Planning Exchange Cluster Configuration; Remotely Storing Files From An Active/Passive Exchange Cluster - Dell PowerVault 745N Deployment Manual

Table 1.4 Sample File Transfer Time Estimate
File Type
Exchange database (.edb)
Streaming database (.stm)
Transaction logs
File transfer rate is approximately 755,000,000 bytes per minute.
Because Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition limits database size to 16 MB, file transfer
from Standard Edition generally takes fewer than 30 minutes. Because Exchange Server 2003
Enterprise Edition does not limit database size, file transfer from Enterprise Edition can take
considerably more time.

Planning Exchange Cluster Configuration

The Feature Pack supports the following Exchange server cluster configurations:
One or two 2-node active/passive Exchange clusters
One 2-node active/passive Exchange cluster and one stand-alone Exchange server
One 2-node active/active Exchange cluster
Active/passive clusters are recommended over active/active clusters, because they typically
increase performance, availability, and scalability.
This section provides an overview of the basic requirements for deploying the Windows Storage
Server computer with an Exchange server cluster.
Notice
The Feature Pack does not support NAS clusters. Do not install the Feature Pack
on Dell PowerVault NAS Systems in a cluster configuration.
For more information about Exchange clusters, including cluster capacity and configuration
considerations, see the Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Deployment Guide and the white paper,
Using Clustering with Exchange 2003: An Example, on the Exchange 2003 Deployment website
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=23412).
For information about how to administer and manage Exchange server clusters, see the
Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Administration Guide on the Microsoft TechNet site
(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=21769).

Remotely Storing Files from an Active/Passive Exchange Cluster

The Feature Pack supports one or two 2-node active/passive Exchange clusters per Windows
Storage Server computer, as shown in Figure 1.5. In the supported configuration, no more than
two Exchange servers — one from each cluster — access the Windows Storage Server computer
at any time. In each cluster, the passive server accesses the Windows Storage Server computer
only if the active server fails.
This configuration requires a dedicated Gigabit Ethernet connection between each Exchange
2003 active/passive cluster and the Windows Storage Server computer. A dedicated Gigabit
Ethernet connection is either a direct point-to-point connection, or is implemented through a
Feature Pack Deployment Guide
Quantity Size
1 6.14 GB
1 2 MB
1,375 6.71 GB
13,800,097,000/ 755,000,000 = ~18
File transfer time is approximately 18 minutes.
Bytes (Approximate)
6,593,000,000
2,097,000
7,205,000,000
Total = 13,800,097,000
Planning a Deployment
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