Howard Chow
Microsoft MVP

What Will We Cover?
• An overview of storage in Exchange 2007
• Designing storage for Exchange 2007
• Backup and recovery
• Monitoring Exchange Server storage

Helpful Experience
IT administration experience with
Microsoft Exchange Server 2003,
Exchange 2000 Server, or Exchange
Server 5.5
Level 200

Agenda
• Introducing Exchange 2007 Storage
• Implementing Storage for Server Roles
• Designing Storage
• Providing Guidance on Backup
• Monitoring and Testing Storage

64-Bit Imperative
64-bit
Exchange 2007
• More memory
• Larger cache
32-bit
Exchange 2003
Exchange 2000
Exchange 5.5
Exchange 4.0

Exchange 2007 Storage Design Goals
• Reduce cost and complexity
• Support large, low-cost mailboxes
• Increase storage options
• Increase reliability

Exchange 2003 vs. Exchange 2007
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
1.035
0.274
IOPS/User
0.625
0.078
Reads/User
Exchange 2003 Exchange 2007
0.41
0.196
Writes/User

Exchange 2007 Storage Features
• Supports large, low-cost mailboxes
• Provides features that allow you to use these larger mailboxes
• Enables regulatory conformance
• Supports fast recovery

High Availability at Lower Cost
• Log shipping
• Reduce the need to restore
• Reduce impact of backup operations
• Dumpster interval increased
Clustered Continuous Replication Local Continuous Replication

Local Continuous Replication
• TCO reduced
• Improved fault tolerance
• Simplified backup operations
• Enhanced storage recovery

Clustered Continuous Replication
• No single point of failure
• Simplified storage requirements
• Mailbox server can span two data centers
• Simplified installation
• Offload backup workload

Single Copy Clustering
• Shared storage architecture
• Resource DLL
• Groups
• Resources

Recoverability Summary

Agenda
• Introducing Exchange 2007 Storage
• Implementing Storage for Server Roles
• Designing Storage
• Providing Guidance on Backup
• Monitoring and Testing Storage

Exchange 2007 Server Roles
Exchange 2007
Edge Server
Exchange 2007
Server
Perimeter Intranet

Exchange 2007 Enterprise Topology
Other
SMTP
Servers
R
N
E
T
N
I
T
E
Enterprise Network
Edge
Transport
Routing Hygiene
Applications:
OWA, Outlook Anywhere
Protocols:
EAS, POP, IMAP,
Outlook Anywhere
Programmability:
Web services, Web parts
Client Access
Hub
Transport
Routing Policy
Mailbox
Mailbox
Public
Folders
PBX or
VoIP
Unified
Messaging
Voice
Messaging
Fax

Hub and Edge Transport Server
• ESE database (mail.que file)
• Transaction log files
• Protocol logging and message tracking logs
• Content conversion
• Paging
• Agents

Hub and Edge Transport Server Example
Configuration
2 GB RAM
2 x Dual Core
2Ghz CPU
2 Disk RAID1
Operating System
Paging File
Tmp
2 Disk RAID1
Transaction Logs
ESE Database

Mailbox Server
• Ese database (.edb)
• Transaction logs
• Content indexing
• Paging

Mailbox Server Continued
• Content conversion
• Database maintenance
• Backup and restore

Mailbox Server Example Configuration
2 Disk RAID1
Operating System
Paging File
6 Disk RAID1
Transaction Logs
12 GB RAM
4 x Dual core
2Ghz CPU
20 Disk RAID10
ESE Databases

Client Access Server
• Protocol logging
• Content conversion
• Paging

Client Access Server Example
Configuration
2 GB RAM
2 x dual core
2Ghz CPU
2 Disk RAID1
Operating System
Paging File
Tmp
Transaction Logs

Unified Messaging Server
• Call handling
• Protocol logging
• Paging

Unified Messaging Server Example
Configuration
2 GB RAM
2 x dual core
2Ghz CPU
2 Disk RAID1
Operating System
Paging File
Tmp
Transaction Logs

Agenda
• Introducing Exchange 2007 Storage
• Implementing Storage for Server Roles
• Designing Storage
• Providing Guidance on Backup
• Monitoring and Testing Storage

Design Basics
• Understand performance implications of storage solutions
• Understand requirements of CCR
• Utilize fast recovery
• Balance I/O performance and maintenance needs

Capacity
• Plan mailbox quotas
• Choose between Outlook online and cached modes
• Think about log size

Storage Configurations: Direct
Attached Storage
Exchange 2003
Public Network
Direct
Attached
Storage

Storage Configurations: Storage
Area Network
Switch
Storage
Area
Network
Exchange 2003
Public Network

Storage Configurations: iSCSI
IP SAN
Exchange 2003
Private Gigabit Network
Public Network
Exchange 2003
Public Network
IP SAN

RAID Type
• RAID 5
• RAID 6
• RAID 10

Align Partition
• Use diskpart to align disk
• Align for 20% improvement in throughput
• Utilize cache better

Optimize Throughput
• Default is 4 KB
• Recommended
• Backup speed

Agenda
• Introducing Exchange 2007 Storage
• Implementing Storage for Server Roles
• Designing Storage
• Providing Guidance on Backup
• Monitoring and Testing Storage

Backup Options
• LCR/CCR – first line of defense
• Primary database
• Replicated database

Large Mailboxes Require New
Methodology
• Use VSS to backup replica
• Perform weekly full and daily incremental backups
• Stagger databases for full backups

Agenda
• Introducing Exchange 2007 Storage
• Implementing Storage for Server Roles
• Designing Storage
• Providing Guidance on Backup
• Monitoring and Testing Storage

Keys to Successful Storage Testing
• Understand what you are looking for
• Test using real-world conditions
• Test with large databases
• Determine if storage meets throughput requirements
• Determine maximum throughput

How to Determine Your IOPS
• What is IOPS
• How to calculate IOPS

Jetstress
• Simulates Exchange disk I/O
• Can perform disk performance test
• Can also perform disk subsystem stress test

Monitoring Exchange Storage
• Catch hardware-failure warning conditions
• Catch storage performance issues
• Remember, I/O changes over time

Monitoring Tools
• Network Monitor
• Performance Monitor, Logs, and Alerts
• Event Viewer
• MOM – Microsoft Operations Manager

Monitoring Tools Continued
• Exchange Optimizing Storage White Paper http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/exchange/20
03/library/optimizestorage.mspx
• EXPTA – Performance Troubleshooting
Analyzer
• EXBPA – Best Practice Analyzer Tool

Key Counters
• RPC average latency: avg 50ms, max 100ms
• Disk latency: avg 20ms, max 40ms
• Log writes - <10ms
• Database reads - <20ms
• Database writes - <20ms
• Database page faults should be <1

Session Summary
• An overview of storage in Exchange 2007
• Designing storage for Exchange 2007
• Backup and recovery
• Monitoring Exchange Server storage