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Predeployment
6 Dell EMC SC Series: Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices | CML1037
1 Predeployment
1.1 Understanding storage virtualization
Traditional SAN solutions require a LUN to be created by carving out a specific amount of disk space from a
specified set of spindles. This process is time-consuming and hard to manage because it involves keeping
track of which servers are mapped to which storage by which worldwide name (WWN). This often requires
administrators to manage the storage configuration using a spreadsheet or other means outside of the
storage management interface.
Dell EMC SC Series arrays virtualize storage at the disk level and use all available spindles as a single virtual
disk pool. They can create volumes in which all drives are used together, causing performance to improve
because the blocks of data are written in parallel to all managed drives at once.
Traditional disk mapping compared to the SC Series approach
1.2 Understanding Exchange I/O
The SAN configuration is an important part of any application configuration, and this is especially true with
Exchange Server. Understanding how Exchange Server works with storage helps administrators make sure
that systems run in their most capable state. To ensure that Exchange Server will run in its optimal
environment, performing some simple tests can determine whether a server and disk subsystem can provide
the necessary performance.
Several tools exist to put a load against and test the performance of Exchange Server and disk storage,
including Exchange Load Generator (LoadGen) and Jetstress. Each of these tools has the capability to
simulate Exchange I/O patterns as well as the client experience, which can provide the estimated
performance numbers to expect from the disk subsystem. LoadGen and Jetstress are available from
Microsoft as free downloads and are discussed further in the section, Mailbox server sizing considerations.
Another useful tool is the Microsoft Windows
®
Performance Monitor, which can help define a baseline and
show how the application may perform in the current environment. This tool is discussed further in the
section, Performance and monitoring.