EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft Exchange 2013 with Microsoft

IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE

EMC VSPEX FOR VIRTUALIZED MICROSOFT EXCHANGE 2013 WITH HYPER-V

EMC VSPEX

Abstract

This Implementation Guide describes, at a high level, the steps required to deploy a Microsoft Exchange 2013 organization on an EMC® VSPEX™ Proven Infrastructure enabled by Microsoft Hyper-V on EMC VNX® and EMC VNXe®.

June 2013

2 EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft Exchange 2013 with Microsoft Hyper-V Implementation Guide

Copyright © 2013 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Published in the USA.

Published June 2013

EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice.

The information in this publication is provided “as is”. EMC Corporation makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the information in this publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license.

EMC2, EMC, and the EMC logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

For the most up-to-date listing of EMC product names, see EMC Corporation Trademarks on EMC.com.

EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft Exchange 2013 with Microsoft Hyper-V Implementation Guide

Part Number H11799

http://www.emc.com/legal/emc-corporation-trademarks.htm

http://www.emc.com/legal/emc-corporation-trademarks.htm

Contents


Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction 10

Purpose of this guide ................................................................................................ 11

Business value ......................................................................................................... 11

Scope ....................................................................................................................... 12

Audience .................................................................................................................. 12

Terminology.............................................................................................................. 13

Chapter 2 Before You Start 14

Overview .................................................................................................................. 15

Pre-deployment tasks ............................................................................................... 15

Deployment workflow ............................................................................................... 16

Deployment prerequisites ........................................................................................ 16

Planning and sizing the Exchange Server 2013 environment .................................... 18

Essential reading ...................................................................................................... 21

VSPEX Design Guide ............................................................................................ 21

VSPEX Solution Overviews ................................................................................... 21

VSPEX Proven Infrastructures ............................................................................... 21

Chapter 3 Solution Overview 22

Overview .................................................................................................................. 23

Solution architecture ................................................................................................ 23

Key components ....................................................................................................... 24

Introduction ......................................................................................................... 24

Microsoft Exchange 2013 .................................................................................... 25

EMC VSPEX Proven Infrastructure ......................................................................... 26

EMC VNX and VNXe .............................................................................................. 27

EMC Unisphere .................................................................................................... 29

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V ...................................................... 29

MPIO and MCS ..................................................................................................... 29

EMC Storage Integrator ........................................................................................ 30

EMC PowerPath .................................................................................................... 30

Chapter 4 Solution Implementation 32

Overview .................................................................................................................. 33

Physical setup .......................................................................................................... 33

Contents


Network implementation .......................................................................................... 33

Storage implementation ........................................................................................... 34

Overview .............................................................................................................. 34

Setting up the initial VNX or VNXe configuration .................................................. 36

Provisioning storage for Hyper-V datastores ......................................................... 37

Provisioning storage for Exchange datastores and logs ........................................ 37

Configuring FAST Cache on VNX ........................................................................... 46

Configuring FAST VP on VNX ................................................................................. 47

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V infrastructure implementation ........... 49

Overview .............................................................................................................. 49

Installing the Windows hosts ............................................................................... 50

Installing and configuring Failover Clustering ....................................................... 50

Configuring Windows host networking ................................................................. 50

Configuring multipathing ..................................................................................... 50

Configuring the initiator to connect to VNX or VNXe via iSCSI ............................... 51

Publishing VNXe datastores or VNX LUNs to Hyper-V ............................................ 51

Connecting Hyper-V datastores ............................................................................ 51

Using EMC Storage Integrator to manage CSV disks for Exchange ........................ 52

Exchange Server virtualization implementation ........................................................ 52

Overview .............................................................................................................. 52

Creating the Exchange virtual machine ................................................................ 53

Installing the Exchange guest OS ......................................................................... 54

Installing integration services .............................................................................. 54

Assigning an IP address ....................................................................................... 54

Attaching pass-through disks to Exchange virtual machines ................................ 54

Using EMC Storage Integrator to manage pass-through disks for Exchange .......... 56

Application implementation ..................................................................................... 56

Overview .............................................................................................................. 56

Preparing Active Directory .................................................................................... 57

Installing the Exchange 2013 Mailbox server roles ............................................... 58

Installing the Exchange 2013 Client Access server role ........................................ 58

Deploying database availability group (DAG) ....................................................... 59

Chapter 5 Solution Verification 61

Baseline infrastructure verification ........................................................................... 62

Overview .............................................................................................................. 62

Verifying Hyper-V functionality ............................................................................. 62

Verifying solution component redundancy ........................................................... 62

Verifying the Exchange DAG configuration............................................................ 63

Contents


Monitoring the solution’s health .......................................................................... 64

Verifying the Exchange Server performance .............................................................. 65

Overview .............................................................................................................. 65

Using Jetstress to verify performance ................................................................... 65

Chapter 6 Reference Documentation 68

EMC documentation ................................................................................................. 69

Other documentation ............................................................................................... 69

Links ........................................................................................................................ 69

Appendix A Configuration Worksheet 72

Configuration worksheet for Exchange 2013 ............................................................. 73

Contents


Contents


Figures Solution architecture ........................................................................... 24 Figure 1.

VSPEX Proven Infrastructure ................................................................ 26 Figure 2.

Exchange storage elements on a Hyper-V and VNXe platform .............. 35 Figure 3.

Exchange storage elements on a Hyper-V and VNX platform ................ 36 Figure 4.

Example of storage layout for EMC VNX ............................................... 39 Figure 5.

Selecting storage pools ....................................................................... 40 Figure 6.

Creating a new pool ............................................................................. 41 Figure 7.

Specifying a pool name ....................................................................... 41 Figure 8.

Selecting the storage type ................................................................... 42 Figure 9.

Specifying the number of storage disks ............................................... 42 Figure 10.

Configuring storage for Microsoft Exchange ......................................... 43 Figure 11.

Selecting the storage pool ................................................................... 43 Figure 12.

Configuring host access ...................................................................... 44 Figure 13.

Adding Virtual Disk .............................................................................. 44 Figure 14.

Virtual disks for Exchange database and log ........................................ 45 Figure 15.

Storage layout example for EMC VNXe ................................................. 45 Figure 16.

Using ESI to manage the storage system ............................................. 46 Figure 17.

Storage Pool Properties-FAST Cache enabled ....................................... 47 Figure 18.

Expand Storage Pool dialog box .......................................................... 48 Figure 19.

CSV disk in Failover Cluster Manager ................................................... 51 Figure 20.

CSV disk in EMC Storage Integrator ...................................................... 52 Figure 21.

Rescanning disks ................................................................................ 54 Figure 22.

Adding disks ....................................................................................... 55 Figure 23.

Configuring pass-through disks in Failover Cluster Manager ................ 56 Figure 24.

Pass-through disks in EMC Storage Integrator ..................................... 56 Figure 25.

Mailbox Role selection ........................................................................ 58 Figure 26.

Exchange Client Access server role selection ....................................... 58 Figure 27.

Verifying the DAG configuration ........................................................... 63 Figure 28.

Verifying that DAG detects the failure .................................................. 63 Figure 29.

Contents


Tables Terminology......................................................................................... 13 Table 1.

Pre-deployment tasks .......................................................................... 15 Table 2.

Solution deployment process workflow ............................................... 16 Table 3.

Deployment prerequisites checklist ..................................................... 16 Table 4.

Exchange-related storage pools ........................................................... 18 Table 5.

Customer evaluation example ............................................................. 18 Table 6.

Example of required resources: small Exchange organization .............. 19 Table 7.

Example of storage recommendations—small Exchange organization . 20 Table 8.

Example of performance key metrics—Jetstress tool ............................ 20 Table 9.

Exchange 2013 server roles ................................................................. 25 Table 10.

VNX software suites ............................................................................. 27 Table 11.

VNX software packs ............................................................................. 28 Table 12.

VNXe software suites ........................................................................... 28 Table 13.

VNXe software packs ........................................................................... 29 Table 14.

Tasks for physical setup ...................................................................... 33 Table 15.

Tasks for switch and network configuration ......................................... 33 Table 16.

Tasks for the VNX or VNXe storage array configuration ......................... 34 Table 17.

Example additional storage pools for Exchange data on VNX ............... 37 Table 18.

Example additional storage pools for Exchange data on VNXe ............. 39 Table 20.

iSCSI LUN layout for Exchange on VNX ................................................. 40 Table 21.

Tasks for server installation ................................................................. 49 Table 22.

Exchange virtual machine installation and configuration ..................... 52 Table 23.

Example of Exchange reference virtual machines ................................. 53 Table 24.

Tasks for implementing an Exchange organization .............................. 57 Table 25.

Tasks for verifying the VSPEX installation ............................................ 62 Table 26.

Tools to monitor the solution ............................................................... 64 Table 27.

Example of verification questions for user profile ................................ 65 Table 28.

Key metrics for Jetstress verification .................................................... 66 Table 29.

Jetstress verification ............................................................................ 67 Table 30.

Common server information ................................................................ 73 Table 31.

Exchange information .......................................................................... 73 Table 32.

