Specifications

A Principled Technologies test report 13
Hardware upgrades to improve database, SharePoint, Exchange, and
file server performance with the Intel processor-powered Dell
PowerEdge T630
13. Enable remote desktop access.
14. Change the hostname and reboot when prompted.
Building the virtual machines
1. Use Server Manager to add the Hyper-V role to the host.
2. Use Hyper-V Manager to create the appropriate number of virtual machines. We assigned 2 vCPUs and 8 GB of
memory to the SharePoint and file server VMs, and 4 vCPUs and 16GB of memory to the Exchange and SQL
Server VMs. Give the OS VHD 40 GB, and place it on the OS HDDs.
3. Create the appropriate volumes for each VM as indicated below:
Exchange Server 2010
- Exchange Data – 90GB
- Exchange Log – 10GB
SQL Server 2012
- SQL Data – 50GB
- SQL Log – 30GB
SQL Server 2012 instance for SharePoint Server 2010
- SharePoint Data – 100GB
File Server
- Iometer Data – 110GB
4. Create a virtual switch connected to the client network, and attach it to the VM.
5. Attach the OS installation media to the VM, and install the guest OS.
Configuring the Dell PowerEdge T630 server
Installing Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 on the Dell PowerEdge T630
These steps outline how we installed Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 onto the Dell PowerEdge T630. Attach
the installation media to the host or VM.
1. Power on the host or VM, and boot into the Windows installer.
2. Once the installation files have been copied into memory, select the appropriate language, time and currency
format, and keyboard layout, and click Next.
3. Click Install Now.
4. Enter the product key, and click Next.
5. Choose Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter (Server with a GUI), and click Next.
6. Check the I accept the license terms box, and click Next.
7. Choose Custom: Install Windows only (advanced).
8. Select the OS hard drive from the list, and click Next. This begins the installation.
9. Run Windows Update on each server until the operating systems are completely up to date.
Building the virtual machines
1. Use Server Manager to add the Hyper-V role to the host.