Microsoft Exchange Server and SANiQ Volumes.fm
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1. If possible perform this operation over a weekend Network Configuration To increase performance and keep data traffic separate we suggest that you create separate subnets for both public and storage network traffic Figure 5 illustrates this network environment This configuration maximizes network bandwidth for both user and storage communication requirements PUBLIC NETWORK ExchDB1 ExchDB2 Figure 5 Example of subnets for the public and storage networks Best Practice e Configure the storage network with a gigabit network card in the Exchange Server Attach the server to a gigabit switch and hook up all the storage modules to the same switch through each of their gigabit ports Configuring SAN iQ Snapshots Properly configured snapshots can greatly enhance the availability of any Exchange environment Snapshots are read only point in time copies of a SAN iQ volume A snapshot can be rolled back to a previous point in time The capability to roll back to a previous state gives administrators the flexibility to roll back to a known good state In the case of Exchange snapshots give administrators the power to quickly recover an Exchange server to a previous state Since Exchange maintains log files of every transaction it s possible to roll back a database volume replay the log files back into the database and recover all messages up to the point where the mailbox store was taken off line because of the2. O O a Servers J Queues Employees 4 Executives E Protocols E Employees E Protocols a g TS1 154 1 E Connectors Tools 0 Folders Figure 2 Example of basic Exchange 2003 Mailbox configuration When creating a new Storage Group the properties screen will require a new name transaction log location and system path location See Figure 3 First type in the name of the storage group then browse to the SAN iQ volume created to host the log files and place both the transaction logs and system path in this new volume This will create the new storage group and place the logs on the SAN iQ volume Executives Properties FA EG B Mailbox Store APPTEST3 Properties BE General Details Details l Policies Security General Database Limits Full Text Indexing 7 5 js Executives Exchange database Transaction log location Exchange streaming database Ly Browse J mst1 priv1 stm Browse System path location Maintenance interval JES Browse Use custom schedule x Customize Log file prefix Time of last full backup E 00 Not available I Zero out deleted database pages Time of Jast incremental backup J Enable circular logging Not available T Do not mount this store at start up I This database can be overwritten by a restore Help Cancel Apply Help Cancel Figure 3 Storage Group properties screen Figure 4 Mai
3. Exchange servers Solving the Backup Problem An IP SAN from LeftHand Networks also provides sophisticated yet simple backup scenarios for Microsoft Exchange The IP SAN can be used as a backup target significantly increasing the speed of the backup and eliminating the need for tape archiving tracking and purchasing The IP SAN also supports snapshot or point in time copies of volumes to ensure instantaneous backups Data can be backed up to tape or other medium from the snapshot volume as opposed to doing the backup from the original copy of the data Snapshots eliminate the backup window remove backup traffic from the corporate LAN and offload backup processing from application servers I1 12 High Availability High availability is another important concern for Exchange administrators With an IP SAN the admin can choose a replication level either two way or three way for each data volume If the database information in the Management mailbox is deemed critical enough to increase the replication level to three meaning there will be three copies of the data spread across the NSMs the administrator can easily set that volume s replication level using a simple pull down menu There s no downtime to adjust replication levels Support for a hot spare is another aspect of high availability with a LeftHand Networks IP SAN If an active NSM in the cluster were to fail the hot spare module would automatically take the place of t
4. HP LeftHand SAN Solutions Support Document Application Note Microsoft Exchange Server and SAN iQ Volumes O Legal Notices Warranty The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein The information contained herein is subject to change without notice Restricted Rights Legend Confidential computer software Valid license from HP required for possession use or copying Consistent with FAR 12 211 and 12 212 Commercial Computer Software Computer Software Documentation and Technical Data for Commercial Items are licensed to the U S Government under vendor s standard commercial license Copyright Notices Copyright 2009 Hewlett Packard Development Company L P Microsoft Exchange Server and SAN iQ Volumes Unbounded growth and high availability of messaging systems are two of the toughest challenges currently facing IT managers The power and flexibility of LeftHand Networks storage solutions enable the Microsoft Exchange administrator to dynamically address the growing challenges associated with managing a Microsoft Exchange environment Designing a Microsoft Exchange environment requires significant study and planning ranging from Microsoft Active Directory serv
5. andline utility to extend a data volume into unallocated space http support microsoft com default aspx scid kb EN US 325590 e SAN iQ Remote Copy in an Exchange Environment support note which describes the process to deploy and implement remote copy in an exchange environment Available http www hp com e Best Practices for Enabling Microsoft Windows with SAN iQ support note which describes the process to set the disk offset of a Windows partition Available http www hp com The information in this article applies to e SANAQ versions 5 0 5 1 6 1 6 3 e Microsoft Windows 2000 Server e Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server e Microsoft Windows Server 2003 e Exchange Server 2000 2003 Standard and Enterprise 13
