How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

Henrik Walther Blog » Blog Archive » How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

Mon, 13 Mar 2006 23:07:43 GMT

PingBack from http://blogs.msexchange.org/walther/2006/03/13/how-to-choose-server-hardware-for-exchange-2003-that-can-be-effectively-re-utilized-for-exchange-12/

re: How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

Sherco 290 — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 13:52:32 GMT

Great article, with some very useful 'plain english' writing that my purchasing manager can understand!

re: How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

Matthew L — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 15:05:45 GMT

Great Article. I would like to see some idea of what you think is needed by those medium sized companies who are too big for SBS but not large enough to be able to afford to split off their exchange roles (i.e. the single server users) Right now I work for a company with ~100 Email users, with little to no growth expected in the forseeable future as far as email users are concerned. We have a Dell 2850 with dual 3.0GHz EM64T Xeons and 2 GBs of Ram all of which is more than sufficient for Exch2k3. I would think that it should be fine for Exchange 12 as well. What do you all think?

Pony up some $$$ for Exchange 12 at datapoohbah.com

Pony up some $$$ for Exchange 12 at datapoohbah.com — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 17:00:05 GMT

PingBack from http://www.datapoohbah.com/tech/?p=286

existing E2003 upgrade requirements for MEM

sonicbum — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 17:46:30 GMT

So if you have 2003 mailbox servers in production with 4GB of RAM, running 2500 a server (1500 concurrent), and your server has EM64T... would you need to add more RAM after moving to 64bit? I guess what I'm asking is: can/will more mailbox data be cached then in 2003 so that you would need to buy more RAM to support the current number of mailboxes?

re: How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

ExchangeGuy — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 18:14:32 GMT

This scenario is for an in-place upgrade of the Exchange server, but in my experience, most customers use the safer road of adding a server and move mailboxes to this new server...

So my Question is, if you buy these hardware today, install Windows 2003 32Bit with Exchange 2003, would you then not need to reinstall or upgrade (if possible) to a 64bit OS before putting Exchange 12 on it ( Production )...

Thanks !!!

re: How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

Brian.Kronberg — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 19:51:21 GMT

I cannot see how you are suggesting quad, dual-core processors and 8 GB of RAM and not even mentioning the data storage architecture. Are you assuming everyone has a dual HBA connected SAN dedicated to Exchange?

I would like to see a followup blog entry with realistic storage suggestions. Especially since I have heard that recommended quotas for E12 have gone from 250 MB mailboxes to 1-2 GB.

re: How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

Exchange — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 20:01:49 GMT

ExchangeGuy:

You are correct, installing a 32 bit OS today will allow you to use the hardware until you are ready for 64 bit and Exchange 12. However, there is no in-place upgrade path from 32 bit to 64 bit Windows (just think of driver nightmares this could cause) - so you will essentially have to "swing" the 32 bit Exchange by moving mailboxes somewhere else for example, and then reinstalling the OS on the machine and installing Exchange 12.

We will definitely have guidance around this!

Brian:

You are reading our minds :) Indeed, such blog post is in works and it will not be too long now before you see it!

How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

John Westworth — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 20:13:19 GMT

Great article by the Exchange Team&nbsp;on choosing server hardware now that you can reused for Exchange...

Joseph Scott’s Blog » Blog Archive » Exchange 12 Requires x64 Edition Of Windows Server 2003

Tue, 14 Mar 2006 22:46:09 GMT

PingBack from http://joseph.randomnetworks.com/archives/2006/03/14/exchange-12-requires-x64-edition-of-windows-server-2003/

re: How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

Brian Spooner — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 16:05:18 GMT

What's the general consensus out there regarding Exchange performance between AMD64 Opterons and EMT64 Xeons?

All our servers run with Intel procs, but Opteron looks really attractive. I'm wondering if Exchange 12 would be a good reason to buy an Opteron box vs. EMT64 though.

Don't forget hard drives

Ryan — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 18:16:14 GMT

Don't make the mistake I did. Exchange 2003 will run on SATA drives, but not well. I setup a SATA RAID5 array and couldn't figure out why the thing was so slow.

Exchange 2003 needs SCSI drives, u320 and at least 10k, and nothing less or prepare for slowdowns.

