Exchange Performance/Sizing Question

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jwilmer - 20 Sep 2006 19:15 GMT

We have about 150 new users coming into our Exchange org. The total email
size is about 800gig. From what i understand, the size of the store comes
from the number of emails not attachments etc.

These new users are very demanding and will really complain if there are
performance problems.

The IT Dir ordered a Dell 2860 dual proc / 4 gig mem. We mirror the
partitioned internal drives that have OS, page and Exch Binaries. The DB and
Logs are on separate SAN drive(s).

I am concerned that this single server will not perform 100% and I will have
complaints. Our normal setup limits the total DB sizes to about 300-400 gig
with about 200-250 users on a similar box. Our performance is good.

MY Question:
What are the key factors in determining performance and sizing of an Exch
2003 SP2 server. Store size, total # of emails on the server, total # of
users supported, processor, memory etc.

Thanks for your help!!

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Bharat Suneja [MVP] - 20 Sep 2006 19:37 GMT

CPU, Memory, but primarily Storage. Your storage should provide enough disk
IO for the number of users you have.

You need to determine what is the volume of email traffic per user - number
of messages sent/received, et al - per day - which determines their usage
profile and the disk IOPS required per user.

Then you go about sizing storage so it provides adequate disk IOPS.

Optimizing Storage for Exchange Server 2003
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/exchange/guides/StoragePerformance/
fa839f7d-f876-42c4-a335-338a1eb04d89.mspx

Performance and Scalability Guide for Exchange Server 2003
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/exchange/guides/E2k3Perf_ScalGuide/
10be5826-45b2-48e7-8450-4ec8dd63beb0.mspx

Calculate your server size
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/exchange/guides/E2k3Perf_ScalGuide/
ccec1c70-a3df-404a-93e0-b74077e3d013.mspx

If starting afresh, there are also tools like Loadsim and JetStress that let
you validate your server performance and storage design and figure out what
kind of load it can take before you deploy, but that doesn't seem like an
option in your case since you're already in production.

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Bharat Suneja
MVP - Exchange
www.zenprise.com
NEW blog location:
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> We have about 150 new users coming into our Exchange org. The total email
> size is about 800gig. From what i understand, the size of the store comes
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
>
> Thanks for your help!!

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John Fullbright [MVP] - 21 Sep 2006 02:52 GMT

The bottleneck will be storage. SAN by itself brings no particular
advantage in terms of performance unless the LUNs are sized properly. Take
a look at "Optimizing Storage for Exchange Server 2003", determine your IOPS
requirement, then ensure that when the SAN LUNs are provisioned, they will
meet this requirement.

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