6. e Status Normal Coordinating manager Mod1 Figure 1 Example of a basic Exchange configuration Next assign volume lists and authentication groups and connect the volumes to the Exchange server using the steps identified in the user manual Format the volumes and assign drive letters Best Practice e Align disk partitions to 64K using the diskpar or diskpart utility For detailed instructions refer to the support note Setting Windows Disk Partition Offset for Best Performance e Format the volumes as basic disks with a 40966 allocation unit With the SAN iQ solution and the capability to expand basic disks dynamic disks are not recommended For more information on disks and expanding basic disks see the Support Note Choosing Basic or Dynamic Disk for SAN iQ Volumes e Use two way replication when possible This ensures that there are always two copies of your data in the storage pool providing high availability beyond the internal NSM redundancy Exchange Configuration The next step is to set up the Exchange server and create the Mailbox Stores In our example we created a Storage Group and Mailbox Store for Executives and another Storage Group and Mailbox Store for Employees See Figure 2 a File Action View Window Help laj xj e am ee ABIe S First Organization Exchange M51 a Global Settings Recipients Name Mle O
7. he disabled module Data re striping is immediately started to the new module Administrators can set monitoring levels to be notified if a failure occurs but no administrator intervention is required to activate the hot spare Disaster Recovery for Microsoft Exchange LeftHand Networks allows administrators to maintain a full copy of their Exchange storage in a second location For locations linked by sufficient bandwidth synchronous replication is supported In a disaster scenario the data copy in the secondary location will be the same as that in the production location For locations with bandwidth limited links a snapshot of volumes in the production facility can be used to update the secondary locations In a disaster scenario the data copy in the secondary location will be a point in time copy of the production data The amount of data lost is minimized as the snapshot copy frequency increases limited only by bandwidth constraints Additional References e Microsoft Exchange Server Home Page stay up on the latest information on Exchange track security issues and downloads fixes http www microsoft com exchange e Reviewing Storage Limits describes the difference between basic and dynamic disks highlights limitations and provides more detail on extending volumes http technet microsoft com en us library cc773268 aspx e How to Use Diskpart exe to Extend a Data Volume describes how to use the Diskpart exe comm
8. ice design to disk group configurations When planning the storage strategy for Exchange administrators typically should consider four criteria e Capacity e Availability e Performance e Recovery These factors affect the cost architecture maintenance and disaster recovery of an Exchange environment This paper presents some example configurations and outlines some basic best practice considerations Microsoft Exchange Architecture With Exchange 2000 and beyond Microsoft introduced the concept of Storage Groups and Mailbox Stores A storage group is similar to an individual Exchange Server Each exchange server can contain up to four storage groups and a storage group can contain five mailbox stores Separate log files are stored for each storage group Each mailbox store contains two databases the mailbox store edb and the streaming media store stm The actual user data resides in these files If a problem occurs an administrator can take the mailbox stores offline in the storage group having the problem without affecting the users in the other storage groups When set up correctly Exchange storage groups can be a powerful tool to make backup and recovery options much less painful When combined with snapshot SAN iQ Remote Snapshot and the flexibility of the SAN iQ software from LeftHand Networks it can reduce backup and recovery from hours to minutes Best Practice e Place high profile Exchange users in a separate
9. lbox Store properties screen When creating a new Mailbox Store the properties screen will first require a name for the mailbox Then under the database tab the mailbox database location will default to the same drive as its parent Storage Group Change the database location by selecting the browse button and navigating to the SANAQ volume and directory created for this mailbox store See Figure 4 Both the edb and stm databases should be in the same location If you are moving an existing Storage Group or Mailbox Store the same basic procedures apply When you specify a new location from the properties boxes Exchange will automatically move the data Depending on the number and size of those files this operation could take several minutes Note When moving an existing Storage Group or Mailbox Store the mailbox stores associated with that group will be dismounted during the move and users assigned to those mailbox stores will not have access to Exchange The setup is complete after each Storage Group and Mailbox Store has been created or moved to the appropriate SAN iQ volume Best Practice e Spread out your Exchange users into multiple Storage Groups by function or hierarchy Storage Groups can contain five Mailbox Stores If a problem occurs only the storage group and associated mailbox stores must be brought off line the rest of the Exchange users can remain operational e Donot move existing databases during work hours
