Selecting the right server hardware for an Exchange 2010 deployment becomes much easier when you know the product team's scalability and performance guidelines. This session provides a look at the product team's guidance for the processor and memory requirements of each server role in Exchange 2010. A number of key performance enhancements from this release are discussed, and you also learn about how to use related tools like the Exchange Storage Calculator, Exchange Profile Analyzer, Loadgen, and Jetstress to take the guesswork out of server sizing.

2. Getting the most out of Exchange Server 2010: Performance and Scalability Jeff Mealiffe Senior Development Lead Microsoft Corporation Session Code: UNC309

3. Agenda High-level product direction for scale Guidelines and ratios Role specific details Virtualization considerations Toolkit for planning and sizing

4. Product Direction For Scale

5. Scale Out vs. Scale Up Scale out is a strategic choice made by the product group Scale out provides the following at low cost: Large mailboxes High availability Rich feature set Scaling up increases risk that an outage or failure affects more users Scaling up usually costs more, and can force feature decisions due to hardware choices Consider all factors in the equation, particularly storage

6. Scale Up Options Multiple Role Servers (“brick” deployments) Likely the best option for big hardware (> 2 socket) – best hardware utilization overall Be aware of recommendations for max processor & memory Virtualization Evaluate whether potential added complexity & monitoring challenges make this a win Single role Product not engineered for single role high scale (> 2 socket) Extreme caution necessary – validate carefully in a test lab

7. Supported vs. Recommended Supported usually means well tested Support statements define strict boundaries Recommendations define the “best case” or the state that we want our customers to achieve Understand risks of going outside of recommendations or support boundaries

8. Guidelines & Ratios

9. Processor Core Scalability Single Role Servers Recommend a 2-socket platform 4-core processors = 8 total cores 6-core processors = 12 total cores Expect diminishing returns moving to 16+ cores on >= 4 socket platform Known issues updating memory across cores Not Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA)-aware or optimized for scale around data locality Code can take longer to execute; transaction costs rise Multiple Role Servers Recommend 24 cores maximum for high-scale “Enterprise Multiple Role Server” Multiple processes from different roles help us scale better Hyperthreading Disable on production Exchange servers Causes monitoring and capacity planning challenges

10. Role Ratio Guidelines Processor core ratios CAS : Mailbox = 3 : 4 HUB : Mailbox = 1 : 7 (no A/V on Hub) = 1 : 5 (with A/V Hub) GC : Mailbox = 1 : 4 (32-bit GC) = 1 : 8 (64-bit GC)

11. Processor and Memory Config

12. Network Load Balancing Exchange 2010 requires load balanced CAS for internal connections Consider HA needs Size for connection count spikes Windows Network Load Balancing (NLB) Not recommended above 8 nodes Hardware Load Balancer Recommended for larger environments Multiple Role Server High Availability (HA) scenarios

13. Role Specific Details

14. Mailbox RoleGeneral guidance I/O reduced by 70% from Exchange Server 2007 Improved performance for SATA (Tier 2 class) disks Two socket platform still optimal Storage performance improvements prioritized over processor scale improvements – larger TCO advantage High availability improvements affect sizing Sizing must account for failure scenarios Use 4 – 12 total cores for Mailbox 16 core not expected to scale well but ok to deploy – consider TCO 4GB RAM w/3-30MB per mailbox recommended depending on profile Size and prepare disks correctly Use Exchange Storage Calculator

15. Mailbox RoleMemory sizing Design servers with large quantities of memory Deep checkpoint depth + 32KB pages allow E2010 to benefit from larger memory configurations than E2K7 More database cache results in less IOPS/mailbox

16. Mailbox RoleHigh availability sizing Size for active users on DAG nodes, assuming the possibility of double failures Do not overcommit resources Spread node failure across all available nodes not one or two Distribute database (DB) copies across nodes in a matrix Improved DB seed/log shipping performance across WAN Log Shipping compression/encryption (opt in) New log shipping architecture (Transport Control Protocol (TCP) socket based as opposed to Server Message Block (SMB), connection/DB) Improved high latency capability Use multiple 1GB networks or 10GB network Improves LAN re-seed/log replication queue drain performance Especially with large servers and/or large databases

17. Client Access Server RoleConnection scalability changes Outlook Clients Outlook Clients Exchange 2007 (1 connection == 1 session, 64K RPC Context handle limit) 64K connections / MBX server Exchange CAS Array Exchange 2010 (1 connections != 1 session, 250K RPC Context handle limit on MBX) 1 MBX session : 1 client session MBX MBX 1 connection :1 client session 1 CAS session :1 client session 100 shared connections