Hyper-V server information .................................................................. 73 Table 33.

Array information ................................................................................. 74 Table 34.

Network infrastructure information ...................................................... 74 Table 35.

VLAN information ................................................................................ 74 Table 36.

Contents


Chapter 1: Introduction


Chapter 1 Introduction

This chapter presents the following topics:

Purpose of this guide ............................................................................................... 11

Business value ......................................................................................................... 11

Scope ....................................................................................................................... 12

Audience .................................................................................................................. 12

Terminology ............................................................................................................. 13



Purpose of this guide

EMC® VSPEX™ Proven Infrastructures are optimized for virtualizing business-critical applications. VSPEX provides modular solutions built with technologies that enable faster deployment, more simplicity, greater choice, higher efficiency, and lower risk.

VSPEX provides partners with the ability to design and implement the virtual assets required to support Microsoft Exchange in a virtualized environment on an EMC VSPEX Private Cloud.

VSPEX provides a validated system capable of hosting a virtualized Exchange solution at a consistent performance level. This Proven Infrastructure solution is layered on a VSPEX Private Cloud for Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V architecture and uses the highly available EMC VNX® family, which provides the storage. The compute and network components, while vendor-definable, are laid out so they are redundant and powerful enough to handle the processing and data needs of the virtual machine environment.

This Implementation Guide describes how to implement, with best practices, the resources necessary to deploy Microsoft Exchange 2013 on any VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for Hyper-V.

Business value

Email is an indispensable lifeline for communication within your business, and connects you with customers, prospects, partners, and suppliers. IT administrators who support Microsoft Exchange are challenged with maintaining the highest possible performance and application efficiency levels. At the same time, most organizations struggle to keep pace with relentless data growth while working to overcome diminishing budgets. Administering, auditing, protecting, and managing an Exchange environment for a modern geographically diverse work force is a major challenge for most IT departments.

EMC has joined forces with the industry's leading providers of IT infrastructure to create a complete virtualization solution that accelerates the private cloud deployment with Microsoft Exchange.

VSPEX enables customers to accelerate their IT transformation with faster deployment, more simplicity, greater choice, higher efficiency, and lower risk versus the challenges, complexity, and difficulties of building an IT infrastructure themselves. VSPEX validation by EMC ensures predictable performance and enables customers to select technology that uses their existing or newly acquired IT infrastructure while eliminating planning, sizing, and configuration burdens that are typically associated with deploying a new IT infrastructure. VSPEX provides Exchange infrastructures for customers who want to simplify their system—which is characteristic of truly converged infrastructures—while at the same time gaining more choice in individual stack components.



Scope

This guide describes the high-level steps required to deploy Exchange 2013 on a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure with Hyper-V and VNX or VNXe®, and it provides best practices for Exchange implementations. The guide assumes that a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure already exists in the customer environment.

This guide applies to VSPEX Proven Infrastructures virtualized with Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V on VNX or VNXe. This document provides an example of a deployment on a VNX5700 and a VNXe3150. The same principles and guidelines apply to any other VNX or VNXe model.

Audience

This guide is intended for internal EMC personnel and qualified EMC VSPEX partners. The guide assumes that VSPEX partners who intend to deploy this VSPEX for virtualized Exchange 2013 solution are:

Qualified by Microsoft to sell and implement Exchange solutions

Certified in Exchange 2013 with one or both of the following Microsoft certifications:

Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) - Messaging - Core Solutions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 (Exam: 341)

Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) - Messaging - Advanced Solutions of Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 (Exam: 342)

Qualified by EMC to sell, install, and configure the VNX or VNXe series of storage systems

Certified to sell VSPEX Proven Infrastructures

Qualified to sell, install, and configure the network and server products required for VSPEX Proven Infrastructures

If you plan to deploy the solution, you must also have the necessary technical training and background to install and configure:

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V as a virtualization platform

Microsoft Windows Server 20012 operating systems (OS)

Microsoft Exchange 2013

This guide provides external references where applicable. EMC recommends that partners implementing this solution are familiar with these documents. For details, refer to Essential reading and Chapter 6: Reference Documentation.



Terminology

Table 1 lists the terminology used in this guide.

Terminology Table 1.

Term Definition

AD Active Directory

BDM Background Database Maintenance

CAS Client Access server

CIFS Common Internet File System

CSV Cluster-shared volume

DAG Database availability group

DNS Domain name system

FAST VP Fully Automated Storage Tiering for Virtual Pools

FQDN Fully Qualified Domain Name

IOPS Input/output operations per second

NIC Network interface card

NLB Microsoft Network Load Balancing

NL-SAS Near-line serial-attached SCSI

Reference virtual machine Represents a unit of measure for a single virtual machine to qualify the compute resources in a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure

rpm Revolutions per minute

SAS Serial-attached SCSI

VHD Hyper-V virtual hard disk format

VHDX Hyper-V virtual hard disk format—a new, enhanced format available in Microsoft Windows Server 2012

VSS Volume Shadow Copy Service

Chapter 2: Before You Start


Chapter 2 Before You Start


Overview .................................................................................................................. 15

Pre-deployment tasks .............................................................................................. 15

Deployment workflow .............................................................................................. 16

Deployment prerequisites ........................................................................................ 16

Planning and sizing the Exchange Server 2013 environment ................................... 18

Essential reading ..................................................................................................... 21



Overview

This chapter provides an overview of important information you need to be aware of, documents you need to be familiar with, and tasks you need to perform before you start implementing your VSPEX for virtualized Exchange 2013 solution.

The Design Guide for this solution—VSPEX for Virtualized Exchange 2013—describes how to size and design your solution and how to select the right VSPEX Proven Infrastructure on which to layer Exchange 2013. The deployment examples in this Implementation Guide are based on the recommendations and examples in the Design Guide.

Before you implement Exchange on a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure, EMC recommends that you check and complete the pre-deployment tasks described in Table 2.

Pre-deployment tasks

Pre-deployment tasks include procedures that do not directly relate to environment installation and configuration, but whose results are needed at the time of installation. Examples of pre-deployment tasks include the collection of hostnames, IP addresses, VLAN IDs, license keys, installation media, and so on. Perform these tasks before a customer visit to decrease the time required on site.

Table 2 describes the pre-deployment tasks for this solution.

Pre-deployment tasks Table 2.

Task Description References

Gather documents

Gather the related documents listed in Essential reading.

This guide often refers to these documents. They provide details on setup procedures, sizing, and deployment best practices for the various solution components.

Essential reading

Gather tools Gather the required and optional tools for the deployment.

Use Table 4 to confirm that all required equipment, software, and licenses are available for the deployment.

Deployment prerequisites

Gather data Collect the customer-specific configuration data for networking, arrays, accounts, and so on.

Enter this information into the Configuration Worksheet in Appendix A for reference during deployment.

Configuration worksheet for Exchange 2013



Deployment workflow

To design and implement your VSPEX for virtualized Exchange 2013 solution, refer to the process flow in Table 3.

Solution deployment process workflow Table 3.

Step Action

1 Use the VSPEX for virtualized Exchange 2013 qualification worksheet to collect user requirements. The qualification worksheet is in Appendix A of the Design Guide.

2 Use the EMC VSPEX Sizing Tool to determine the recommended VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for your Exchange Server solution, based on the user requirements collected in Step 1. Refer to the Design Guide for guidance.

For more information about the Sizing Tool, refer to the EMC VSPEX Sizing Tool Portal.

Note: If the Sizing Tool is not available, you can manually size the application using the guidelines in Appendix B of the Design Guide.

3 Determine the final design for your VSPEX solution. Refer to the Design Guide for guidance.

Note: Make sure to consider all application requirements, not just the requirements for Exchange Server.

4 Select and order the right VSPEX Proven Infrastructure. Refer to the appropriate VSPEX Proven Infrastructure document in Essential reading for guidance.

5 Follow this Implementation Guide to deploy and test your VSPEX solution.

Note: If you already have a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure environment, you can skip the implementation steps already completed.

Deployment prerequisites

This guide applies to VSPEX Proven Infrastructures virtualized with VMware on VNX or VNXe. The principles and guidance from the example provided and carried through this guide applies to all VNX or VNXe models that VSPEX Proven Infrastructure offers.

Table 4 itemizes the hardware, software, and licenses required to configure this solution. For additional information, refer to the hardware and software tables in the relevant VSPEX Proven Infrastructure document in Essential reading.

Deployment prerequisites checklist Table 4.

Requirement Description Version References/Notes

Hardware Physical servers: Sufficient physical server capacity to host the required number of virtual machines as recommended by the VSPEX Sizing Tool and Design Guide

Networking: Switch port capacity and capabilities as required by the virtual server infrastructure

https://express.salire.com/signin.aspx?t=emc&atid=224a9bcc-caa3-48f4-8ff8-33051513c410&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1



Requirement Description Version References/Notes

EMC VNX or VNXe: Multiprotocol storage array with the required disk layout

Note The storage should be sufficient to support the total reference virtual machines required and the additional storage layout for applications.

