Dell EMC PowerVault ME4 Series and Microsoft Exchange Server 2016 Abstract This document provides best practices for Microsoft® Exchange Server 2016 when using a Dell EMC™ PowerVault™ ME4 Series storage array.
Revisions Revisions Date Description September 2018 Initial release Acknowledgements Author: Damon Zaylskie The information in this publication is provided “as is.” Dell Inc. makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the information in this publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Use, copying, and distribution of any software described in this publication requires an applicable software license.
Table of contents Table of contents Revisions.............................................................................................................................................................................2 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................................................2 Executive summary..................................................................................................
Executive summary Executive summary This document provides best practices for Microsoft® Exchange Server 2016 when using a Dell EMC™ PowerVault™ ME4 Series storage array. It does not include sizing, performance, or design guidance, but provides information about the features and benefits of using ME4 Series arrays for Exchange data storage.
Predeployment 1 Predeployment 1.1 Storage virtualization options for ME4 Series Dell EMC PowerVault ME4 Series arrays support a variety of options for storage configurations and can improve the performance and availability of storage for Microsoft Exchange Server. These options are detailed in this paper to help you understand the benefits of each. ME4 Series storage also supports several connectivity options which are discussed in this paper but not from a performance perspective.
Predeployment Other new or enhanced features introduced with Exchange Server 2016 that are notable for storage considerations include the following: In-place archiving, retention, and eDiscovery: • • Public folder support for In-Place eDiscovery and In-Place Hold Compliance Search, available only in Exchange Management Shell (EMS) Improved performance and scalability: • • Search architecture redesigned as asynchronous Improved search scalability from 5,000 mailboxes to 10,000 mailboxes, or unlimited in E
Configuration 2 Configuration 2.1 Disk layout Microsoft provides the following storage configuration best practices for Exchange 2016 in the TechNet blog, The Exchange 2016 Preferred Architecture. RAID is often used to both improve the performance characteristics of individual disks (by striping data across several disks) as well as to provide protection from individual disk failures.
Configuration • • • Disk sparing is performed at the array level. This limits contact and access requirements for servers. All drives are hot-pluggable and will automatically spare and rebuild in case of replacement or failure. Spares are shared among disk groups to reduce the number of spares required. ME4 Series arrays support SAS, Fibre Channel, and iSCSI in the same platform. Based on requirements, one or more of these may be used to access the same volumes.
Configuration At a minimum, the database and log volumes should be balanced across the pools (see Table 3). Each pool should contain a relatively equal number of log and database copies. This will help balance the I/O across the storage. Using the built-in performance monitoring will provide insight into how the storage traffic is balanced. Balanced pool placement of database and log volumes 2.
Configuration 2.7 Partition type GUID Partition Table (GPT) is recommended for Exchange 2016 volumes. Volumes larger than 2 TB require that GPT is used to access the entire size of the volume. Master Boot Record (MBR) is the default partition type and is also supported, but the partition size is limited to less than 2 TB. 2.8 Mailbox server sizing considerations Understanding user patterns is an important part of determining sizing parameters for any Exchange Server implementation.
Configuration Exchange Load Generator is a simulation tool used to measure the impact of MAPI, OWA, ActiveSync, IMAP, POP, and SMTP clients on Exchange 2013-2016 servers. Find more information on the page, Exchange Load Generator 2013 (64 bit). The Exchange Server Role Requirements Calculator, a spreadsheet-based calculator, is very helpful in designing the best environment (both storage and servers) based on criteria including: • • • • • • 2.8.
Configuration 2.9.2 Online database scanning (checksumming) The checksumming process can run in two different modes on the active database copies: Default option: This has checksumming run in the background 24x7. This option is intended for most databases which can require time periods to complete a checksum. Exchange scans the full database no more than once a day and will generate an alert if it does not finish scanning within seven days.
Exchange performance monitoring 3 Exchange performance monitoring Performance Monitor is a helpful tool for monitoring the overall operations of Exchange server. A number of specific counters are good indicators of performance bottlenecks. The performance counters listed in Table 4 are helpful in monitoring and troubleshooting. The thresholds provided are based on standard industry guidance.
Troubleshooting 4 Troubleshooting 4.1 ME4 Series performance monitoring The ME4 Series arrays have an interactive performance monitor built-in. It can display data throughput at any level, from a single disk to a controller. Disk groups and pools can be monitored as well. This tool can be used to show volume performance and throughput for troubleshooting or monitoring purposes. Capturing a baseline can help determine changes in disk usage over time. ME4 Series performance monitoring 4.
Troubleshooting Set the MaxSize and MaxAge parameters appropriately to the capacity available on the disk. Exchange will delete the data as soon as it reaches the first of those two values. Microsoft Support recommends leaving these settings at the default to collect the appropriate logging required for detailed troubleshooting operations.
Recovery databases 5 Recovery databases A recovery database is an Exchange Server 2013/2016 feature that replaces the Recovery Storage Group (RSG) found in previous versions of Exchange Server. A recovery database is a special kind of mailbox database that allows mounting a restored mailbox database and extracting data from the restored database as part of a recovery operation. The Restore-Mailbox cmdlet can be used to extract data from a recovery database.
Disaster recovery with database copies and DAGs 6 Disaster recovery with database copies and DAGs In the event of a hardware or software failure, multiple database copies in a DAG enable high availability with fast failover and no data loss. This eliminates end-user downtime and lost productivity that make up a significant cost of recovering from a past point-in-time backup to disk or tape. DAGs can be extended to multiple sites and can provide resilience against data-center failures as well.
Technical support and resources A Technical support and resources Dell.com/support is focused on meeting customer needs with proven services and support. Storage Solutions Technical Documents provide expertise that helps to ensure customer success on Dell Storage platforms. A.1 Related documentation The following ME4 Series publications and additional resources are available at Dell.com/support.
