Hello...we have been experiencing issues with our current hosted Exchange 2003 environment. My Manager would like to look at bringing this back in house. We are a small business with approx. 100 users. We would look at using Exchange 2007 SP1 - Standard edition. I was wondering what the optimal disk configuration would be for the server? Currently our mail boxes range from 10MB - 50MB - not overally large.If we decide to go this route I was thinking of starting from scratch. I don't want to get into a huge migration project, so wondering if it makes sense to go to existing users desktop and create a .pst file for backup purposes. When the new platform is configured and runningI can then add this data file to their Outlook profile.ZT

You dont need to migrate , neither hosting company will allow you to migrate. what they wil do is , pull out every thing in PST and will give to you.Now for 100 users, the set up depends upon what kind of redundency you will be looking for. probabaly , when you guys were hosted it was 50 MB but once your exchange in inhouse, you will giving thme atleast 2 GM of MBX size (this is a typical end user bahaviour).looka t this sizing calculator http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/01/15/432207.aspxwhich will help you in sizing the HWRaj

Planning the back end disk storage design. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb738147.aspxMark Morowczynski|MCT| MCSE 2003:Messaging, Security|MCITP:ES, SA,EA|MCTS:Windows Mobile Admin|Security+|http://almostdailytech.com

Thank you for the quick responses, and links. I was also looking for the basic OS disk configurations. Would these be good?C:\ OS - RAID1D:\ Database (Mailboxes)- RAID5E:\ Logs - RAID1ZT

It all depends on your IOPS. Are these all going to be on the same physical spindles, just separate partitions? You really want to separate your IO types. Mark Morowczynski|MCT| MCSE 2003:Messaging, Security|MCITP:ES, SA,EA|MCTS:Windows Mobile Admin|Security+|http://almostdailytech.com

No, they should be on separate spindles. All disk will be local. Right now we have2 servers set aside. One will be for Exchange, and the other will reside in our Perimeter/DMZ and have the Edge transport role installed.Exchange server:2*72 HDD (RAID1) used for:150Gb (RAID5) - separate disksC:\ = 20Gb (system partition)D:\ = 150Gb (Database)E:\ = 50Gb (Logs)Sorry for being a total newbie...I just want to make sure I get it right the first time.ZT

RAID 5 doesn't offer good performance but it might be ok for you. Try running JetStress against it to make sure you are getting the IOPS you need. Mark Morowczynski|MCT| MCSE 2003:Messaging, Security|MCITP:ES, SA,EA|MCTS:Windows Mobile Admin|Security+|http://almostdailytech.com

The sizing calculator in its current form should show RAID5 as an option for Exchange 2007.Oliver

Guy's...thanx for all the suggestions. I am going to give the calculator a try. Remember currently we have a very small Exchange 2003 environment hosted. We have about 327 users, but their quota's can range from 10-100MB - very small. I just started with the organization and was brought on board more for networking & directory services, but somehow this little "side" project has been thrown on my lap. Prior to this I had very little experience with Exchange.If RAID5 doesn't offer the best performence would you suggest creating a RAID1 volume for the database & mailbox locations?ZT

I'd check out what the calculator comes up with first. It'll probably give you both RAID5 and RAID10 options and also an overall recommendation. Also, I don't know if you're using things like Blackberry devices but don't forget to take into consideration the additonal IOPS of these devices.Neil Hobson, Exchange MVP

I'd check out what the calculator comes up with first. It'll probably give you both RAID5 and RAID10 options and also an overall recommendation. Also, I don't know if you're using things like Blackberry devices but don't forget to take into consideration the additonal IOPS of these devices. Neil Hobson, Exchange MVP Agreed,With a 50/50 contention for BES enabled users with Activesync, I up IOPS by 13%The calculator will allow you to add %'s to it for increased IO predictions.Oliver