Software VNXe Operating Environment (OE) 2.4.0.20932

VNX OE for block 5.32.000.5.201

VNX OE for file 7.1.65-8

EMC Unisphere® for VNX 1.2.25.1.0156

Unisphere for VNXe 1.9.0.11964

EMC Storage Integrator 2.1 EMC Storage Integrator for Windows Suite Technical Notes

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter edition

Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 Standard or Enterprise edition

Jetstress 2013 version 15.00.0658.004

For verification tests only

EMC PowerPath® 5.7

Licenses Microsoft Windows Server license keys

Note: This requirement may be covered by an existing Software Assurance agreement and may be found on an existing customer Microsoft Key Management Server (KMS) (if applicable)

2012 (Standard or Datacenter)

http://www.microsoft.com

Microsoft Exchange Server license key 2013 (Standard or Enterprise)

http://www.microsoft.com/



Planning and sizing the Exchange Server 2013 environment

To plan and size your Exchange Server 2013 environment on the VSPEX Proven Infrastructure, follow the recommendations and guidelines in the Design Guide. Use the VSPEX Sizing Tool and the VSPEX qualification worksheet, as described in that guide.

In this VSPEX solution, we1 introduced general storage pools that are used to store Exchange data (in an Exchange database availability group (DAG) deployment with two copies for each database), as shown in Table 5. For detailed information, refer to the Design Guide.

Exchange-related storage pools Table 5.

Storage pool name Purpose

VSPEX private cloud pool

The infrastructure pool where all the virtual machines’ OS volumes reside.

For details, refer to the VSPEX Proven Infrastructure listed in Essential reading.

Exchange storage pool 1

The pool where all the Exchange database files and log files of the first database copy reside.

Exchange storage pool 2

The pool where all the Exchange database files and log files of the second database copy reside.

The Design Guide introduces this example. A customer wants to create a small Exchange 2013 organization on a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure. Complete a customer evaluation, as illustrated in Table 6, to determine the requirements needed to create the Exchange environment. For more detailed information about this example, refer to the Design Guide.

Customer evaluation example Table 6.

Question Example answer

Number of mailboxes 900

Maximum mailbox size (GB) 1.5 GB

Mailbox IOPS profile (messages sent/received per mailbox per day)

0.101 IOPS per mailbox (150 messages sent/received per mailbox per day)

DAG copies (including Active) 2

Deleted Items Retention (DIR) window (days) 14

Backup/Truncation Failure Tolerance (days) 3

Included number of years’ growth 1

1 In this guide, “we” refers to the EMC Solutions engineering team that validated the solution.




Annual growth rate (number of mailboxes) (%) 11%

Using the completed qualification worksheet from the customer, enter those answers into the VSPEX Sizing Tool to obtain the following results:

Required resources table that lists the number of virtual machines and their characteristics.

Storage Recommendations table that lists the additional storage hardware required to run Exchange Server in addition to the VSPEX private cloud pools.

Performance metrics table that lists the key performance metrics that should be achieved in the Jetstress tests. EMC recommends that you run Jetstress tests to verify the Exchange performance before putting Exchange in the production environment. For more information, refer to Verifying the Exchange Server performance in this guide.

Table 7 through Table 9 provide examples based on the customer information provided in Table 6. Use the VSPEX Sizing Tool and follow the recommendations in the Design Guide to determine the number of server roles required for your Exchange organization, and the resources required for each server role.

Table 7 provides an example of equivalent reference virtual machine requirements for different Exchange Server roles used in this solution. Set up two Exchange Mailbox servers and two Client Access servers to support the requirements for a small Exchange organization. Then determine the equivalent number of reference virtual machines required for each Exchange server role by calculating the maximum amount of individual resources (CPU, memory, capacity, and IOPS) required.

Example of required resources: small Exchange organization Table 7.

Exchange Server role vCPU Memory OS volume capacity

OS volume IOPS

No. of virtual machines

Total reference virtual machines

Mailbox server

Resource requirements

4 36 GB 200 GB Less than

25 2 36

Equivalent reference virtual machines

4 18 2 1

Client Access server



25 2 12


4 6 1 1

Total equivalent reference virtual machines 48



For example, each Mailbox server requires four vCPUs, 36 GB of memory, 200 GB of storage, and 25 IOPS. This translates to:

Four reference virtual machines of CPU

Eighteen reference virtual machines of memory

Two reference virtual machine of capacity

One reference virtual machine of IOPS

The values round up to 18 reference virtual machines for each Mailbox server, multiplied by the number of virtual machines needed (two in this example), which results in 36 total reference virtual machines for the Mailbox server role.

18 reference virtual machines x 2 virtual machines = 36 total

reference virtual machines

For more details about how to determine the equivalent reference virtual machines, refer to the appropriate document in Essential reading.

Table 8 shows an example of EMC’s storage recommendations for a small Exchange organization.

Example of storage recommendations—small Exchange organization Table 8.

Recommended additional storage layout

Storage pool name RAID type Disk type Disk capacity No. of disks

Exchange storage pool 1 RAID 5 (4+1) 15,000 rpm SAS disks 600 GB 10

Exchange storage pool 2 RAID 5 (4+1) 15,000 rpm SAS disks 600 GB 10

Table 9 shows an example of EMC’s performance key metrics using Jetstress for a small Exchange organization.

Example of performance key metrics—Jetstress tool Table 9.

Performance counters Target values

Achieved Exchange transactional IOPS

(I/O database reads/sec + I/O database writes/sec)

Number of mailboxes * Exchange 2013 user IOPS profile

I/O database reads/sec N/A (for analysis purpose)

I/O database writes/sec N/A (for analysis purpose)

Total IOPS

(I/O database reads/sec + I/O database writes/sec + BDM reads/sec + I/O log replication reads/sec + I/O log writes/sec)

N/A (for analysis purpose)

I/O database reads average latency (ms) Less than 20 ms

I/O log reads average latency (ms) Less than 10 ms



Essential reading

EMC recommends that you read the following documents, available from the VSPEX space in the EMC Community Network or from EMC.com or the VSPEX Proven Infrastructure partner portal.

Refer to the following VSPEX Design Guide:

EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft Exchange 2013

Refer to the following VSPEX Solution Overview documents:

EMC VSPEX Server Virtualization for Midmarket Businesses

EMC VSPEX Server Virtualization for Small and Medium Businesses

Refer to the following VSPEX Proven Infrastructure documents:

EMC VSPEX Private Cloud Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V for up to 100 Virtual Machines

EMC VSPEX Private Cloud Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V for up to 500 Virtual Machines

VSPEX Design Guide

VSPEX Solution Overviews

VSPEX Proven Infrastructures

https://community.emc.com/community/partner/vspex?view=overview

http://www.emc.com/resource-library/resource-library.htm

http://www.emc.com/platform/virtualizing-information-infrastructure/vspex.htm

http://www.emc.com/platform/virtualizing-information-infrastructure/vspex.htm

Chapter 3: Solution Overview


Chapter 3 Solution Overview


Overview .................................................................................................................. 23

Solution architecture ............................................................................................... 23

Key components ...................................................................................................... 24



Overview

This chapter provides an overview of the VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for virtualized Exchange and the key technologies used in this solution. The solution has been proven and designed to be layered on a VSPEX Private Cloud, which uses storage, compute, and network resources. The solution enables customers to quickly and consistently deploy a virtualized Exchange organization in a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure. VNX or VNXe and Microsoft Hyper-V virtualized Windows Server platforms provide storage and server hardware consolidation.

This Implementation Guide supports all VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for virtualized Exchange solutions with Hyper-V and VNX or VNXe. This guide uses, as working examples, 500 virtual machines enabled by EMC VNX and Hyper-V, and 50 virtual machines enabled by EMC VNXe and Hyper-V.

The solution includes the servers, EMC storage, network components, and Exchange components that are focused on small- and medium-sized business environments.

The VNX and VNXe storage arrays are multi-protocol platforms that can support the Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI), Network File System (NFS), and Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocols depending on the customer’s specific needs. EMC validated the solution using iSCSI for Exchange database and log files.

This solution requires the presence of Microsoft Active Directory (AD) and domain name system (DNS). The implementation of these services is beyond the scope of this guide, but is considered a prerequisite for a successful deployment.

Solution architecture

Figure 1 shows an example of the architecture that characterizes the validated infrastructure for the support of Exchange 2013 layered on a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure. You can use any VNX or VNXe model that has been validated as part of the VSPEX Proven Infrastructure to provide the back-end storage functionality.

In this example, we deployed two Exchange Mailbox servers and two Exchange Client Access servers as virtual machines on a Windows Server 2012 with a Hyper-V cluster to meet a small Exchange organization’s requirements as shown in Table 6.



Solution architecture Figure 1.

For more details, refer to the appropriate documents in Essential reading.

Key components

This section provides an overview of the key technologies used in this solution, including:


EMC VSPEX Proven Infrastructure

EMC VNX and VNXe

EMC Unisphere

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V

Multipath I/O (MPIO) and Multiple Connections per Session (MCS)

EMC Storage Integrator

EMC PowerPath

Introduction



Microsoft Exchange 2013 is an enterprise email and communication system that allows businesses and customers to collaborate and share information. EMC enhances Exchange 2013 with the industry’s broadest choice of storage platforms, software, and services.