10. liminating the need for tape archiving tracking and purchasing Diskbased backup can also greatly enhance restore performance Best Practice e Use a combination of daily snapshots for backup and rapid restore and weekly online backups for log file maintenance to ensure the highest level of data protection and recovery e Backup to a separate set of storage modules to eliminate the risk of media failure Summarizing the Advantages of an IP SAN Solution Simple Scalability Keeping up with the ever increasing need for storage space is one of the significant challenges in maintaining a Microsoft Exchange environment With a DAS solution the storage is internal to the Exchange server and upgrading requires the administrator to either purchase another server or exchange the disk in the current server This can be a lengthy and tedious task that can consume an entire weekend and keep services offline With an IP SAN from LeftHand Networks adding capacity is as simple as adding another storage module to the network There s no downtime and the administrator can grow the Exchange store during business hours without impacting users The administrator can also grow a given volume on the fly by assigning additional capacity from the storage pool to that volume Likewise unused capacity can be reassigned from a less utilized volume eliminating wasted storage capacity and allowing administrators to scale storage independently of the
11. problem In our example setup the log files and database files were placed on separate volumes This enables you to roll back the database and recover from the log file volume that remains intact For example if you ve created a daily snapshot schedule to take place every morning at 6am and your Exchange server gets hit with a virus at 10am you could roll back the volumes that contained the databases to the 6am snapshot load the latest anti virus definition files on the Exchange server and replay the log files through the new anti virus definition files to re capture all the Exchange messages that happened between 6am and 10am VSS snapshot integration with Exchange To create a good snapshot with Exchange volumes the application must be temporarily turned off or the snapshot must be taken using the VSS provider available from LeftHand Networks Using the VSS framework to take snapshots of Exchange databases ensures consistency of the data A VSS requestor is required to schedule and initiate snapshots Your current software backup solution might already be a qualified VSS requestor Check with your vendor for availability of VSS support 10 Snapshots without VSS If VSS or dismounting databases are not a practical solutions for your environment snapshots can still be useful if configured correctly For a non VSS snapshot to be successful the log volume and data volume must be snapshot at the same time To accomplish this make su
12. re all of your NSMs have the exact same time and time zone This can be easily accomplished by configuring your NSMs to use your Windows domain controller as a NTP server Then configure a snapshot schedule for both the log volume and database volume to occur at the same time When the snapshots are taken at the same time Exchange should be able to successfully recover those databases if both volumes are rolled back to the same point in time It is possible however that the database will not automatically become consistent when mounted If this occurs the data can still be recovered using the eseutil tool provided with Exchange Best Practice e Use the VSS framework for taking snapshots with Exchange databases online e Place log files and database file on separate SAN iQ volumes This provides the most flexibility for recovery database files can be rolled back and log files replayed to bring the database back to the state it was before the rollback occurred e Create a snapshot scripting schedule for each volume See the SAN iQ Users Manual for more information on creating snapshots and snapshot scripting Optimizing Backup and Recovery Careful planning is important to ensure enough time to back up an entire Exchange server Exchange 2000 and 2003 can be backed up using multiple streams but require that your users be spread across multiple storage groups To improve backup performance a SAN iQ volume can be used as a backup target e
13. storage group and mailbox store This will greatly reduce maintenance and the likelihood of problems e Place each Storage Group s information on a separate volume To fully leverage the functionality of the SAN iQ solution create a snapshot schedule see below e Place all mailbox stores associated with a storage group on a single volume separate from the associated logs To fully leverage the functionality of the SAN iQ solution create a snapshot schedule see below Configuring SAN iQ Volumes When possible Exchange volumes should be created with two way replication In single NSM environments data must be protected by either RAID 5 or RAID 10 These configurations provide a base level of data security In our example illustrated in Figure 1 we have established a Management Group called Corporate and a cluster called Mail To align the I O patterns of the Exchange databases separate volumes were created to hold the mailbox stores mst1 and mst2 and storage group log files log1 and log2 The initial size of the volumes is not critical as they can be easily expanded as needed Centralized Management Console File Find Tasks View Help amp Logi ss MST1 ss Details Managers i Clusters f Authentication Groups Volume Lists Register Times Management Group Corporate Managers 3of3 Local Bandwidth 32768 Kb sec Communication Mode Multicast Off Unicast On Quorum 2 Virtual Manager Non
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