18. Client Access Server RoleGeneral guidance Hardware requirements have increased vs. Exchange 2007 “Pay to play” for additional features and services (RPC Client Access Service, Address Book Service, Remote Powershell, etc.) Possible to keep CAS count constant from 2007 to 2010, with hardware refresh Use 4 to 12 cores Recommend larger of 8GB RAM or 2 GB RAM/core CAS : Mailbox = 3 : 4 Cores

19. Hub Transport RoleGeneral guidance Increased workload in Exchange 2010 Additional CPU required when compared to Exchange 2007 Not significant enough to result in a core ratio change Use 4-12 cores 4-8 GB of RAM recommended More than 8GB is not shown to improve TCO or scale Use battery-backed write cache disk controller Disk I/O can be a bottleneck on an un-tuned Hub Log I/O becomes virtually free with a BBWC controller

20. Hub Transport RoleQueue database changes ESE changes: ESE page size increased from 8KB to 32KB ESE database page compression Intrinsic long value record storage ESE version store maintenance DB cache size increased from 128MB to 1GB Checkpoint depth increased from 20MB to 512MB Logging buffer size increased from 512KB to 5MB With transport dumpster changes and ESE improvements, transport IOPS requirements have been reduced by more than 50%

21. Unified Messaging RoleGeneral guidance Use 8 core for Voice Mail Preview CPU-intensive workload 4 core recommended for other scenarios 4-8 GB of RAM recommended More than 8GB is not shown to improve TCO or scale Not recommended combining with other roles Audio quality can be affected Ensure low latency to mailbox servers associated with UM-enabled accounts

22. Multiple Role Server General guidance Mailbox, CAS, and Hub Transport roles only Available solution for high core configurations Half of cores for Mailbox, half for CAS+Hub Use 8-24 cores 8GB RAM plus 3-30MB/mailbox recommended (follow mailbox database cache sizing guidance)

23. Multiple Role ServerDeployment scenarios Simple unit of scale (brick) model Each multi-role server represents a building block Servers with on-board SATA storage (10-16 disks) are optimal Small organization/branch office – server consolidation Minimize the number of physical servers, operating system instances, and Exchange server instances to manage Risk mitigation scenarios Policies that limit the amount of mailboxes per server

24. Virtualization Considerations

25. Support Guidelines TechNet is the single source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794548.aspx SVVP Support Policy Wizard is a great tool:http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/svvp.aspx?svvppage=svvpwizard.htm Always confirm SPW results with our TechNet article Check back for updates Clarifications published frequently

26. Supportability Quick Reference Supported Root: Hyper-V or SVVP Guest: Exchange 2010 Windows 2008 SP2 or R2 Mailbox, Client Access, Hub Transport, Edge roles Meets basic Exchange system requirements Storage is fixed VHD, SCSI pass through, or iSCSI Not Supported Combination of Exchange Mailbox HA and hypervisor-based clustering or migration technologies Snapshots, differencing/delta disks VSS backup of root for passthrough disks or iSCSI disks connected to initiator in guest Unified Messaging role Virtual/logical proc ratio greater than 2:1 Applications running in root partition

27. Deployment Recommendations Virtualization isn’t free Hypervisor adds processor overhead, must account for this when sizing - ~12% in our Exchange 2010 tests Workload costs rise as well, though this is more difficult to characterize Virtualization doesn’t change Exchange design requirements from an application perspective Design for Performance, Reliability and Capacity (MBX/Hub/Edge) Design for Usage Profiles (CAS/MBX) Design for Message Profiles (Hub/Edge)

28. Exchange 2010 TestingTypical 16-core deployment Goal: Examine Exchange performance on Hyper-V in a typical deployment scenario Test configuration: HP ProLiant BL680 G5, 4 x Quad-Core Intel Xeon E7340 Root: 16 core host, Windows 2008 R2 (build 7100) Guests: 4 VMs (1 CAS, 1 Hub, 2 Mailbox), Exchange 2010 DF7 (582.10) Mailbox 1 on Windows 2008 RTM, Mailbox 2 on Windows 2008 R2 4,000 users per mailbox server Loadgen, 75% Outlook 2007 Cached Heavy + 25% OWA (modified enterprise script) + 10% default EAS workload Observations: Logical processor guest runtime higher with 2008 RTM guest vs. 2008 R2 (~13%) Acceptable performance across all roles Hub CPU 52.3%, CAS CPU 33.4% MBX CPU 53.3%, RPC Averaged Latency 6.5ms, RPC Operations/sec 1818