Exchange 2013 builds upon the Exchange Server 2010 architecture and has been redesigned for simplicity of scale, hardware utilization, and failure isolation. Exchange 2013 uses Database Availability Groups (DAGs) and mailbox database copies, along with other features such as single item recovery, retention policies, and lagged database copies, to provide high availability, site resilience, and Exchange native data protection. The high availability platform, the Exchange Information Store and the Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) have all been enhanced to provide greater availability, easier management, and to reduce costs.

Improvements with the application database structure and input/output (I/O) reduction include support for a larger variety of disk and RAID configurations including high-performance Flash drives, Fibre Channel (FC) drives, serial-attached SCSI (SAS) drives, and slower-performing SATA and near-line serial-attached SCSI (NL-SAS) drives.

Exchange 2007 and Exchange 2010 include defined server roles that allowed scale out through server separation, including Mailbox server, Client Access server, Hub Transport server, Edge Transport server, and Unified Messaging server. Exchange 2013 reduces the number of server roles to two—the Client Access server role and the Mailbox server role, as described in Table 10.

Exchange 2013 server roles Table 10.

Role Function

Mailbox server Client Access protocols

Transport service

Mailbox databases

Unified Messaging (Except SIP Redirection)

Handles all activities for active mailboxes on that server

Client Access server Authentication

Redirection (limited)

Proxy services for HTTP, POP, IMAP, and SMTP

Thin and Stateless Server

Does not do any data rendering

Nothing is queued or stored here (except diagnostic logging)

At the time of publication, an Exchange 2013 version of the Edge Transport server is not available. If your customer requires an Edge Transport server, they can install an Exchange 2007 or Exchange 2010 Edge Transport server in the perimeter network.




EMC has joined forces with the industry’s leading providers of IT infrastructure to create a complete virtualization solution that accelerates private cloud deployment. VSPEX enables faster deployment, more simplicity, greater choice, higher efficiency, and lower risk. Validation by EMC ensures predictable performance and enables customers to select technology that uses their existing IT infrastructure while eliminating planning, sizing, and configuration burdens. VSPEX provides a virtual infrastructure for customers looking to gain the simplicity that is characteristic of truly converged infrastructures, while at the same time gaining more choice in individual stack components.

VSPEX solutions are proven by EMC and packaged and sold exclusively by EMC channel partners. VSPEX provides channel partners with more opportunity, a faster sales cycle, and end-to-end enablement. By working closely together, EMC and its channel partners can now deliver infrastructure that accelerates the journey to the cloud for even more customers.

VSPEX Proven Infrastructure, as shown in Figure 2, is a modular virtualized infrastructure exclusively delivered by EMC’s VSPEX partners. VSPEX includes a virtualization layer, server, network, and storage designed by EMC to deliver reliable and predictable performance.

VSPEX Proven Infrastructure Figure 2.

VSPEX provides the flexibility to choose network, server, and virtualization technologies that fit a customer’s environment to create a complete virtualization solution. VSPEX delivers faster deployment for EMC partner customers, with greater simplicity and efficiency, more choice, and lower risk to a customer’s business.

You can deploy application-based solutions such as Exchange on VSPEX Proven Infrastructures. We validated the VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for virtualized Exchange

EMC VSPEX Proven Infrastructure



solution using VNXe and a Hyper-V virtualized Windows Server platform to provide storage and server hardware consolidation. You can centrally manage the virtualized infrastructure, which enables you to efficiently deploy and manage a scalable number of virtual machines and associated shared storage.

The EMC VNX family, including VNXe, is optimized for virtual applications delivering innovation and enterprise capabilities for file, block, and object storage in a scalable, easy-to-use solution. This next-generation storage platform combines powerful and flexible hardware with advanced efficiency, management, and protection software to meet the demanding needs of today's enterprises.

The VNX family is powered by Intel® Xeon® processors for intelligent storage that automatically and efficiently scales in performance, while ensuring data integrity and security.

The VNX series is designed to meet the high-performance, high-scalability requirements of midsize and large enterprises. The VNXe series is purpose-built for the IT manager in smaller environments.

VNX features

VNX supports the following features:

Next-generation unified storage, optimized for virtualized applications

Capacity optimization features including compression, deduplication, thin provisioning, and application-centric copies

High availability, designed to deliver five 9s availability

Automated tiering with Fully Automated Storage Tiering for Virtual Pools (FAST VP) and EMC FAST™ Cache that can be optimized for the highest system performance and lowest storage cost simultaneously

Multiprotocol support for file, block, and object with object access through EMC Atmos™ Virtual Edition (Atmos VE)

Simplified management with Unisphere for a single management interface for all network-attached storage (NAS), storage area network (SAN), and replication needs

Up to three times improvement in performance with the latest Intel Xeon multicore processor technology, optimized for Flash

VNX software suites available

Table 11 lists the software suites that are available with VNX.

VNX software suites Table 11.

Suite Features

FAST Suite Automatically optimizes for the highest system performance and the lowest storage cost simultaneously

Local Protection Suite Practices safe data protection and repurposing

EMC VNX and VNXe



Suite Features

Remote Protection Suite Protects data against localized failures, outages, and disasters

Application Protection Suite Automates application copies and proves compliance

Security and Compliance Suite Keeps data safe from changes, deletions, and malicious activity

VNX software packs available

Table 12 lists the software packs that are available with VNX.

VNX software packs Table 12.

Software pack Features

Total Efficiency Pack Includes all five software suites

Total Protection Pack Includes local, remote, and application protection suites

VNXe features

VNXe supports the following features:

Next-generation unified storage, optimized for virtualized applications

Capacity optimization features including compression, deduplication, thin provisioning, and application-centric copies

High availability, designed to deliver five 9s availability

Multiprotocol support for file and block

Simplified management with EMC Unisphere for a single management interface for all NAS, SAN, and replication needs

VNXe software suites available

Table 13 lists the software suites that are available with VNXe.

VNXe software suites Table 13.

Software suite Features

Local Protection Suite Increases productivity with snapshots of production data

Remote Protection Suite Protects data against localized failures, outages, and disasters

Application Protection Suite Automates application copies and proves compliance

Security and Compliance Suite Keeps data safe from changes, deletions, and malicious activity



VNXe software packs available

Table 14 lists the software packs that are available with VNXe.

VNXe software packs Table 14.

Component Features

VNXe3300 Total Protection Pack

Includes local, remote, and application protection suites

VNXe3150 Total Value Pack

Includes remote and application protection suites, and security and compliance suite

EMC Unisphere is the next-generation unified storage management platform that provides intuitive user interfaces for the newest range of unified platforms including the VNX and VNXe series. Unisphere’s approach to storage management fosters simplicity, flexibility, self-help, and automation—all key requirements for the journey to the cloud. Unisphere can be customized to the needs of a mid-size company, a department within a large enterprise, or a smaller remote or branch office environment. With Unisphere’s pluggable architecture, it is easily extendable and continues its seamless support for additional EMC offerings, including integration with data protection and security.

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V provides a complete virtualization platform, which provides increased scalability and performance with a flexible solution from the data center to the cloud. It makes it easier for organizations to realize cost savings from virtualization and to optimize server hardware investments. Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V high-availability options includes:

Incremental backup support

Enhancements in clustered environments to support virtual adapters within the virtual machine

Inbox network interface card (NIC) teaming.

In Hyper-V, shared nothing live migration enables the migration of a virtual machine from a server running Hyper-V to another one without the need for both of them to be in the same cluster or to share storage.

Multipathing solutions use redundant physical path components adapters, cables, and switches to create logical paths between the server and the storage device.

Microsoft MPIO architecture supports iSCSI, FC, and SAS SAN connectivity by establishing multiple sessions or connections to the storage array. In the event that one or more of these components fails, causing the path to fail, multipathing logic uses an alternate path for I/O so that applications can still access their data. Each network interface card (NIC) (for iSCSI) or host bus adapter (HBA) should be connected by using redundant switch infrastructures to provide continued access to storage in the event of a failure in a storage fabric component.

EMC Unisphere

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V

MPIO and MCS



Multiple Connections per Session (MCS) is a feature of the iSCSI protocol, which enables combining several connections inside a single session for performance and failover purposes.

Note Microsoft does not support the use of both MPIO and MCS connections to the same device. Use either MPIO or MCS to manage paths to storage and load balance policies.

EMC Storage Integrator (ESI) is an agentless, no-charge plug-in that enables application-aware storage provisioning for Microsoft Windows server applications, Hyper-V, VMware, and Xen Server environments. ESI enables administrators to easily provision block and file storage for Windows or Exchange sites. With ESI, you can:

Provision, format, and present drives to Windows servers

Provision new cluster disks and add them to the cluster automatically

Provision shared CIFS storage and mount it to Windows server

EMC recommends that you install EMC PowerPath on Windows 2012 Hyper-V hosts for advanced multipathing functionality, such as intelligent path testing and performance optimization. PowerPath is a server-resident software solution designed to enhance performance and application availability. PowerPath combines automatic load balancing, path failover, and multiple path I/O capabilities into one integrated package.