Also, in a RAID5, you'll need 5 disks to get the same performance as 2 disks in a mirror. From the research I did, the fastest solution is a RAID 10 solution. Do a search on Google for Exchange 2003 and IOPS for more details (IOPS = I/O Per Second).

http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Optimize-Exchange-2003-Performance-Part1.html gives great detail about this.

re: How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

mattgos — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 19:13:05 GMT

Matthew L. Your hardware config will be fine for E12 (both in terms of performance/scale for your mailbox count and in terms of supportability).

re: How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

mattgos — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 19:49:15 GMT

ExchangeGuy, you will have to intall Windows 2003 x64 Edition to install E12. Your current Windows 2003 32-bit Edition will not support E12. You will have to move mailboxes off the server, flatten it, install Windows 2003 x64 Edition, install E12; then move the mailboxes back.

re: How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

mattgos — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 19:53:22 GMT

Ryan & Bryan Kronberg; the storage piece is important enough to have its own blog entry (being written up now). I chose to keep storage out of this blog to maintain focus. Stay tuned.

Great article talking about Exchange 12 and 64 bit hardware recomendations

Canadian IT Professionals — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 23:07:20 GMT

I have been on the road with the Build &lsquo;06 tour lately and have been back logged in writing blog...

Headlines....

Brian Tucker — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 06:59:51 GMT

Today's top 10 IT stories as I see IT.
10. Matt Gossage (Microsoft) wrote a great article on Exchange...

re: How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

Per Hansen — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 15:09:46 GMT

Just to be certain - it will definately NOT be possible to run Exchange 12 or x64 versions of Windows Server 2003 on a
Intel P4 with Hyperthreading Technology (that has EM64T)???

re: How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

Exchange — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 21:48:14 GMT

Per,

If you have a P4 system that supports 64 bit - that WILL run both x64 Windows and Exchange 12. Both Intel and AMD have tools that tell you what technologies your CPUs support, we mentioned them in the earlier related blog post:

http://blogs.technet.com/exchange/archive/2005/11/18/414796.aspx

Ant Drewery » Blog Archive » Exchange 12 First Installation

Ant Drewery » Blog Archive » Exchange 12 First Installation — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 17:59:32 GMT

PingBack from http://www.drewery.net/blog/2006/03/17/exchange-12-first-installation/

Weekend Reading

subject: exchange — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 17:26:50 GMT

Microsoft renames ActiveSync to Windows Mobile Device Center
Life Without Exchange
Microsoft's Exchange...

Hardware food for thought....

E-Bitz - SBS MVP the Official Blog of the SBS "Diva" — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 17:33:43 GMT

We keep saying that we need to future proof hardware and ensure we buy 64 bit worthy hardware.... but...

re: How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

Yuhong Bao — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 07:44:59 GMT

What do you think about the Dual-Core Xeon LV, which is 32-bit only? Were you surprised?

How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

Welcome to Flaphead.com @ Home — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 14:56:17 GMT

Get you wallet out as if you are buying new hardware for Exchange, you should make sure it&rsquo;s future...

re: How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

Perry Bryden — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 00:38:52 GMT

This is a very helpful article.

One additional question that comes up related to server hardware is related to servers with more than 4 CPU sockets. My company uses servers with between 8 and 32 CPU sockets for MS SQL Server and has achieved a very good return on investment in these configurations.

Will Exchange 12 support Servers with 8 or more CPU sockets? Does your team test configurations like this or does the server vendor need to perform this type of testing?

Thank you.

re: How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

mattgos — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 22:09:42 GMT

Perry, Exchange is being developed with the intention to optimize the 1-4 socket hardware configurations (E12 server roles placed on separate servers). 8+ socket platforms will most likely be supported (if listed on WHCL), but the product is not being optimized specifically for these architectures. Generally, our server partners test/validate Exchange on 8+ socket configurations where it makes business sense to do so.

cheers
mg

Doug Blankenship » Exchange 12…First Impressions…Prerequisites

Doug Blankenship » Exchange 12…First Impressions…Prerequisites — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 23:21:26 GMT

PingBack from https://blankenship.wordpress.com/2006/03/30/exchange-12first-impressionsprerequisites/

re: How to choose server hardware for Exchange 2003 that can be effectively re-utilized for Exchange 12?

hoang — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 07:39:05 GMT

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