This new server is going to be administered by someone in our very small IT department, but the physical HW is going to be hosted offsite. I had a meeting with the Hosting company & their so called Exchange guru. I asked them if they could us the calculator to help determine our server needs. Their guru had never seen anything like this before which is starting to make me feel nervous. He said this was overkill for what our environment would need. All storage will utilize local disks.Our current environment has 328 mailboxes and these are very small. They range from 10Mb - 200Mb. Of course when I move to the new hardware I would like to bump the quotas up a bit, and take a look at future growth. I plan on installing BPS (Blackberry Professional Software) which is geared for SMB's and is installeddirectly on the Exchange box. As far as Blackberry users go we only have 8 currently.ZT

Hey Zoe,Whilst technically 300 or so users with small mailbox footprints (10-100mb) will fit on certain Servers within their local disk (he's not wrong there!), I would look at potential mailbox growth and also rectify any doubts you have with the company/consultant.I don't know who you used for previous Hosted Exchange setup, but I have worked with Hosted Exchange since Exchange 2000.. (boy were those days fun..)The current company I work for http://www.cobweb.com can offer you Exchange 2007 Hosted with 2GB mailboxes as standard plus Activesync and features like BES, Sharepoint, CRM4 (and i'm working on OCS R2 and Exchange 2010).We may or may not fit your current business case, but I would recommend you consider us.As per this blog here: http://www.exchange2007.com/2009/05/over-2000-seats-im-over-here-and-im.htmlI as a current Exchange MVP am willing to work with Customers FoC to look at Exchange in the Cloud. This is for 2000 seats but i'm willing to work with your company through Cobweb if you are interested - even if it doesn't amount to anything, it would be a potential useful excercise for both parties.Let me know what you think, and then mention this post, my blog and contact our Sales Team.if you continue to pursue your in house option, continue posting here and I and others will continue to offer help and insight.Have a great day!Oliver Oliver Moazzezi | Exchange MVP, MCSA:M, BA (Hons) Anim | http://www.exchange2007.com http://www.exchange2010.com http://www.cobweb.com |

Oliver...thanx for the post. Seeing how our company is located in Canada we couldn't host anything out of country due to the sensativity of the kind ofinforamtion we handle. I think a hosted environment would be best, but there are a number of factors. I havebeen with the company a little over a month. The person that was responsible for the Exchange 2007 environment was let go in July. He was suppoed to have it up and running last March thus that is why he is no longer with us. The hardware and licenses have already been purchased, and we have been paying a host fee for the equipment since March. Now this has been thrown on my lap - gotta love these shrinking IT shops:The server I listed above will now be used for our Edge Transpot server which will reside in our DMZ (C - 20Gb RAID1, D - 150 RAID5). I was able to source the following server which will have the following roles installed (Hub Transport, Client access, and Mailbox server)CPU: Intel Quad-coreRAM: 4GbDisk: All disk is local2 X 72Gb (RAID1)1.79Tb (RAID5)C - 20Gb (RAID1)D - This is where I am stuck - do I allocate all of the 1.79 here or should I break it up? Is it best to keep it RAID5 or go RAID10E - 50Gb (RAID1)Our current hosted environment is Exchange 2003 and uses POP3 which we want to get away from, because we have zero functinality.ZT

Hi Zoe,Have you seen the following TechNet article on sizing Transport Servers?"Transport Server Storage Design" http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb738141.aspxThis will help you plan your IO by sizing your mail flow correctly.Also read: "Planning for Edge Transport Servers" http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996562.aspxwhich will go into detail about processor and memory options (you may have to drill into the links).I think you will find your base CPU is fine - and your ram will more than likely be so also - however ram is dependant on mail flow.Using POP exclusively in an Exchange environment takes away all the goodness Exchange has to offer :-)From the fact you are just having 2 Servers (one Edge in DMZ and a multi-role Exchange 2007 Server), I presume you are not looking into High Availability?Have a good week,OliverOliver Moazzezi | Exchange MVP, MCSA:M, BA (Hons) Anim | http://www.exchange2007.com | http://www.exchange2010.com | http://www.cobweb.com |