PowerPath for Windows is an intelligent path management application specifically designed to work within the Microsoft Multipathing I/O (MPIO) framework. PowerPath enhances application availability by providing load balancing, automatic path failover, and recovery functionality.

EMC Storage Integrator

EMC PowerPath



Chapter 4: Solution Implementation


Chapter 4 Solution Implementation


Overview .................................................................................................................. 33

Physical setup.......................................................................................................... 33

Network implementation .......................................................................................... 33

Storage implementation .......................................................................................... 34

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V infrastructure implementation ......... 49

Exchange Server virtualization implementation ....................................................... 52

Application implementation ..................................................................................... 56



Overview

This chapter describes how to implement the solution. If you already have a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure environment, you can skip the sections for the implementation steps you have already completed.

Physical setup

This section includes preparation information for the solution’s physical components. After you complete the tasks in Table 15, the new hardware components are racked, cabled, powered, and ready for network connection.

Tasks for physical setup Table 15.

Task Description Reference

Prepare network switches

Install switches in the rack and connect them to power.

Vendor installation guide

Prepare servers Install the servers in the rack and connect them to power.

Vendor installation guide

Prepare VNX or VNXe

Install the VNX or VNXe storage array in the rack and connect it to power.

VNXe Installation Guide

VNX Unified Installation Guide

For details of the physical setup, refer to the appropriate VSPEX Proven Infrastructure document Essential reading.

Network implementation

This section provides the network infrastructure requirements that you need to support the solution architecture. Table 16 provides a summary of the tasks for switch and network configuration and references for further information.

Tasks for switch and network configuration Table 16.


Configure infrastructure network

Configure storage array and Windows host infrastructure networking as specified in the solution VSPEX Proven Infrastructure.

Refer to the appropriate document in Essential reading

Complete network cabling

Connect:

Switch interconnect ports

VNX or VNXe ports

Windows server ports

Configure VLANs Configure private and public VLANs as required.

Vendor switch configuration guide



For network implementation details, refer to the appropriate VSPEX Proven Infrastructure document in Essential reading.

Storage implementation

This section describes how to configure the VNX or VNXe storage array. This guide uses iSCSI as a block storage example for the Exchange 2013 database and log volumes.

Note Microsoft has support policies on the types of storage (file or block protocols) that can be used by the Exchange 2013 virtual machines for Exchange data. For detailed information, refer to the Microsoft TechNet topic Exchange 2013 Virtualization.

Table 17 provides a summary of the tasks required for switch and network configuration, and references for further information.

Tasks for the VNX or VNXe storage array configuration Table 17.


Set up the initial VNX or VNXe configuration

Configure the IP address information and other key parameters, such as DNS and Network Time Protocol (NTP), on the VNX or VNXe.



EMC VNXe Series Using a VNXe System with Generic iSCSI Storage

EMC Host Connectivity Guide for Windows

Provision the storage for Hyper-V datastores

Create storage pools and provision storage that will be presented to the Windows servers as Hyper-V datastores hosting the virtual machines.

Provision the storage for Exchange databases and logs

Create storage pools and provision storage that will be presented to the Exchange Mailbox server virtual machines as pass-through disks hosting the virtual machines.

Figure 3 shows the high-level architecture between the Exchange components and storage elements validated in a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for virtualized Exchange on a Hyper-V virtualization platform and VNXe storage array.

Overview

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj619301(v=exchg.150).aspx



The system volumes of all virtual machines are stored in the new Hyper-V virtual hard disk format (VHDX) on a cluster-shared volume (CSV). All Exchange database and log LUNs are presented to the virtual machines as pass-through disks.

Exchange storage elements on a Hyper-V and VNXe platform Figure 3.



Figure 4 shows the high-level architecture between the Exchange components and storage elements validated in a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure for virtualized Exchange on a Hyper-V virtualization platform and VNX storage array. The system volumes of all virtual machines are stored in Hyper-V VHDX disks on a CSV, and all Exchange database and log LUNs are presented to the virtual machines as pass-through disks.

Exchange storage elements on a Hyper-V and VNX platform Figure 4.

Ensure that network interfaces, IP address information, and other key parameters such as DNS and NTP are configured on the VNX or VNXe before provisioning the storage.

For more information about how to configure the VNX or VNXe platform, refer to the appropriate VSPEX Proven Infrastructure document listed in Essential reading.

Setting up the initial VNX or VNXe configuration



To configure the iSCSI servers on VNX or VNXe and provision storage for Hyper-V datastores, refer to the appropriate VSPEX Proven Infrastructure document listed in Essential reading.

In this solution, all the Exchange database and log LUNs are presented to Exchange Mailbox server virtual machines as pass-through disks. Before you provision the storage for Exchange, follow the recommendations and VSPEX Sizing Tool proposals in the Design Guide.

Provisioning storage for Exchange on VNX

Table 18 shows an example of storage pools for Exchange on VNX, in addition to the VSPEX private cloud pool. For more information about the storage layout recommendations and design, refer to the Design Guide.

Example additional storage pools for Exchange data on VNX Table 18.

Storage pool name RAID type Disk type Disk capacity

No. of disks

Exchange database pool 1 RAID 1/0 (16+16) 7,200 rpm NL-SAS disks 3 TB 32

Exchange database pool 2 RAID 1/0 (16+16) 7,200 rpm NL-SAS disks 3 TB 32

Exchange log pool 1 RAID 1/0 (2+2) 7,200 rpm NL-SAS disks 3 TB 4

Exchange log pool 2 RAID 1/0 (2+2) 7,200 rpm NL-SAS disks 3 TB 4

To configure iSCSI network settings, storage pools, iSCSI LUNs, and storage groups on the VNX array:

1. In Unisphere, select the VNX array that is to be used in this solution.

2. Select Settings > Network > Settings for Block.

3. Configure the IP address for network ports used for iSCSI.

4. Select Storage > Storage Configuration > Storage Pools.

5. Select Pools and create the additional storage pools in the VNX for Exchange database and transaction logs, according to the VSPEX Sizing Tool recommendation.

6. Right-click a storage pool and click Create LUN to provision the LUNs in each. Table 19 shows an example of iSCSI LUN layout for Exchange databases and transaction logs.

Example iSCSI LUN layout for Exchange data on VNX Table 19.

Server role LUN name LUN size No. of LUNs

Storage pool name

Exchange Mailbox server 1

Database LUNs 1,900 GB 4 Exchange database pool 1

Log LUNs 110 GB 4 Exchange log pool 1

Exchange Database LUNs 1,900 GB 4 Exchange database pool 2

Provisioning storage for Hyper-V datastores

Provisioning storage for Exchange datastores and logs



Server role LUN name LUN size No. of LUNs Storage pool name

Mailbox server 2 Log LUNs 110 GB 4 Exchange log pool 2



















7. Select Host > Storage Groups.

8. To create storage groups to unmask LUNs to the Hyper-V hosts:

a. Click Create and type a name for the storage group.

b. Click Yes to finish the creation.

c. Click Yes to select LUNs or connect hosts.

d. Select LUNs. Under Available LUNs, select all the LUNs created in the previous steps and click Add.

e. Select Hosts. Under Available Hosts, select the Hyper-V servers to be used and add them to The Hosts to be Connected.

f. Click OK to finish.



Figure 5 shows an example of a storage layout for VNX. The number of disks used in the VSPEX private cloud pool may vary according to your customer’s requirements. For detailed information, refer to the appropriate document in Essential reading.

Example of storage layout for EMC VNX Figure 5.

Provisioning storage for Exchange on VNXe

Table 20 shows an example of storage pools for Exchange on VNXe, in addition to the VSPEX private cloud pool. For more information about the storage layout recommendations and design, refer to the Design Guide.

Example additional storage pools for Exchange data on VNXe Table 20.

Storage pool name RAID type Disk type Disk capacity

No. of disks

Exchange data pool 1 RAID 5 (4+1) 15,000 rpm SAS disks 600 GB 10

Exchange data pool 2 RAID 5 (4+1) 15,000 rpm SAS disks 600 GB 10



Table 21 shows an example of iSCSI LUN layout for Exchange databases and transaction logs.

iSCSI LUN layout for Exchange on VNX Table 21.

Server role LUN name LUN size No. of LUNs Storage pool name


Database LUNs 1,520 GB 2 Exchange data pool 1

Log LUNs 90 GB 2 Exchange data pool 1


Database LUNs 1,520 GB 2 Exchange data pool 2

Log LUNs 90 GB 2 Exchange data pool 2

To provision storage for Exchange databases, use EMC Unisphere to:

1. Create a storage pool.

2. Run the application-provisioning wizard.

Creating a storage pool To create a storage pool:

1. Log in to Unisphere as an administrator.

2. Select System > Storage Pools, as shown in Figure 6.

Selecting storage pools Figure 6.

