

For the standalone R740xd server, the situation on EOL and EOSL is similar to the R740. Dell states no official date. The best guide to the latest possible end of support is 31 August 2028, which Dell has officially confirmed for the PowerFlex variants of the R740xd.

Table: EOL and EOSL for the Dell PowerEdge R740xd

R740xd appliances with official Dell data

For R740xd nodes that Dell sold as part of converged systems, official manufacturer information on EOL and EOSL is available. The Dell knowledge base article on PowerFlex gives, for both the PowerFlex Appliance R740XD and the VxFlex Ready Node R740xd, 30 September 2019 as the market launch, 7 August 2023 as the EOL and 31 August 2028 as the end of service support (EOSS). The same nodes were also used in VxRack FLEX systems.

The variant for Azure Stack Hub is a special case. Here the EOSL falls on 31 January 2030.

Table: Dell PowerEdge R740xd appliances with official EOL and EOSL dates

How to check the end of support for your Dell server

You will find the binding EOL and EOSL date for your device on the Dell support site. Enter the seven-character service tag there. It appears on the label on the chassis, on the pull-out information tab at the front, and in the iDRAC dashboard. Dell will then show when the warranty or ProSupport contract for that specific server expires. If the date has already passed, Dell will send neither spare parts nor an on-site technician under the contract.

Continued operation after EOSL

Even after EOSL, an R740 technically keeps running just as before. What falls away, however, is spare parts shipment and technician call-outs by Dell, and in the long run no new BIOS and iDRAC updates will appear. It is worth taking a close look at the firmware level: new security vulnerabilities in the CPU microcode or in the baseboard management controller will no longer be closed once support has ended. Servers with an outdated patch level therefore belong in a separate network segment.

The hardware itself can be secured through a maintenance contract with Hardwarewartung.com, which covers spare parts and on-site service for Dell systems without manufacturer support as well. This is possible for seven to ten years after the EOL. For the R740 and R740xd, that means operation into the 2030s, as long as your workloads manage without PCIe Gen 4 bandwidth and with a maximum of 3 TB of RAM per server.

FAQ: common questions about the EOL of the R740 and R740xd

Has Dell published an official EOL date for the R740?

No. For the standalone R740 and R740xd models there is no information from the manufacturer. Dell states official dates only for the PowerFlex Appliance R740XD and the VxFlex Ready Node R740xd: EOL on 7 August 2023, end of service support on 31 August 2028.

Do the R740 and R740xd have different model numbers?

No. Both servers run under the regulatory model E38S with the type E38S001. They can be told apart by the product designation tied to the service tag and by the drive configuration.

How long can an R740 be operated with third party maintenance?

For Dell servers, seven to ten years after the EOL. With an end of sales in 2023, that works out to 2030 or 2033.

As a Dell EMC partner with a strong specialisation in the Dell PowerEdge server market, we can offer maintenance packages on considerably better terms than traditional system integrators or your Dell channel partner. With more than 300 experts at over 40 service locations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland alone, we deliver our service right across Europe.