Hello,
I am doing a fresh and new install of Exchange 2003 for my organization. I
was wondering, should I create more than one partition on the RAID 5 array?
One for the OS and one for the exchange file store (C: for the OS, E: for
Exchange). Assuming I should, how do I specify to store the data in the E
drive during the install process. Also, are there any other best practices I
should look out for? Thank you in advance!
Geoff
On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 15:13:09 -0800, "Geoff Doyon"
<GeoffDoyon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
Have you only got a single hardware raid5 array?Hello,
I am doing a fresh and new install of Exchange 2003 for my organization. I
was wondering, should I create more than one partition on the RAID 5 array?
One for the OS and one for the exchange file store (C: for the OS, E: for
Exchange). Assuming I should, how do I specify to store the data in the E
drive during the install process. Also, are there any other best practices I
should look out for? Thank you in advance!
Geoff
If you can you need a RAID1 for the OS, a RAID1 for the Exchange
Binaries, another RAID1 for the Exchange logs and another RAID1 or a
RAID5 for the stores.
In actual fact the stores are best on a RAID0+1 (which is a couple of
disks in a RAID0 and then that RAID0 is mirrored, not a RAID10 which
is a mirror of mirrors either simplexed or duplexed)
How many disks have you got and how big are those disks?
Hello Mark,
Thank you for the quick response! We currently have 3 36.4 SCSIs, but I can
swing for 1 or 2 more if needed. Thank you again for your help!
Geoff
"Mark Arnold [MVP]" wrote:
On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 15:13:09 -0800, "Geoff Doyon"
GeoffDoyon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
Hello,
I am doing a fresh and new install of Exchange 2003 for my organization. I
was wondering, should I create more than one partition on the RAID 5 array?
One for the OS and one for the exchange file store (C: for the OS, E: for
Exchange). Assuming I should, how do I specify to store the data in the E
drive during the install process. Also, are there any other best practices I
should look out for? Thank you in advance!
Geoff
Have you only got a single hardware raid5 array?
If you can you need a RAID1 for the OS, a RAID1 for the Exchange
Binaries, another RAID1 for the Exchange logs and another RAID1 or a
RAID5 for the stores.
In actual fact the stores are best on a RAID0+1 (which is a couple of
disks in a RAID0 and then that RAID0 is mirrored, not a RAID10 which
is a mirror of mirrors either simplexed or duplexed)
How many disks have you got and how big are those disks?
Hello Mark,
And thank you for the quick response. The server has 3 36.4 gig SCSI
drives, I can swing for another if needed. THANK YOU!!!
"Mark Arnold [MVP]" wrote:
On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 15:13:09 -0800, "Geoff Doyon"
GeoffDoyon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
Hello,
I am doing a fresh and new install of Exchange 2003 for my organization. I
was wondering, should I create more than one partition on the RAID 5 array?
One for the OS and one for the exchange file store (C: for the OS, E: for
Exchange). Assuming I should, how do I specify to store the data in the E
drive during the install process. Also, are there any other best practices I
should look out for? Thank you in advance!
Geoff
Have you only got a single hardware raid5 array?
If you can you need a RAID1 for the OS, a RAID1 for the Exchange
Binaries, another RAID1 for the Exchange logs and another RAID1 or a
RAID5 for the stores.
In actual fact the stores are best on a RAID0+1 (which is a couple of
disks in a RAID0 and then that RAID0 is mirrored, not a RAID10 which
is a mirror of mirrors either simplexed or duplexed)
How many disks have you got and how big are those disks?
On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 07:25:03 -0800, "Geoff Doyon"
<GeoffDoyon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
That's a nasty one.Hello Mark,
And thank you for the quick response. The server has 3 36.4 gig SCSI
drives, I can swing for another if needed. THANK YOU!!!
OK, so I would suggets this:
Two by 36GB disks in a RAID1 and split that out into three 10GB
partitions. One for OS, one for Exchange and one for Exchange Logs.
Then:
Option 1:
Get one more disk and use a 36GB RAID1 mirror for the stores. That
will let you have 16GB of Mailboxes and 16GB of Public folders but you
won't be able to do any offline defrags or repairs with ESEUTIL.
Option 2:
Get both of those disks you can swing and then make a three disk RAID5
set which will give you 72GB available. That will let you have the
stores you need and then the space to repair (you should have free
space equivalent to 110% of the largest store, in your case 16GB plus
1GB equals a minimum of 17GB free space at all times.)
Comment on Option1 and the first part of the creation:
You could get this space by changing the first mirror to two
partitions instead of three and co housing the Exchange and the
Exchange logs. That would give 20GB of space and you could run an
eseutil since the Exchange and a freshly backed up Exchange wouldn't
take up 3GB.
I'll say one thing about performance. The disk configuration is
perfectly fine and lots of people will do exactly this without ever
seeing a problem. If you begin hammering it then you might hit a
bottleneck. Because you only have a finite number of disks then you
will just have to live with a less than gold plated solution.
All the best.
Thank you Mark!
"Mark Arnold [MVP]" wrote:
On Fri, 21 Jan 2005 07:25:03 -0800, "Geoff Doyon"
GeoffDoyon@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
Hello Mark,
And thank you for the quick response. The server has 3 36.4 gig SCSI
drives, I can swing for another if needed. THANK YOU!!!
That's a nasty one.
OK, so I would suggets this:
Two by 36GB disks in a RAID1 and split that out into three 10GB
partitions. One for OS, one for Exchange and one for Exchange Logs.
Then:
Option 1:
Get one more disk and use a 36GB RAID1 mirror for the stores. That
will let you have 16GB of Mailboxes and 16GB of Public folders but you
won't be able to do any offline defrags or repairs with ESEUTIL.
Option 2:
Get both of those disks you can swing and then make a three disk RAID5
set which will give you 72GB available. That will let you have the
stores you need and then the space to repair (you should have free
space equivalent to 110% of the largest store, in your case 16GB plus
1GB equals a minimum of 17GB free space at all times.)
Comment on Option1 and the first part of the creation:
You could get this space by changing the first mirror to two
partitions instead of three and co housing the Exchange and the
Exchange logs. That would give 20GB of space and you could run an
eseutil since the Exchange and a freshly backed up Exchange wouldn't
take up 3GB.
I'll say one thing about performance. The disk configuration is
perfectly fine and lots of people will do exactly this without ever
seeing a problem. If you begin hammering it then you might hit a
bottleneck. Because you only have a finite number of disks then you
will just have to live with a less than gold plated solution.
All the best.
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