29. Points To Consider Accuracy of Perfmon counters in a Guest OS might be a concern for monitoring CPU cycles in a VM are relative to the CPU slices provided from the virtualization layer May skew results Investigating the impact on production monitoring Comprehensive comparison of physical resources and application consumption is difficult to achieve Application counters are only available in the Guest OS Root OS only provides view of resources it owns and Hyper-V counters

30. Toolkit For Planning & Sizing

31. Capacity Planning Tools Profiling Exchange Profile Analyzer 2010 (EPA) Performance Monitor (Perfmon) Sizing Exchange Server 2010 Storage Calculator Validation Jetstress 2010 Exchange Load Generator 2010 “Loadgen”

32. Exchange Profile Analyzer 2010 Generates statistical profile of user actions Messages sent and received/day Rule counts Item size and counts Inputs Crawls mailboxes with MAPI (previously DAV) OWA log analysis tool and “summarizer” Accuracy somewhat dependent on how users manage their mailbox Availability planned for Q3CY10 Version that works with Exchange 2003 & 2007 available here: http://tinyurl.com/233by6

33. Storage Calculator 2010 Follows Product Group recommendations on: Storage Memory Mailbox sizing Goal of the calculator is to output: I/O requirements Capacity requirements Logical user number (LUN) design Available today via the Exchange team blog: http://msexchangeteam.com/

34. Jetstress 2010 Exchange I/O simulator Uses Jet (ESE) database engine Analyzes server I/O performance for Exchange requirements What can Jetstress be used for? Storage performance validation Storage reliability testing End-to-end testing of storage components What can’t Jetstress be used for? Validation of client experience Integration testing with third party software solutions Availability of 2010 version planned for December 2009, will be announced on Exchange team blog: http://msexchangeteam.com/

35. Jetstress 2010What’s new Updated with Exchange 2010 Mailbox I/O Profile This profile is not yet final and is subject to change between now and Exchange 2010 release Database duplication is now multi-cast Dramatically reduces the time to prepare databases for testing Now using MSExchange Database I/O counters for I/O measurement Allows placing databases and logs on the same volume Log replication I/O is simulated based on Exchange 2010 HA architecture Background Database Maintenance (Checksum) is now simulated

36. Exchange Load Generator 2010 The only supported multi-protocol load generator for Exchange Replaces Loadsim and ESP Windows UI interface as well as a command-line interface Both task-based and scripted simulation modes Consumed both internally at Microsoft and externally Existing modules include: Outlook 2003/2007 (online and cached), Post Office Protocol (POP), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), OWA, ActiveSync… others in development Availability planned for December 2009, use beta until then:http://tinyurl.com/yhvpwbf (32-bit)http://tinyurl.com/yk5vfl7 (64-bit)

37. Exchange Load Generator 2010What’s new Requires Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 2008 OS (SP2/R2) No longer requires Exchange Management Tools ActiveSync Module Dynamic mail generator No need for message files, available in 5 languages, supports attachments NSPI connections

38. Tools Process Flow User Profile Exchange Load Generator Mailflow& Other Stats Exchange Profile Analyzer User Profile Exchange Storage Calculator IOPS Performance Monitor Exchange Jetstress

39. Key Takeaways Exchange continues to reduce I/O requirements, reducing overall system TCO New features in Exchange 2010 may require additional hardware resources, server count increases can be minimized Virtualization is a great way to take advantage of underutilized hardware Take advantage of the planning & testing toolset for successful deployments

40. Related Content Required Slide Speakers, please list the Breakout Sessions, TLC Interactive Theaters and Labs that are related to your session. UNC301– Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Upgrade and Coexistence with Exchange Server 2007 and 2003 UNC307 – Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 High Availability UNC314 – Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Storage Architecture UNC315 – Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Unified Messaging UNC01-IS– Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Archiving Q&A UNC06-IS – Site Resilience in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 UNC03-IS – Microsoft Exchange Server Virtualisation: Does It Make Sense?

41. UNC Track Call to Action! Learn More! Related Content at TechEd on “Related Content” Slide Attend in-person or consume post-event at TechEd Online Check out learning/training resources at Microsoft TechNet Exchange Server and Office Communications Server Check out Exchange Server 2010 atVirtual Launch Experience (VLE) at thenewefficiency.com Try It Out! Download the Exchange Server 2010 Trial Take a simple Web-based test drive of UC solutions through the 60-Day Virtual Experience

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44. question & answer

45. Required Slide © 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries. The information herein is for informational purposes only and represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this presentation. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information provided after the date of this presentation. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.