EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EMC EmailXtender/DiskXtender to EMC Centera EMC Commercial Solutions Group Corporate Headquarters Hopkinton, MA 01748-9103 1-508-435-1000 www.emc.com www.emc.com
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Contents About this Document... 5 Chapter 1 Solution Overview... 7 Technology solution... 8 Chapter 2 Solution Architecture... 9 Physical architecture... 10 Network architecture... 11 Microsoft Exchange Server architecture... 13 Storage architecture... 13 Building blocks... 13 Consolidate...13 Archive... 14 VMware... 14 Chapter 3 Hardware and Software Resources... 15 Hardware resources... 16 Software resources... 16 Virtual Infrastructure server...16 Appendix A Hotfixes... 19 Hotfixes... 20 EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera 3
Contents 4 EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera
About this Document This document provides an overview of the architecture of the EMC Solution for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera. This solution was developed by the EMC Commercial Solutions Group. Purpose The consolidate solution was designed as a set of performance measurements to determine the bounding point of the solution stack in terms of performance. A reasonable amount of tuning was performed in order to ensure that the performance measurements achieved were consistent with real-world, best-of-breed performance. Audience This document is intended for internal EMC personnel, partners, and customers. Scope This document describes the architecture of an EMC Solution built and tested at the EMC Commercial Solutions Validation labs in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Implementation instructions and sizing guidelines are beyond the scope of this document. For detailed information about the tests performed to validate this solution, refer to the next section. Related documents The following document, located on Powerlink, provides additional, relevant information. Access to this document is based on your login credentials. If you do not have access to the following content, contact your EMC representative: EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 CLARiiON CX3 Series iscsi - Best Practices Planning EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera 5
About this Document 6 EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera
Chapter 1 Solution Overview This chapter presents this topic: Technology solution... 8 EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera 7
Solution Overview Technology solution A consolidated Microsoft Exchange infrastructure is the first step toward meeting the challenges of managing e-mail. The Virtualized Exchange 2007 archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera for e-mail recovery solution is an integrated, low-cost, lifecycle solution that delivers availability and performance for today, scaling for tomorrow. It does this while maximizing the financial and operational benefits of Exchange and enabling rapid database recovery and restoration. The solution offers an enhanced level of archiving utilizing EMC software and hardware. The solution eliminates the need for.pst (Personal Storage) files and automates the movement of older e-mail by archiving them to lower-cost devices, and by storing years of e-mail in a single storage array. The solution offers guaranteed and verifiable authenticity of e-mail with optimized search, retrieval, and management of e-mail archives. 8 EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera
Chapter 2 Solution Architecture This chapter presents these topics: Physical architecture... 10 Network architecture... 11 Microsoft Exchange Server architecture... 13 Storage architecture... 13 Building blocks... 13 Archive... 14 VMware... 14 EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera 9
Solution Architecture Physical architecture Figure 1 shows the overall physical architecture of Virtualized Exchange 2007 Journaling and Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera. The solution has four stackable modules: consolidate, backup, archive, and protect. The solutions outlined in this reference architecture are for a proven solution of archiving that uses the following: Tested building blocks for a fundamental base Exchange 2007 mailbox server EMC EmailXtender and DiskXtender for archiving e-mail in a two-stage approach by utilizing an EMC CLARiiON CX3-20 and EMC Centera A VMware ESX 3.5 Server was used for consolidation of hardware for a low-cost solution. Although it still has the ability to home a midsize enterprise level of mailboxes, this solution will also work in physical environments requiring individual server hardware for every VMware guest. The Exchange 2007 was set up having journaling on the Hub / Cas. The Exchange 2007 server along with EmailXtender was used for archiving the journal mailbox from a RAID 10 drive to a RAID 5. For the second-stage archive, DiskXtender was used along with an EMC Centera disk library that showed compliance capabilities with the EmailXtender/DiskXtender. The EmailXtender /DiskXtender was used for mailboxes archiving in the same two-stage approach, allowing for archiving of e-mail at set date thresholds. This reduces the database footprint on the e-mail mailbox servers. Reducing the footprint allows for faster streaming backups, clones, or snaps, which in turn allows for faster recovery of e-mail databases if required. Note: Figure 1 shows the CX3-20 diagram. 10 EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera
Solution Architecture Figure 1 Physical architecture of Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera Network architecture The network architecture discussed in this reference architecture focuses on two areas: Virtualization using VMware ESX 3.5, and iscsi technology. iscsi technology is a blossoming technology allowing customers to connect to storage arrays utilizing existing Ethernet networks as an ideal fit. iscsi works best with low bandwidth, high I/O. Exchange of small I/O (a size of 8K for Exchange 2007) means iscsi can scale to tens of thousands of users simply by using GbE NICs and the Microsoft Software Initiator. Virtualization is an upcoming technology that can be used for consolidated usage of hardware along with high availability using VMware technologies within the ESX Server such as VMotion, DRS, and VMHA. EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera 11
Solution Architecture A CLARiiON CX3-20 using Microsoft iscsi Initiator on the hosts, along with EMC s PowerPath software in an interconnect SP design, allows for multiple paths and fault tolerance in the event of a SP failure. Note: Figure 2 shows the iscsi connection ports for the CX3-20. Figure 2 iscsi connection ports for CX3-20 Note: Figure 3 shows the Microsoft iscsi Initiator configuration. Figure 3 iscsi Initiator Properties 12 EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera
Solution Architecture Microsoft Exchange Server architecture Storage architecture The Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 (refer to Figure 1) represents a stand-alone configuration using Microsoft Windows 64-bit Microsoft Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition SP2, Exchange 2007 Enterprise Edition installed for messaging with PowerPath 5.0 64-bit, Microsoft iscsi 2.0.5 64-bit, and Navisphere Agent/CLI.26 64-bit installed for storage array access using iscsi. After the installation of Exchange, it is highly recommended to run the Microsoft Best Practices Analyzer. In the current setup, Microsoft Best Practices Analyzer is installed with Exchange 2007, following all recommendations for performance tuning and hotfix installation found in the Exchange Management Console (EMC). The Exchange Server has external storage assigned. The server is connected to the external storage through iscsi connections. These connections are created using Microsoft iscsi Initiator 2.0.5. Note: For instructions on the configuration and setup of the iscsi targets please refer to EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 CLARiiON CX3 Series iscsi - Best Practices Planning An EMC CLARiiON CX3-20 provides external storage to the Exchange Server. The Exchange message stores and logs are accessed through the assigned ports logged in through the Microsoft iscsi Initiator. Service processor failover of LUNs is available through PowerPath 5.0. The storage architecture is based on a new design utilizing building blocks. This design builds upon itself as customers grow and require additional space and fault tolerance. The building blocks guarantee performance and minimize design and operations complexity in increments of four-disk RAID 10 building blocks, with a 0.42 user I/O profile and maximum mailbox size of 270 MB. RAID 10 supports high fault tolerance and performance levels with the least amount of disks and the maximum number of users. Thorough testing proves that the design approach using building blocks provides exceptional performance. Building blocks Consolidate The building blocks 1 design is set up using four Exchange storage groups, one database per storage group. For the databases, a four-drive (300 GB/15,000 rpm FC) RAID1_0 RAID group will be created, and four LUNs of 120 GB will be created within each of the newly-created RAID groups. The RAID group is created for the log file LUNs in a four-drive (300 GB/15,000 rpm FC) RAID1_0 RAID group and four LUNs of 12 GB will be created within the newly-created RAID group. EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera 13
Solution Architecture The databases will be placed onto the corresponding LUNs (drive or mount point) created on the 120 GB LUNs. Log files will be placed onto the corresponding 12 GB LUN (drive or mount point) along with a LUN created to home the VMware datastores that hold the boot file (VMDK) for the Exchange 2007 operating system. Note: Figure 4 shows the drive layout. Figure 4 Drive layout Archive The archive configuration was set up using RAID 1_0 2+2 for quorum, journal database, and log files for EmailXtender. The same RAID configuration was used for the Container, Index files, MSGCenter, and MSMQ SQL files. RAID 10 was chosen for fast access during archiving and fault tolerance. EmailXtender was configured in a MSCS configuration as a best practice to ensure that, in the event of hardware failure or maintenance, users can have access to the archived e-mail. VMware VMware guests were configured on the CLARiiON in a RAID 5 configuration for fast reads during boot and to maximize space for the VMDK (boot) files for the reference architecture guests described in this solution. 14 EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera
Chapter 3 Hardware and Software Resources This chapter presents these topics: Hardware resources... 16 Software resources... 16 EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera 15
Hardware and Software Resources Hardware resources Table 1 shows the hardware resources used in this solution: Table 1 Hardware resources Quantity Hardware Configuration 1 CLARiiON CX3-10 FLARE.26 1 DAE3P 15 300 GB 15k rpm FC drives 1 Dell 1950 4 dual-core EM64T Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 7 GenuineIntel ~2328 MHz 16 GB RAM 2 Dell 6850 4 dual-core EM64T Family 6 Model 15 Stepping 7 GenuineIntel ~2328 MHz 64 GB RAM 4 Intel PRO/1000 MT Network connection 2 Broadcom BCM5708C NetXtreme II GigE (NDIS VBD client) 2 Dell 5324 Gigabit Ethernet Switch 2 VLANs 1 Production 2 iscsi 1 EMC Centera Software resources Table 2 shows the software resources used in this solution: Table 2 Software resources Software Version Count VMware ESX 3.5 build 59330 2 Microsoft Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition x64 SP2 6 Microsoft iscsi Initiator 2.0.5 3 EMC PowerPath 5.0 3 Navisphere Agent/CLI.26 3 EmailXtender 4.8.1 2 DiskXtender 6.2 2 LoadGen 1 Microsoft Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition X32 2 Virtual Infrastructure server Table 3 shows the details of the Virtual Infrastructure server used in this solution: 16 EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera
Hardware and Software Resources Table 3 Virtual Infrastructure server Software Version Purpose Microsoft Windows 2003 Enterprise 32-bit 5.2.3790 Service Pack 2 Operating system (OS) build 3790 Microsoft.Net 2.0 SP1 Needed for Virtual Infrastructure server Microsoft SQL Desktop Engine Part of Virtual Infrastructure server to store information about the virtual infrastructure VMware Virtual Infrastructure server 2.5 To manage the ESX Server centrally VMware Virtual Infrastructure client 2.5 To access Virtual Infrastructure server features EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera 17
Hardware and Software Resources 18 EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera
Appendix A Hotfixes This appendix presents this topic: Hotfixes..... 20 EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera 19
Hotfixes Hotfixes [20]: Q147222 [21]: SP1 - SP [22]: KB925398_WMP64 [23]: KB914961 - Service Pack [24]: KB926139- Update [25]: KB921503 - Update [26]: KB924667-v2 - Update [27]: KB925902 - Update [28]: KB926122 - Update [29]: KB927891 - Update [30]: KB929123 - Update [31]: KB930178 - Update [32]: KB932596 - Update [33]: KB933729 - Update [34]: KB935839 - Update [35]: KB935840 - Update [36]: KB936021 - Update [37]: KB936357 - Update [38]: KB936782 - Update [39]: KB938127 - Update [40]: KB939653 - Update [41]: KB943460 - Update 20 EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2007 Virtualized Exchange 2007 Archiving with EX-DX to EMC Centera