0

I'm in the process of rebuilding an exchange environment. The previous admins did not setup the storage or systems properly. Without going into too much detail, there is no storage in the environment, and due to other issues , we have decided to build a new server and migrate users to the server.

I have 1,500 users and 1.4TB database, using Exchange 2007 Enterprise. My new Exchange setup will have 14 DB total.

The new server storage setup will be:

(2) 600GB SAS drives in a RAID 1 (600 GB space total available). I will have one partition for the OS, and one for the transaction logs.

(10) 600GB SAS drives in a RAID 10. This will be for the DB, for a total of 3TB storage.

Extra: I have four remaining SAS slots to add more storage in the future if needed.

My question: Would you recommend a different setup, or does this setup sound optimal? Any suggestions? Thanks in advance and best regards

Jake A
  • 454
  • 1
  • 10
  • 22
  • After using the tools posted by @longneck, my configuration was the following: 16 drives total, (2) SAS drives for the OS, RAID 1, (4) SAS drives for TL, RAID 10 and (10) SAS drives RAID 10 for the DB. This provided enough space for DB. I have a DAS ready for expansion of the DBs if needed. – Jake A Feb 03 '13 at 17:15

1 Answers1

0

Generally RAID10 is overkill for Exchange databases because where you really need performance is the transaction logs. My gut feeling is to RAID10 the drives for the transaction logs and RAID50 for the databases.

However, don't go by the advice of some random internet guy. Use something like Dell's Exchange 2007 sizing tool or the HP Storage Planning Calculator for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007.

longneck
  • 22,793
  • 4
  • 50
  • 84