Hi
Help to a hardware setup for exchange server 2010.The current setup, is five department with each approximately 1500-2000 user. There all running lotus notes on their systems. The five department are each on the own system, in the new system it has to become one large system and mirage from Lotus notes to Exchange 2010.
What will be the best hardware setup for this:
A single server
put the whole setup up on a single server . with all users? And why? what are the advantages / disadvantages be? Or put it all up with the main server with one or more a edge servers`? what are the advantages / disadvantages be? Which server proposal could be use?
Other suggestion
What server setup will be the best!!
Best regards
Mers
Hi Mers,
Well first of all as you mentioned you're going to migrate from Notes to Exchange you need to be aware that in order to use the free migration tool from Microsoft, the Transporter Suite, you'll need to install an Exchange 2007 server FIRST before you start with your Exchange 2010 deployment. So I hope you haven't done any schema extensions or domain preperation steps because that would prevent you from running the transporter suite.
However there are a number of ways to perform the migration without using the transport suite but these are typically not free of charge, think of Quest, Transend etc..
So towards the sizing of your server you can definitely run all your mailboxes on a single server, but you'll need to get the processor, memory and storage sizing correctly. Microsoft provides you with a calculator tool that helps you with determining the resources you need for your server. I recommend you go through the Excel sheet which you can download from this location and come up with your own generic hardware specs:http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2009/11/09/453117.aspx
Additionally I know that HP performs frequent validation testing on their servers and even build their own sizing tool for Exchange 2010, you can go an build your own custom solution or use any of the pre-configured solution that you seem approperiate for your organizations:http://h71028.www7.hp.com/ActiveAnswers/us/en/sizers/microsoft-exchange-server-2010.html (--> However it seems the link is not available for the moment)More information on Exchange 2010Tiered Solutions from HP http://h20195.www2.hp.com/V2/GetPDF.aspx/4AA1-9602ENW.pdf,
Fair to say that other vendors, such as DELL, have similar tools and resources for Exchange 2010 which you can exploit. Just have a look on their website.
Also part of sizing your server specs is understanding your requirements, like for example:
Make sure you understand your current messaging environment very well and understand where you are going to tommorrow, it's not the same in terms of functionality & resiliency for example.
Finally wheter or not to use EDGE Servers is based on how you submit messages to the internet today, if each of those 5 departmental servers send individually their email directly to the internet without passing a mail relay and the same for messages coming from the internet then your Exchange 2010 server can do exactely that. However I strongly advise you to considering a mail relay in the perimeter network that performs anti-malware and anti-spam checks and protects your organization. There is no requirement for you to install an Exchange 2010 EDGE Server to perform this mail-relay role, but is definitely a "better together" choice and I would recommend you to consider it..
Hope this helps you to move forward ..
Sincerely,
Tonino BrunoTonino@btconsulting.be | ICT Consultant | B.T. Consulting bvba