3. Open the Disk Configuration wizard by clicking Configure Disks.



4. Select the storage pool configuration mode by selecting Manually create a new pool as shown in Figure 7 and then click Next.

Creating a new pool Figure 7.

5. The Specify Pool Name dialog box displays. Type a name and optional description for the storage pool, as shown in Figure 8, and then click Next.

Specifying a pool name Figure 8.



6. The Select Storage Type screen appears. Select a disk type for the storage pool, as shown in Figure 9, according to the VSPEX Sizing Tool recommendation. In this solution, use RAID 5 (4+1). Click Next.

Selecting the storage type Figure 9.

7. Select the number of disks to use for the storage pool according to the VSPEX Sizing Tool recommendation, as shown in Figure 10, and then click Next.

Specifying the number of storage disks Figure 10.

8. The Summary window opens. Verify that the information is correct, and then click Finish.

Note For an Exchange 2013 DAG deployment, provision each DAG copy in a separate storage pool. The example presented above is sufficient for one DAG copy. Repeat this procedure for each additional DAG copy.



Creating the iSCSI virtual disk storage VNXe includes an Exchange wizard for you to provision storage for Exchange 2007 or 2010; however, for Exchange 2013, you need to use the generic iSCSI storage wizard. To configure the storage for Exchange 2013:

1. Log in to Unisphere as an administrator.

2. Select Storage > Microsoft Exchange, as shown in Figure 11, and then click Create.

Configuring storage for Microsoft Exchange Figure 11.

3. The Generic iSCSI Storage wizard opens. Type a name and description for this iSCSI storage, and click Next.

4. The Configure Storage dialog box appears. Select the storage pool created previously for the DAG copy, as shown in Figure 12, and fill in the size of the first Exchange database LUN. Then click Next.

Selecting the storage pool Figure 12.



5. The Configure Protection dialog box displays. Select the protection options for the storage pool, according to the VSPEX Sizing Tool recommendation and then click Next. In this solution, do not enable snapshots.

6. The Configure Host Access dialog box displays as next. Specify the host access for this deployment, as shown in Figure 13. In this solution, assign access rights to both Hyper-V nodes in the cluster, and then click Next.

Configuring host access Figure 13.

7. The Summary window opens. Verify the details, and then click Finish.

8. The Results dialog box opens. Review the results and ensure the job completes successfully.

9. Select Add Virtual Disk, as shown in Figure 14, and then click Close. The Virtual Disk Wizard appears to allow you continue to create additional Exchange database and log LUNs.

Adding Virtual Disk Figure 14.

10. Add all Exchange database and log LUNs from the same DAG copy as virtual disks by repeating the steps above. Figure 15 shows the iSCSI storage created for one DAG copy.



Virtual disks for Exchange database and log Figure 15.

Note The steps presented above are sufficient for one DAG copy. Repeat this procedure for each additional DAG copy.

11. The Summary window opens. Verify the details, and then click Finish.

Figure 16 shows the target storage layout for the VNXe system used in this solution. The number of disks used in the VSPEX private cloud pool may vary according to your customer's requirements. For detailed information, refer to the appropriate document in VSPEX Proven Infrastructures.

Storage layout example for EMC VNXe Figure 16.



Using EMC Storage Integrator to manage storage for Exchange

You can also use EMC Storage Integrator (ESI) to provision and manage storage for Exchange on VNX or VNXe, and use ESI to view the storage provisioned for Exchange on VNXe, as shown in Figure 17. ESI simplifies the steps involved in viewing, provisioning, and managing block and file storage for Microsoft Windows. For more information, refer to the EMC Storage Integrator for Windows Suite Product Guide.

Using ESI to manage the storage system Figure 17.

The following sections describe FAST Cache and FAST VP implementation steps on the VNX storage array. Due to the changes in Exchange 2013 storage architecture, which results in lower I/O to storage devices and the trend to deploy larger mailboxes, many Exchange designs are capable of using high-capacity, low revolutions per minute (rpm) drives (for example, 7.2 k rpm NL-SAS). However, there are Exchange configurations with considerably higher I/O demands and smaller mailbox requirements that would benefit from adding Flash drives and enabling FAST Cache or FAST VP.

Enabling FAST Cache on a VNX series array is a transparent operation to Exchange. No reconfiguration or downtime is necessary. To use the FAST Cache feature, EMC recommends that you enable FAST Cache on the Exchange database storage pool. Do not enable FAST Cache on the Exchange log storage pool. For more details about FAST Cache best practices, refer to the Design Guide.

Configuring FAST Cache on VNX



To create and configure FAST Cache:

1. Refer to VSPEX Proven Infrastructures for detailed steps about how to create FAST Cache in Unisphere.

2. After creating the FAST Cache in Unisphere, select Storage, then select Storage Pool.

3. Choose an Exchange Database Pool, and click Properties.

4. In the Storage Pool Properties Advanced tab, select Enabled to enable FAST Cache, as shown in Figure 18, and then click OK.

Storage Pool Properties-FAST Cache enabled Figure 18.

Note: FAST Cache on the VNX series array does not cause an instant performance improvement. The system must collect data about access patterns and promote frequently used information into the cache. This process can take a few hours, during which, the performance of the array steadily improves.

If FAST VP is enabled on the VNX array, you can add additional Flash disks (or SAS disks) into the Exchange database pool as an extreme performance tier (for a performance tier). In the example storage layout for VNX shown in Figure 5 on page 39, this feature was not enabled on the Exchange database pools. For more information about FAST VP design considerations for Exchange, refer to the Design Guide.

Configuring FAST VP on VNX



To add Flash disks to an existing Exchange database pool, using these steps:

1. In Unisphere, select Storage, then select Storage Pool.

2. Choose an Exchange database pool and click Properties.

3. Select Disks Type and click Expand to view the Expand Storage Pool dialog box.

4. Under Extreme Performance, from the list boxes, select the number of Flash disks and RAID configuration to add into the Exchange database storage pool for tiering, as shown in Figure 19. EMC recommends using RAID 5 for the extreme performance tier in the Exchange database storage pool.

5. Under Disks, review the Flash drives that you will use for the extreme performance tier. You can choose the drives manually by selecting Manual. Click OK.

Expand Storage Pool dialog box Figure 19.



Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V infrastructure implementation

This section lists the requirements for installing and configuring the Windows hosts and infrastructure servers required to support the architecture. Table 22 describes the tasks required to complete the implementation.

Tasks for server installation Table 22.


Install Windows hosts Install Windows Server 2012 on the physical servers deployed for the solution.

Install and configure Failover Clustering

Add the server role Hyper-V.

Add the Failover Clustering feature.

Create and configure the Hyper-V cluster.

Deploy a Hyper-V Cluster

Configure Windows hosts networking

Configure Windows hosts networking including network interface card (NIC) teaming.

Configure multipathing Configure multipathing to optimize connectivity with the storage arrays.

Understanding MPIO Features and Components

EMC PowerPath and PowerPath/VE for Windows Installation and Administration Guide

Configure initiator to connect to a VNX or VNXe iSCSI server

Configure Windows Server 2012 initiator to connect a VNX or VNXe iSCSI server.

EMC VNXe Series Using a VNXe System with Microsoft Windows Hyper-V


Publish VNX or VNXe datastores to Hyper-V

Configure the VNX or VNXe to enable the Hyper-V hosts to access the created datastores.



Connect to Hyper-V datastores

Connect the Hyper-V datastores to the Windows hosts as the Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) to Hyper-V failover cluster.

EMC VNXe Series Using a VNXe System with Microsoft Windows Hyper-V


For more details, refer to the appropriate VSPEX Proven Infrastructure document listed in Essential reading.

Overview

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj863389.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee619734(v=WS.10).aspx




Ensure that all the servers in a Hyper-V failover cluster are running the 64-bit version of Windows Server 2012.

For detailed steps on how to configure the Windows hosts, refer to the appropriate VSPEX Proven Infrastructure document listed in Essential reading.

To install and configure Failover Clustering, complete these steps:

1. Apply the latest service pack for Windows Server 2012.

2. Configure the Hyper-V role and the Failover Clustering feature.

For detailed steps, refer to Microsoft TechNet Library topic Deploy a Hyper-V Cluster.

To ensure performance and availability, the solution requires:

At least one NIC for virtual machine networking and management (separated by network or VLAN if desired)

At least two NICs for iSCSI connection (configured as MCS, MPIO, or PowerPath)

At least one NIC for live migration

To configure additional paths for high availability, use MPIO or MCS with additional network adapters in the server. This creates additional connections to the storage array in Microsoft iSCSI Initiator through redundant Ethernet switch fabrics.

For detailed instructions about how to install and configure MPIO or MCS, refer to the appropriate VSPEX Proven Infrastructure document in Essential reading.

Alternatively, you can use EMC PowerPath for optimal performance. PowerPath is host-resident software that works with both VNX and VNXe storage systems to deliver intelligent I/O path management. Using PowerPath, administrators can improve the server’s ability to manage heavy storage loads through continuous and intelligent I/O balancing.

PowerPath automatically configures multiple paths, and dynamically tunes performance as the workload changes. PowerPath also adds to the HA capabilities of the VNX and VNXe storage systems by automatically detecting and recovering from server-to-storage path failures.

