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ohmErnie

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Exchange 2007 Hardware Recommendation

We are currently running Exchange 2003, 200 mailboxes, 250MB caps.  I would like the designed for growth to at least 300 mailboxes and 1GB of storage.  I also plan to run one Exchange server and combine the roles.

This is what I have spec'd so far:
1 - Quad Core Xeon E5420 Processor2x6MB Cache, 2.5GHz, 1333MHz FSB, PE2950
8GB of RAM
73GB 15k Mirror for the OS
146GB 15k Raid 5 for the DB

Is this too much system, not enough or just right?  Any additional recommendations?
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Lee W, MVP
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ohmErnie

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leew -
I would have 4 - 146GB drives in a Raid 5.
coolsport00 -
I do not have a SAN.  Can I place my DB and LCR on the same raid set?
Yes, you can certainly do so. MS recommends separating things out as much as possible is all for 'best' performance - logs on 1 RAID, DB on another, and LCR/CCR on another. Good articles here:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124518.aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb738146.aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124558.aspx

Regards.
~coolsport00
The only way i can put everything on its own raid would be to have 3 RAID 1 configurations...
1st Mirror OS
2nd Mirror DB
3rd Mirror Logs
This is how my exchange 2003 server is currently setup and the raid for me logs barely contains any data.  it almost seems pointless to have the third set.  However, I am trying to understand if it is better to do 3 RAID 1s rather than a RAID 1 (OS) and Raid 5 (db/logs).  I only have 6 hd bays in the pe2950.
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