Chris Lazarides 
Cyprus
Member since
2/22/2007
Platinum Membership
Posts: 59
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| 1/10/2008 02:32 PM |
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I am definately deploying Exchange Server 2007 in my environment and i would like to know one or two things.
1) Do I need a Server with lots of disk space because i do not want to have to create PSTS for all users.
2) What Hardware RAID should I use on this member Server for redundancy?
3) How does licensing work with this Exchange Server? Do you need a CAL for every user accessing this Windows 2003 Server or a CAL for every Exchange user license?
4) I heard that 2007 is very command line. Knowing Exchange 2003 well have a lot of things changed with regards to administration and can GUI Administration do the same thing in 2007?
5) Are public folders not used in Exchange 200? If yes how do i manage contacts centrally for my organization?
5) Does Exchange 2007 have different Editions? Reason I ask is that I would like an unlimited storage size for all mailboxes.Which edition caters for this?
Please help me decide.
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william warren
United States
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| 1/10/2008 03:50 PM |
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1. Here is a comparison chart between different exchange version. it also lists the features of the 2007 editions.
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/evaluation/features/ex_compare.mspx
2. Keep in mind that once you go above 2 gig of mail storage outlook's(all versions including 2k7) performance tanks in cached mode..if you want to run those kinds of mailboxes i would not allow outlook to run in cached mode.
http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/12/17/447750.aspx
3. Hardware requirements. I'll give you a baseline..but we really need to know how many user you are going to have before we can intelligently give you hardware recommendations.
here's MS's Advice: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996719.aspx
On the cpu 800 mhz is a joke. go with dual core 1.6 ghz or faster for intel 2.0 ghz or faster for AMD. It only goes up from there.
4. RAID. Use a hardware raid controller. I would recommend Areca or 3ware. I would go with RAID 1 if you are going sata and RAID 5 if you decide to go SAS. If you are going to run in cached mode you can get away with 10k rpm sata disks. If you are not going to run cached mode then you need 10k SAS or faster. Get the biggest disks you can afford.
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Chris Lazarides
Cyprus
Member since
2/22/2007
Platinum Membership
Posts: 59
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| 1/11/2008 12:33 PM |
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Thank you for your help Warren.
We are 40 users and each one of them gets 100's of email a day, that is why we need a system that will be in place for a further 5 years. Half of the users travel with their laptops and they are clueless when they want to find their older emails archived into psts!
We will also be buying an entry level W2K3 Server which will serve as the domain controller and Exchange 2007 will be on a seperate Server for reliability.
What Antivirus solution do you recommend for this setup which includes a further 2 Windows 2000 Server (1 Accounting Oracle Server and another as a File Server) and most importantly the protection of tour new Exchange 2007 Server.
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william warren
United States
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12/8/2005
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Posts: 601
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| 1/11/2008 12:44 PM |
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wow. First of all i would enforce the 2 gig limit or your outlook performance is going to tank..mainly because of our mobile users so you are going to have to use cached mode for them. This means you can go with SATA drives. I would use the 10k SATA drives with a 3ware raid card. The 10k SATA drives top out at 150 gigs so you'll probably need at least 3 in a raid 5 configuration. to start. You are going to need at least 4 gigabytes of ram.
If you are planning for 5 years keep in mind server 2003 go out of mainstream support(it drops to security updates only) two years after the release of server 2008(which is nearing rc1).
As far as A/v...i recommend Trend micros solutions. Symantec and mcafee both are now resource hogs and badly bloated. |
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Chris Lazarides
Cyprus
Member since
2/22/2007
Platinum Membership
Posts: 59
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| 2/07/2008 12:42 PM |
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The IT company that is selling the Exchange Server 2007 hardware recommends an HP Server with 2x146GB disks for boot partition in a RAID1 array. Then they recommend the Exchange files and data to be spread out throught 6 disks of 146GB each in a RAID5 configuration. I really feel that they are trying to sell as many disks possible as we are only 40 users and if i give a limit of 2gb for each mailbox, does that not come up to 80GB of space needed and give and take another 30GB for Exchange files etc. exagerrated. Why should I have 876GB of disk space (one disk going to parity) available in the raid5 configuration if I am going to have up to 120GB of disk space? Isn't it better to go for 72GB Hardrives for the boot partition and the Exchange partition disks? Please help me find the logic in this as we are not going to grow to more than 50 users never mind eing taken for a ride.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
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william warren
United States
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| 2/07/2008 01:36 PM |
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That's overkill. However from my very limited testing of exchange 2007 and other research i have to partially agree. Here is what i suggest:
Two 146 drives in raid 1 for boot..at least 10k rpm
Three 146 gig drives in Raid 5. I would make these 15k as the majority of your disk i/o is going to be here.
You have to account for codebase creep as security and bugfix patches are installed. You also have to leave room for the system and exchange logs. I would also go with a minimum of 4 gigs of ram..probably closer to 6 or 8. Hopefully you are going either quad core or really smoking dual core. I don't know the other specs of the machine.
