My Exchange 2007 hardware choices....

What a great time I had with this phase of my Exchange 2007 project. I studied, and studied, and studied the guidance from the online TechNet Exchange documentation as well as from the Exchange team blog. Here's a couple of the particularly helpful articles...

• Exchange 2007 Processor and Memory Recommendations


• Configuring, Validating and Monitoring Your Exchange 2007 Storage


• Understanding Exchange Server 2007 I/O Improvements from 64-bit


• Exchange Server 2007 High Availability Storage Considerations

I finally came up with the following as my hardware solution for this installation:

1. Mailbox server - I will be setting up a CCR Mailbox using locally attached SAS storage. I went with 2 HP DL585 (quad processor AMD Opteron 8220SE 2.8GHz; 32GB RAM) with 3 MSA 70 SAS storage enclosures per server with 25 2.5" SAS drives per enclosure. Two of the enclosures on each server are filled with 146GB 10K drives which will be the database LUNs, and the other is filled with 72GB 15K drives which will be the Log LUNs.


2. Hub Transport server - For this role I chose the HP ML370R (dual processor Intel 5150; 16GB RAM) with 16 internal 2.5" SAS drives.


3. Edge Transport server - For this role I chose the HP DL380 (dual processor Intel 5160; 8GB RAM) with 8 internal 2.5" SAS drives.


4. Client Access server - And for this one I chose the HP DL360 (dual processor Intel 5160; 10GB RAM) with 4 internal 2.5" SAS drives.

For all of my servers I will be using RAID 10 (1+0) in some form or fashion. This seems to be Microsoft's new general recommendation for storage where possible. It is a costly RAID setup, as you lose half the drives to redundancy, but the performance benefits should be worth it - especially considering it is for Exchange 2007, and that deserves nothing but the best!

This was a massive amount of hardware, not just monetarily, but physically as well. However, it all condensed down very nicely into a single rack. And so, without further delay, may I present my Exchange 2007 system hardware....

I've been a bad blogger...

Yes, it's true, I've neglected my blog. But it is only for what I feel are good reasons. Here's why:

1. In my last post I promised to discuss hardware. Well, I finally finished speccing out the hardware. I've also ordered, received, and assembled all said hardware.
2. To be as well prepared for this installation and migration as possible, I've worked on (and re-worked on) a lab environment to get some hands on with the product and process before going live.
3. I'm lazy. Ok, maybe that's not a good reason as much as an excuse....

I'm sure nobody out there was holding their breath for the latest updates in my continuing saga with Exchange 2007, but now that I've got this post under my belt I think I can get back in the swing of things.

And after all that went into reasons one and two listed above, there is plenty to post about!

TechEd 2007 - Here I come!!

I booked a spot into TechEd this morning.

I'm especially looking forward to it this year, for a couple of reasons. First, there should be some really good content with the recent release of products such as Exchange 2007 and Vista, as well as "Longhorn" and the new System Center suite of products being on the horizon. Second, it is back in Orlando!

If you've never been to TechEd or haven't seen the details for this year's event, check it out here: http://www.microsoft.com/events/teched2007/default.mspx

I hope to see you there!

Let the migration begin!

I finished DST updating - it's done, or I'm done.... Either way it's behind me now. This is important, not only because I'm out of the nightmare which DST was (mostly anyway), but it means I'm free to move on to bigger and better.... Thus, in the words of wise old Rafiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafiki) I am happy to announce: It is time!

Yes, my long awaited time to begin migrating to Exchange 2007 has arrived! This really gets back to one of my main reasons for starting this blog anyway: tracking and posting about my plans, progress, trials, and accomplishments in migrating to Exchange.

Since first seeing Exchange 2007 in action at TechEd 06 I've been looking forward to putting it into production. Now the expectation becomes reality.

My first step from here will be getting the hardware to run it. Next week I'll give some info on what I'm looking at for servers and how/why I've specced them out.

Fun with DST

Yes, I'm still working on DST updates. If you haven't seen it yet, it's probably too late now, but here's the link to Microsoft's "Daylight Savings Time Help and Support Center" from which you can take the appropriate path: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst

So far, I've addressed the:

1. OS updates for Windows 2003 - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931836/en-us
2. Exchange 2003 SP2 updates - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926666/en-us
3. Applied the same CDO update as above for Exchange to the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and sent out the updates for the Blackberry devices that needed it - http://www.blackberry.com/select/dst2007/

Now all I've got left to tackle, before week's end of course, is:

1. Updating appointments in the mailstores using Exchange Calendar Update Tool - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/930879/en-us
2. Updating Windows Mobile devices - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/daylightsaving/default.mspx

This whole process is truly a headache. And while I've heard some complaints against Microsoft (and other vendors) for making this process so complicated, I don't really blame them nor think that it's their fault. I just don't think enough thought was given in regards to the impact that the changes in DST would have for so many things and the work that would be involved to make corrections and/or adjustment for it before it became a law. Just my take on the matter...

More Exchange 2007 Documentation

I just received another Microsoft Download Notifications email. You can subscribe to that here: http://www.mircrosoft.com/downloads

Of particular interest was an available download for a standalone version of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Help. The download is available here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=555F5974-9258-475A-B150-0399B133FEDE&mg_id=10110&displaylang=en

A handy resource for quick reference!

OT - My adventures in PSP

Ok, so after a whole 2 days of hardcore blogging, I thought it would be a good time to go into something off topic from the main technical arenas this blog was started to discuss.

And so I've chosen to talk about gaming. I'm not a huge or extreme gamer by any means. But I do enjoy the diversion every once in a while. I've got an XBOX console at home, which I do play some, but my wife likes it to stay put away so usually I'm not in the mood (too lazy) to go through the trouble of taking it out and hooking it up and then putting it away. I don't really do any PC gaming (other than an occasional round of Pinball or Minesweeper), that died out for me after we had to take our Half-Life server down, yes the one at the office of course. I did find that I was inclined to take out my PocketPC and get in a quick game here and there, which led me to think of going down the mobile gaming path. Now, my daughter has a Nintendo DS and is quite happy with it, but I wanted something a little more. That really only left the Sony PSP. So after much contemplation (or what my good friend "The" John Hann calls obsession) I finally caved and got one last year.....

I bought the Entertainment Package which included a 1GB memory stick, the ATV Offroad Fury game, and the UMD Lords of Dogtown movie. If I had to do it over again, I must say I'd go with just the base package and buy a memory stick. I ended up buying a 2GB stick to go with it as well, which was a great deal from Best Buy during the one of their one day sales during the holidays for $39. I should have bought two at that price!!

As far as games go, I've got:

1. ATV Offroad Fury (Ok game, if you like racers)
2. Lumines (cool game, I could probably do better at it if I hadn't played so much Tetris)
3. Gradius Collection (love it, but it still kicks my butt)
4. Ghosts N Goblins (great game, still working on it)
5. X-Men Legends II (pretty decent I guess, took a bit to get used to and now feels a bit repetitive like you're just doing the same thing over just on different levels)

My opinion of the PSP overall?? I like it. I enjoy the games and I like being able to transfer movies from DVD to the memory stick and watch them. It's not something I'm addicted to as I probably only play games a few hours a month. But what is really nice about it is that when I'm ready to play, so is my PSP. Enough said.