For detailed instructions about how to install and configure PowerPath, refer to the EMC PowerPath and PowerPath/VE for Windows Installation and Administration Guide.

Installing the Windows hosts

Installing and configuring Failover Clustering

Configuring Windows host networking

Configuring multipathing




To connect to the VNX or VNXe targets (iSCSI servers or iSCSI ports), the host uses an iSCSI initiator, which requires Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator and the iSCSI initiator service. These services are part of the Windows Server 2012 software; however, the drivers for them are not installed until you start the service. You must start the iSCSI initiator service using the administrative tools.

For instructions on configuring an iSCSI initiator to connect to VNX or VNXe via iSCSI, refer to EMC VNXe Series Using a VNXe System with Microsoft Windows Hyper-V and EMC Host Connectivity Guide for Windows.

At the end of the storage implementation process on VNXe, you have datastores that are ready to be published to the Hyper-V. Now that the hypervisors are installed, you must return to Unisphere and add the Hyper-V servers to the list of hosts that are enabled to access the datastores. Because you are using VNXe iSCSI targets in a clustered environment, you must grant the datastore access to all the Windows Server 2012 hosts in the Hyper-V cluster.

On VNX, configure the Storage Group to grant LUN access to all the Windows Server 2012 hosts in the Hyper-V cluster. For more information, refer to EMC Host Connectivity Guide for Windows.

Connect the Hyper-V datastores configured in Storage implementation to the appropriate Windows hosts as CSVs. The datastores are used for virtual server infrastructure.

For instructions about how to connect the Hyper-V datastores to the Windows host, refer to EMC VNXe Series Using a VNXe System with Microsoft Windows Hyper-V and EMC Host Connectivity Guide for Windows.

After you connect and format the datastores on one of the hosts, enable CSV, and then add the clustered disks as CSV disks. Figure 20 shows the CSV disk used in this solution.

CSV disk in Failover Cluster Manager Figure 20.

Configuring the initiator to connect to VNX or VNXe via iSCSI

Publishing VNXe datastores or VNX LUNs to Hyper-V

Connecting Hyper-V datastores



You can also use ESI to view and manage CSV disks in an efficient manner. Figure 21 shows the same CSV disk in the ESI GUI.

CSV disk in EMC Storage Integrator Figure 21.

For more information, refer to EMC Storage Integrator for Windows Suite Product Guide.

Exchange Server virtualization implementation

This section provides the requirements for the installation and configuration of the Exchange virtual machines as outlined in Table 23.

Exchange virtual machine installation and configuration Table 23.


Create the Exchange virtual machines

Create the virtual machines to be used for the Exchange 2013 organization.

Install the Hyper-V Role and Configure a Virtual Machine

Install Exchange guest OS

Install Windows Server 2012 Datacenter Edition on the Exchange virtual machine.

Install the guest operating system

Install integration services

Install the integration services on the Exchange virtual machine

Install or upgrade integration services

Assign IP address Assign the IP addresses for all the networks in the virtual machine.

Join all the Exchange Servers to the domain.

Attach pass-through disks to Exchange virtual machines

Attach the database LUNs and log LUNs to the Exchange Server mailbox virtual machines as pass-through disks.

Using EMC Storage Integrator to manage CSV disks for Exchange

Overview

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh846766.aspx#BKMK_Step2


http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh846766.aspx#BKMK_step3






EMC recommends that you use the VSPEX Sizing Tool and follow the recommendations in the Design Guide to determine the number of server roles required for your Exchange organization, and the resources required for each server role.

Table 24 shows an example of equivalent reference virtual machine requirements for different Exchange Server roles used in this solution. In this example, you need to set up two Exchange Mailbox servers and two Client Access servers to support the requirements for a small Exchange organization. Then you determine the equivalent number of reference virtual machines required for each Exchange server role by calculating the maximum of the individual resources (CPU, memory, capacity, and IOPS).

The system volumes of all Exchange virtual machines are stored on the VSPEX Proven Infrastructure pool, which are presented as CSV disks in the Hyper-V cluster.

Example of Exchange reference virtual machines Table 24.

Exchange Server role vCPU Memory OS volume capacity

OS volume IOPS

No. of virtual machines

Total reference virtual machines

Mailbox server



25 2 36


4 18 2 1

Client Access server



25 2 12


4 6 1 1

Total equivalent reference virtual machines 48

For example, each Mailbox server requires four vCPUs, 36 GB of memory, 200 GB of storage, and 25 IOPS. This translates to:

Four reference virtual machines of CPU

Eighteen reference virtual machines of memory

Two reference virtual machine of capacity

One reference virtual machine of IOPS

The values round up to 18 reference virtual machines for each Mailbox server, multiplied by the number of virtual machines needed (two in this example), which results in 36 total reference virtual machines for the Mailbox server role.

18 reference virtual machines x 2 virtual machines = 36 total

reference virtual machines

For more details about how to determine the equivalent reference virtual machines, refer to the appropriate document in Essential reading.

Creating the Exchange virtual machine



Install Windows 2012 on the Exchange virtual machine and apply the latest service pack.

EMC recommends that you install the Hyper-V integration software package on the guest OS to improve integration between the physical computer and the virtual machine.

Assign an IP address for each of the network adapters in all the Exchange virtual machines, according to what you have planned for the IP reservation for each server. Join every server to the existing domain.

For more information, refer to the Configuration worksheet for Exchange in Appendix A.

To attach the Exchange LUNs to Mailbox server virtual machines as pass-through disks:

1. Ensure that the Hyper-V nodes recognize the newly created Exchange LUNs on VNX or VNXe by opening Computer Manager and selecting Rescan Disks, as shown in Figure 22.

Rescanning disks Figure 22.

Installing the Exchange guest OS

Installing integration services

Assigning an IP address

Attaching pass-through disks to Exchange virtual machines



2. Initialize the disks by:

a. Bringing the new Exchange LUNs online.

b. Initializing the disks.

c. Switching the LUNs to offline.

3. Add all Exchange LUNs to the Hyper-V cluster, in Microsoft Failover Cluster Manager by selecting Storage > Disks > Add Disk, as shown in Figure 23.

Adding disks Figure 23.

4. Expand the Hyper-V node, and then select the Exchange Mailbox server virtual machine that hosts the Exchange LUNs.

5. Right-click on the virtual machine and select Settings.

6. Click Add Hardware and select SCSI Controller.

7. Add a hard drive by clicking Add.

8. Select Physical hard disk, then select the proper Exchange LUN and click OK. The selected Exchange LUN is added as a pass-through disk.

Note: Repeat these steps to add additional pass-through disks planned for this Exchange Mailbox server.

9. Verify the storage disks status, as shown in Figure 24, and ensure that the pass-through disks are correctly assigned to the Exchange Mailbox server virtual machine.



Configuring pass-through disks in Failover Cluster Manager Figure 24.

You can also use ESI to view and manage pass-through disks in an efficient manner. Figure 25 shows the same pass-through disks in the ESI GUI.

Pass-through disks in EMC Storage Integrator Figure 25.

For more information, refer to EMC Storage Integrator for Windows Suite Product Guide.

Application implementation

This section includes information about how to implement the Exchange application into a VSPEX Proven Infrastructure.

Before you implement Exchange 2013, read the Design Guide to plan your Exchange organization based on your business needs.

After you complete the tasks in Table 25, the new Exchange organization is ready to be verified and tested.

Using EMC Storage Integrator to manage pass-through disks for Exchange

Overview



Tasks for implementing an Exchange organization Table 25.

Task Description References

Pre-deployment verification by Jetstress

Run Jetstress to verify the disk subsystem performance before you implement the Exchange application.

Using Jetstress to verify performance

Prepare Active Directory Prepare Active Directory for the Exchange organization.

Prepare Active Directory and Domains

Install Exchange 2013 Mailbox server role

1. Install Exchange 2013 Mailbox server role.

2. Install Exchange latest service pack and update rollup.

Deploy a New Installation of Exchange 2013

Mailbox Server

Install Microsoft Exchange 2013 Client Access server role

1. Install Microsoft Exchange 2013 Client Access server role.

2. Install Exchange latest service pack and update rollup.


Client Access Server

Deploy database availability group (DAG)

Deploy DAG and create multiple copies for each mailbox database to provide high availability for Exchange mailbox databases.

Managing Database Availability Groups

Managing Mailbox Database Copies

Before you install Exchange Server 2013, complete the following steps to prepare your Active Directory environment for the Exchange organization:

1. Extend the Active Directory schema for Exchange Server 2013 by running the following command:

Setup /PrepareSchema /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

2. Create the required Active Directory containers and set up permissions for the Exchange organization by running the following command. You can also specify the organization name here.

Setup /PrepareAD /OrganizationName:<organization name>

/IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

3. Prepare the other Active Directory domains by running the following command:

Setup /PrepareDomain /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms

For more information on how to prepare the Active Directory, refer to the Microsoft TechNet Library article Prepare Active Directory and Domains.

