new exchnage server

dade

folks

we're planning on replacing our existing exchange server and placing the new one off site.

Basically I'm looking for recommended hardware set ups. Gonna stay on exchange 2003 on 2003 server. we have two exchange stores on our existing server and 3 regional offices.

our cab is restricted to a 2u server, the server in mind is


Quad Core Intel® Xeon® E5430, 2X6MB
8GB RAM (2*4GB)
Redundant fans,
redundant power supply - Energy Smart,
redundant NIC


I wanted to set her up with 73 GB Raid 1 (2 * 73GB disks) array for the OS and then wanted 600 GB in RAID 10 (6 * 300GB disks). But the chassis limited to 8*2.5 inch drives but their maximum capacity is 146GB. or 6*3.5 inch drives which are available in 300GB/450GB/500GB/750GB/1TB.

so what config would you guys recommend?
I could stay with the RAID 1 for the OS then RAID 5 (4*300 GB) for the data store but I want to try keep performance.

is there a benefit for having the OS on a separate array? or could i put in 8 *146GB drives set up in RAID 10 that should give me 292 GB. Could i partition this with say 40 GB for the OS and 250 GB for exchange?

tech

How many users have you got
have big are is each store?

is this a HP DL 380 g5?

are you using Windows 2003 Standard server is so 4 gig ram is max OS will use
you need enterprise for 8 gig ram

disk available

72 gig in 10k or 15k
146gig k in 10k
you could use the following

2 x 72 for OS is preferred RAID 1
3 x 146 for Database ( Raid 5)
2 x 146 for Transactions logs RAID 1
1 x 146 Global Hotspare for all Arrays ?

just a thought

dade

We where looking at a Dell Poweredge 2950 III.

the management.edb is about 21GB
the standard users.ebd is about 22GB

Company size at the minute it's about 100 users, but it did at one point rise to about 200 users.

Would 4GB of ram be sufficient or would i be bettee going to 2003 enterprise?

Done and dusted

Just my two cents:

Do you have VLK for windows products? If you have one for Windows Server 2008 I would go for that version.

dade

yeah we do, but no one has ever used it and our training budget is non existent at the minute. I've basically inherited the exchange server (on an old Compaq DL 380 G2 i think) and have very little experience on exchange so wanted to keep whats left for some training on that.

ntlbell

have a read through this

tech

you must be using Exchange Enterprise? as standard only supports 1 store ?

ZygOte

i know this might sound odd, but there is no point in having more than 4Gig of ram in an exchange server. exchange is 32bit and cannot address any more than 4. having more than 4gig in a exchange server is even officially not recommended by microsoft and can have adverse effects on performance.

also E2k3 is not supported on windows 2008

tech

are you using Windows 2003 Standard server is so 4 gig ram is max OS will use
you need enterprise for 8 gig ram


al ready mentioned!! hehe

Dade whats the latest on the Exchanger server ?

ZygOte

tech wrote: »

are you using Windows 2003 Standard server is so 4 gig ram is max OS will use
you need enterprise for 8 gig ram


al ready mentioned!! hehe

Dade whats the latest on the Exchanger server ?

regardless of standard or enterprise windows , you should not use more than 4gigs of ram in an exchange server.

tech

ok sorry,

ZygOte

tech wrote: »

ok sorry,

sorry that last post looked a little sharp! no offence intended