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Exchange 2010 Partitions

Windows 2008 is installed in C:\windows as default:

Can someone please advise on Partition setup and sizes for my Exchange 2010 installation.

Is it recommended to put Exchange Program Files on a separate partition?
Is it recommended to put Exchange Database on a separate partition?
Is it recommended to put Exchange Logs on a separate partition?

I have 1000 users in 2 mailbox stores who I want to allocate 1GB mailbox to how large paprtitons should I allocate for each of above?

Thanks

Satyendra Sharma

This might help you.

Exchange 2010 Mailbox Server Role Requirements Calculator
http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/11/09/453117.aspx

Mailbox Server Storage Design Recommendations
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd346703%28EXCHG.140%29.aspx

-Satya

Pete

ASKER

Yes I have looked at this but it is so in-depth, can someone please give me some simple guidelines? It is a single exchange server environment.

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Mestha

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Pete

ASKER

the exchange 2010 server is going to be on a virtual host (Hyper-V), the host itself will have a single SAS RAID 5 array that some virtual machines (Exchange being one of them) will sit on. On the host there will also be a RAID 5 SATA array that I was planning on putting a couple of less 'processor hungry' file servers. How can I implement your advice in this kind of setup?
Hardware is not even bought yet so I am flexible! but it will definitely be a virtual exchange server.

Mestha

You need to review heavily the specification of the server, or engage a consultant to do so for you .

For 1000 users I would be telling the client to get a dedicated server for Exchange, even if you were deploying VMs. RAID 5 SATA is about as slow as you can get, so the machine is crippled from the start.

Exchange is a high transactional database. You need multiple arrays on SAS. It is very hard on storage.

You said that you looked at the storage calculators, but to be blunt, it appears you have completed ignored its recommendations.

1000 users is quite capable to run on a single machine, but you do need to ensure the specification is appropriate.

Simon.

lanek2

If I may ask another clarifing question.

I have about 60 users in a small office using exchange 2003 and I plan to deploy Exchange 2010. My current database store is roughly 20 Gigabytes.

I plan to use Raid 1 (OS and Logs) and Raid 10 for the database with SAS drives. I will also have at least 12 Gigbytes of RAM. This is overkill IMHO but I don't upgrade hardware often and want to ensure it will last (or at least at least I can reuse the hardware in another senario).

Do you think this is an acceptable hardware solution for my situation?

Mestha

lanek2 - this is an old question. Unlike a forum it is not possible to "bump" questions back up the list. The only people who will see your post are those that have already participated. Instead you should post your question as a new question in the Exchange Server Zone which will allow other experts the chance to see the question and respond.