Sizing Guide Exchange Server 2003 - Fujitsu

White Paper Sizing Guide Exchange Server 2003 Version: 4.2, July 2006
PRIMERGY Econel 100
The mono processor system
PRIMERGY Econel 100 offers
configuration options with up to
8 GB of main memory and four
internal SATA hard disks. The
optional 1-channel SCSI
controller is intended to control
the backup media.
As the entry-level model of the
Disks internal max. 4, 80 – 500 GB, 7200 rpm
PRIMERGY server family, the
Disks external none
PRIMERGY Econel 100 is
suited for small companies in
Onboard LAN 2 × 10/100/1000 Mbit
the small business segment,
where it provides data security for smalller budgets. It should be noted that if deployed in such a scenario the
Active Directory must in the majority of cases also be accommodated in the system. However, in the small
business environment the Active Directory is not critical as regards hard disk access, since there should not
be many changes and read access is temporarily buffered by Exchange. The only prerequisite here should
be somewhat more main memory. If used in the branch offices of larger companies the data volume arising
as a result of replication of the Active Directory depends on the design of the Active Directory. This not only
influences the necessary network bandwidth between branch office and head office, but also the hardware of
the Active Directory server in the branch office.
If a Pentium 4 631, memory of 1 GB and four 80 GB hard disks are used, the configuration depicted below
could in connection with Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 [L16] be an entry-level solution for up to 75
users. Since a regular data backup is essential for the smooth operation of an Exchange Server (see chapter
Backup), a DDS Gen5 or VXA-2 tape drive is recommended.
In connection with the standard products of Windows Server 2003 and Exchange Server 2003 instead of
Small Business Server 2003 there is no limitation to 75 users, and a PRIMERGY Econel 100 with the four
internal SATA hard disks, a Pentium D 820 and main memory of 2 GB can manage up to 200 Exchange
users. In this larger configuration a VXA-2 drive should be used for the backup, because with DDS Gen5 the
tape capacity may not be adequate to perform a complete backup without having to change the tape.
Although hard disks with a capacity up to 500 GB are available for the PRIMERGY Econel 100, you should
not come up with the idea of replacing the four small-capacity hard disks with two large-capacity hard disks.
Four hard disks are consciously used here to be able to archive the Exchange databases and log files onto
different physical hard disks. This is for performance and security reasons, see chapter Disk subsystem.
The picture opposite shows a small configuration for
an Exchange server with Active Directory. The four
disks are connected directly to the internal onboard
SATA controller. The RAID 1 functionality can be
realized either with the disk mirroring of Windows
Server 2003 or with the onboard 4-port SATA
controller with HW-RAID. Provided the system is
secured by UPS, the disk caches should be activated
to improve performance.
Processors 1 × Pentium D 820, 2.8 GHz, 2×1 MB SLC
or
1 × Pentium 4 631/641, 3.0/3.2 GHz, 2 MB
SLC or
1 × Celeron D 346, 3.06 GHz, 256 kB SLC
Memory max. 8 GB
Onboard RAID SATA
PCI SCSI controller 1 × 1-channel
SCSI channels 1 (backup device)
RAID 1
OS, AD,
Logs, Queues
RAID 1
Store
Two mirrored system drives are set up. One partition is created for each system drive. The first system drive
is used for the operating system, Active Directory, log files and queues, the second one is solely for the
Exchange databases (store).
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