Although properly sizing a server for
production is extremely important, sizing for a lab or test server is
somewhat less involved if you're only interested in pushing some
buttons and "kicking the tires" of Exchange 2010. For instance, a lab
server might have enough storage for a few users, but a production
server might be configured for many hundreds or thousands.
But we do have some basics that you should pay attention to when building a test server.
1. Hardware
In this section, we'll take a look at the hardware
required to quickly setup a lab server. Among the resources we need to
focus on are memory, processors, storage, Operating System, and
virtualization considerations. First, let's look at memory.
1.1. Memory
You'll enjoy some substantial improvements when
using a 64-bit server, not the least of which is better memory
management, including the ability to handle much more memory. This
works to your advantage with Exchange.
For an Exchange server running multiple roles such
as Mailbox, Client Access, and Hub Transport, like our typical server,
consider 8 GB plus 5 MB per mailbox a good starting point.
1.2. Processors
Server hardware that will host Exchange 2010
requires 64-bit processors. This includes either x64 Intel or AMD64
CPUs. Itanium IA64 processors are not supported for Exchange 2010. The
minimum recommended number of processor cores for a typical Exchange
server is two, and the maximum recommend number of cores is 24. For a
well-performing server, use four–eight processor cores. For this
configuration, two dual-core or two quad-core processors will work just
fine.
1.3. Disk Space
Basic Exchange 2010 storage requirements include
space for the Exchange binary files, message tracking logs, transaction
logs, and mail databases. A typical installation requires at least the
following:
1.2 GB available on the installation drive for binaries
200 MB available on the system drive (typically C:)
500 MB available on the installation drive for the transport queue
Space for mailbox databases and transaction logs
Using these guidelines, two 72 GB hard drives in
RAID Level 1 should suffice for a small test server. Larger hard drives
can be used, but these should be considered the minimum. Hard drives
must be formatted with NTFS for Exchange 2010 due to security
permissions.
1.4. Network
The server for Exchange should have at least one 1
GB Ethernet network interface card. Additional cards can be used but
aren't required.
1.5. Server Virtualization
A growing trend is to use virtualization
technologies to get a higher return on investment (ROI), which allows
an organization to get more out of the same hardware. Virtualization
also reduces hardware server sprawl. This helps reduce power
consumption, cooling needs, and so forth, and reduces the total cost of
ownership (TCO). Microsoft's virtualization effort with Windows Server
2008, Hyper-V, is an excellent virtualization platform from which to
deploy Exchange. With Exchange 2010, all roles of a typical Exchange
server are supported in Microsoft Hyper-V. Only the Unified Messaging
(UM) role is not supported in Hyper-V. Due to the 64-bit hardware
requirement, Exchange Server 2010 is not supported in Microsoft Virtual
Server 2005.
Microsoft supports Exchange Server 2010 in
production on hardware virtualization software only when all the
following conditions are true:
Virtual Storage
Virtual storage can consist of fixed virtual hard drives (VHDs), SCSI pass-through storage, or iSCSI-based storage.
VHDs cannot exceed 2 TB (2,040 GB) in Hyper-V.
Dynamically expanding virtual disks are not supported. Differencing
VHDs, or those that use differencing or delta mechanisms, are not
supported in Exchange 2010.
SCSI pass-through storage is configured at the host
level and dedicated to one virtual guest. Pass-through volumes must be
presented as block-level storage to the hardware virtualization
software.
When you're using iSCSI, the use of jumbo frames is
not supported. Exchange Server 2010 does not support network-attached
storage (NAS).
Guest Virtual Machine Storage
When you are using virtualization, the OS volume
minimum is 15 GB and the memory. For example, for a guest provisioned
with 16 GB of memory, a minimum volume for a virtualization-based
server would be 15 GB + 16 GB = 31 GB OS volume.
2. Operating System
Like its predecessor Exchange 2007, Exchange 2010
requires a 64-bit operating system for installation. Operating systems
that Exchange 2010 is supported on include the following:
64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 Standard Service Pack 2
64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Service Pack 2
64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 Standard R2
64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise R2
Trial versions of each of these operating systems
are available for download from Microsoft's website. They will provide
months of use, and can be installed over and over for testing.
Although Exchange 2007 did have a 32-bit version you
could use for testing and installing the Exchange management tools on
your workstation, that is not the case with Exchange 2010. Exchange
2010 is only available in 64 bit. This means that any administrative
workstations for Exchange will need to be 64 bit as well.
Windows Server 2008 R2 is the latest version of the
Windows operating system, and includes many stability, performance, and
security related updates from its predecessors. Why not use the non-R2
version of Windows Server 2008? When looking at a new mail platform, it
makes sense to use the latest operating system because of all the
enhancements available. Building a test server is a perfect time to get
some experience with the new operating system. Additionally, it makes
sense to deploy an operating system that will still be in mainstream
support during the typical lifecycle of a newly deployed server. While
Exchange Server 2010 is supported on Windows Server 2008, Windows
Server 2008 R2 does include some of the prerequisites required for
Exchange. Thus, deployment is quicker and easier.
The server is joined to an Active Directory domain, and the Active Directory domain is isolated from any production domains.
The server has a static IP address assigned.
Test Active Directory user accounts have been created.
You have an administrative account that is a member of the Schema Admins, Domain Admins, and Enterprise Admins security groups.
The server is not a domain controller.
There are no other Exchange servers in the domain.
There is a domain controller in the same Active Directory site that the Exchange server will reside in.