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Chris Lazarides
Cyprus
Member since
2/22/2007
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Posts: 59
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| 2/07/2008 02:39 PM |
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Thanks William,
The SERVER Specs are:
HP ML350G5 E5404 SFF, 8GB RAM, 2X146GB RAID1, 4X146GB 10K SAS SFF 2.5'', E200I/128. Is this 64-Bit hardware and quad core?
Do I need 15k disks for the RAID5 partition and will four disks be ok?
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william warren
United States
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Posts: 601
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| 2/07/2008 03:09 PM |
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| Are you under space constraints? The system they are quoting is a small form factor with reduced form factor drives. Those add up to extra $$. If you can handle a regular tower i have a different suggestion. |
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william warren
United States
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Posts: 601
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| 2/07/2008 03:22 PM |
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If i am reading this right you do have 64 bit and it loks like quad core..
Here's my suggestion to save a few $$$
Gor for a larger tower like an ml150 or the larger ml350
use 3.5" SAS drives
Get at least one Intel Xeon e5404(that's a 2.0 ghz quad 64 bit)
8 gigs of ram is good
stick with 15k drives for the exchange array as you are going to need the speed there. However three will be good..UNLESS they are wanting hte 4th to be a hot or cold spare then stick with it.
Your total disk space will be 146 gig for the os and 290(raid 5 with three disks) for exchange. I am not doing to consultation directly so if they can give you good reason for the 4th disk besides a spare go with the 4th disk. |
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Chris Lazarides
Cyprus
Member since
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Posts: 59
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| 2/07/2008 04:03 PM |
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Thanks for your Advice William,
I am not sure yet what they need the fourth disk (altogether 6 with Mirrored Boot) but if one disk (of the 3) on RAID 5 should go wouldn't that break the RAID 5? Maybe the extra one is a hot spare? They have also recommended the E5310 which is SA and Quad Core but don't if it is Xeon, is this ok? thank you for your recommendation for Exchange 2007 Server.
One more question,for my domain controller (32 bit) they also recommended to me a ML350 with RAID 1 and 2 x146GB SFF disks. Shouldn't I go for the ML150G3with 2x72GB disks as it will only be a DC? What recommendation can you give for the DC.
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william warren
United States
Member since
12/8/2005
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Posts: 601
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| 2/07/2008 04:26 PM |
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No, raid 5 can sustain one disk failure and keep running. That goes for if you have 3 or 30 disks in raid 5..it can sustain one disk failure. For Raid5 keep the number of spindles as low as you can and meet your capacity needs. The higher the number of active spindles the higher the risk of a disk failure.
Make sure you have a good backup system in place as well as raid only protects against a disk failure not against data loss or deletion.
For the dc I would go 64 bit..32 bit is really on it's way out. If you are going to be using a 64 bit Exchange server I just don't see the reason to run 32 bit with 95% or more of all cpu's shipped being 64 bit.
Let me edit this..i am going to be posting the sbs reccomendations from me next.
P.S. on the exchange machine I am assuming you are specifying hot plug drives right?
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william warren
United States
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| 2/07/2008 04:41 PM |
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for the sbs system i am going to initially reccommend:
HP ML150G3
Xeon 5110
4 gigs of ram
2x 150 gig 10k rpm sata drives. If you need more storage go with a pair of larger 7.2k disks.
Use the windows internal software raid(depending on compatibility with your backup solution).
If you place a priority on hot plug for this machine then int he hp you will have to go with the smart array controller and 2x147 gig sas drive at the minimum. You might want to go 4 147 gigs in raid 5 or if it is less expensive go with 2 300 gig sas drives. Make sure you talk with your consultant about your storage needs in terms of file storage.
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Chris Lazarides
Cyprus
Member since
2/22/2007
Platinum Membership
Posts: 59
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| 2/07/2008 05:19 PM |
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Yes I have VERITAS Backup Exec 11 for Windows Server which will run from another Server and I will have the backup for Exchange agent. I don’t know about the Hot Plug Drives, the specs are given as is in the previous post. The DC will be Windows 2003 Server not SBS.
I don’t need much storage with the DC and won’t be doing any File and Print Services.
Do I really need 4GB RAM or can I get away with 2GB? I prefer to get hardware RAID as it is more reliable.
The DC they recommended are either of the ones shown below after they tried to sell me another ML350G5 saying there is not much difference in price. Please see below and recommend as per my requirements:
Option 1
ML150G3 QUAD CORE 5310, 1.6GHZ,2X160GB SATA HOT PLUG
Option 2
ML150G3 QUAD CORE XEON 5310, 1.6GHZ/8MB, 2X512MB RAM, 2X160GB SATA HOT PLUG, E200i/128MB
Is the second option with a hardware RAID controller (E200i/128MB)?
I don’t need a lot of storage for this Server but need the disks mirrored RAID 1.
Any further advice will be appreciated.
Thanks
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william warren
United States
Member since
12/8/2005
Registered Users
Posts: 601
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| 2/07/2008 09:55 PM |
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HP ML150G3
Xeon 5110
4 gigs of ram
2x 150 gig 10k rpm sata drives. Since it is only a dc you don't need hardware raid you can use the internal windows raid. The machine i am quoting is going to be significantly less expensive and last throught the entire lifecycle of the server. 2 gigabytes should be fine.. |
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