Preparing Active Directory

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb125224(v=exchg.150).aspx


http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998619(v=exchg.150).aspx





http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd298114(v=exchg.150).aspx








Before installing the Exchange server roles, make sure that you have completed the steps described in Exchange 2013 Prerequisites. To install the Mailbox server roles on the virtual machine, use the Exchange 2013 installation media and follow these steps:

1. Under Server Role Selection, select Mailbox Role, as shown in Figure 26. Click Next.

Mailbox Role selection Figure 26.

2. Use the wizard to complete the installation of the Mailbox server role. When the installation is complete, apply the latest service pack and the latest update rollup.

3. Repeat the same steps if there are other Exchange Mailbox server virtual machines to deploy.

Use the Exchange Server installation media to install Exchange 2013 Client Access server role by completing the following steps:

1. On the Server Role Selection page, select Client Access role, as shown in Figure 27 and then click Next.

Exchange Client Access server role selection Figure 27.

Installing the Exchange 2013 Mailbox server roles

Installing the Exchange 2013 Client Access server role




2. Follow the wizard to complete the installation and then apply the latest service pack and the latest update rollup.

3. Repeat the same steps if there are other Exchange Client Access server virtual machines.

A DAG is the base component of the high availability framework built into Exchange Server 2013. A DAG is a group of up to 16 Mailbox servers that hosts a set of databases and provides automatic database-level recovery from failures that affect individual servers or databases. To deploy DAG in your Exchange 2013 environment, complete the following steps:

1. Run the following command to create a DAG:

New-DatabaseAvailabilityGroup -Name <DAG_Name> -

WitnessServer <Witness_ServerName> -WitnessDirectory

<Folder_Name> -DatabaseAvailabilityGroupIPAddresses <DAG_IP>

2. If you create a DAG on a Mailbox server running Windows Server 2012, pre-stage the cluster name object (CNO) before adding members to the DAG. For detailed steps, see the Pre-Stage the Cluster Name Object for a Database Availability Group article on Microsoft TechNet website.

3. Run the following command to add the Mailbox server to the DAG:

Add-DatabaseAvailabilityGroupServer -Identity <DAG_Name> -

MailboxServer <Server_Name>

4. Run the following command to create a DAG network:

New-DatabaseAvailabilityGroupNetwork -

DatabaseAvailabilityGroup <DAG_Name> -Name <Network_Name> -

Description "Network_Description" -Subnets <SubnetId> -

ReplicationEnabled:<$True | $False>

For details about how to manage Exchange DAG, refer to Microsoft TechNet Library topic Managing Database Availability Group.

5. Create Exchange databases based by running the following command:

New-MailboxDatabase -Name <Database_Name> -EdbFilePath

<Database_File_Path> -LogFolderPath <Log_File_Path> -

MailboxServer <Mailbox_Server_Name>

6. Add mailbox database copies for each mailbox database by running the following command.

Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy -Identity <Database_Name> -

MailboxServer <Server_Name> -ActivationPreference

<Preference_Number>

For details, refer to Microsoft TechNet Library topic Managing Mailbox Database Copies.

The Exchange organization is now running with the DAG deployed. To verify the functionality and monitor the system’s health, refer Essential reading.

Deploying database availability group (DAG)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff367878(v=exchg.150).aspx







Chapter 5: Solution Verification


Chapter 5 Solution Verification


Baseline infrastructure verification .......................................................................... 62

Verifying the Exchange Server performance ............................................................. 65



Baseline infrastructure verification

This section provides a list of items that you should review once you have completed the solution configuration. The goal of this section is to verify the configuration and functionality of specific aspects of the solution, and ensure that the configuration supports core availability requirements.

Table 26 describes the tasks that you need to complete when verifying the VSPEX installation.

Tasks for verifying the VSPEX installation Table 26.


Verify Hyper-V functionality

Verify the basic Hyper-V functionality of the solution with a post-installation checklist.

Monitoring Database Availability Groups

Verify solution components redundancy

Verify the redundancy of the solution components:

Storage

Hyper-V host

Network switch

Vendor documentation

Verify the Exchange DAG configuration

Verify the DAG configuration in the solution.

Monitor the solution’s health

Use tools to monitor the solution’s health.

Server Health and Performance

VNX Monitoring and Reporting 1.0 User Guide

EMC Unisphere: Unified Storage Management Solution

EMC recommends that you verify the Hyper-V configurations prior to deployment into production on each Hyper-V server.

For more detailed information about how to verify Hyper-V functionality, refer to the appropriate VSPEX Proven Infrastructure document in Essential reading.

To ensure that the various components of the solution maintain availability requirements, it is important that you test specific scenarios related to maintenance or hardware failure. EMC recommends that you verify redundancy of the solution components including storage, Hyper-V hosts, and network switches.

For details, refer to the appropriate VSPEX Proven Infrastructure document in Essential reading.

Overview

Verifying Hyper-V functionality

Verifying solution component redundancy





To ensure that the Exchange DAG is working smoothly, use these steps to verify the DAG configuration.

1. Use the following command to verify the Mailbox server databases. If the status is Mounted, it means the database is active on this Mailbox server; if the status is Healthy, it means this is a passive database on this Mailbox server. Normally, the active databases are hosted on different Mailbox servers as showed in Figure 28.

Get-MailboxDatabaseCopyStatus -Server <Server_Name>

Verifying the DAG configuration Figure 28.

2. Shut down one Mailbox server to simulate a failure.

3. Monitor the database copy status, to verify that the DAG detects the failure as shown in Figure 29, and that the DAG automatically fails over the affected database to the other Mailbox server.

Verifying that DAG detects the failure Figure 29.

4. Verify that the users can access the mailbox after the database is activated on the other Mailbox server.

For more information, refer to the Microsoft TechNet Library Monitoring Database Availability Groups.

Verifying the Exchange DAG configuration





Health monitoring is a simplified measurement that reflects the reliability, stability, and performance of the entire solution.

Table 27 lists several tools you can use to monitor and troubleshoot the solution.

Tools to monitor the solution Table 27.

Tool Description

Event Viewer Event Viewer is a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in. It enables you browse and manage event logs. It is a useful tool for troubleshooting problems. You can filter for specific events across multiple logs, and reuse useful event filters as custom views.

Exchange Diagnostic Logging

The Exchange diagnostic logging level determines which events are written to the Application event log in Event Viewer. The default logging level is 0 (lowest). You can increase the logging level when you troubleshoot a specific issue. EMC recommends that you return the logging level to the default setting after you complete the troubleshooting activities.

Microsoft Windows performance counters

By using Windows performance counters, you can analyze bottlenecks in areas such as CPU utilization, memory, disk I/O, and network I/O.

VNX or VNXe Unisphere management interface

You can use the VNX or VNXe Unisphere management interface dashboard to monitor and determine VNX or VNXe system health, including capacity utilization statistics, CPU usage statistics, storage resource health, hardware component health, system alerts, and log files.

For more information on monitoring the VNX or VNXe’s health, refer to EMC Unisphere: Unified Storage Management Solution.

VNX Monitoring and Reporting

VNX Monitoring and Reporting is a software solution that extends the Unisphere element manager capabilities by providing unified performance and capacity trending information of VNX storage systems. This solution complements Unisphere's health alerts and Analyzer archive files, and automatically collects block and file storage statistics along with configuration data and stores them in a database that you can view through dashboards and reports.

For more information, refer to the documented entitled VNX Monitoring and Reporting 1.0 User Guide

EMC recommends that you use the test tools to monitor the performance of the entire Exchange environment. For details about performance verification and test methodology, refer to the Design Guide.

Monitoring the solution’s health



Verifying the Exchange Server performance

This section provides an example Exchange environment in this solution. The purpose is to measure the performance of the Exchange server roles to ensure the VSPEX solution meets your business requirements.

Before you verify your own solution, to understand the test methodology, refer to the Design Guide. We verified that the Exchange organization supports the user profile shown in Table 28.

Example of verification questions for user profile Table 28.


Number of mailboxes 900

Maximum mailbox size (GB) 1.5 GB

Mailbox IOPS profile (messages sent/received per mailbox per day)

0.101 IOPS per mailbox (150 messages sent/received per mailbox per day

DAG copies (including Active) 2

Deleted Items Retention (DIR) window (days) 14

Backup/Truncation failure tolerance (days) 3

Included number of years’ growth 1

Annual growth rate (number of mailboxes) (%) 11%

Note: We tested 1,000 mailboxes to include the one-year growth with 11 percent growth rate.

Jetstress overview

Verify the Exchange 2013 storage design for the expected transactional IOPS before placing it in a production environment. To ensure that the environment functions appropriately, EMC recommends that you use Microsoft Jetstress tool to verify the Exchange storage design. The Jetstress tool simulates Exchange I/O at the database level by interacting with the Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) database technology (also known as Jet) on which Exchange is built.

You can configure Jetstress to test the maximum I/O throughput available to the disk subsystem within the required performance constraints of Exchange. Jetstress can accept a simulated profile of specific user counts and IOPS per user to verify that the disk subsystem is capable of maintaining an acceptable performance level by the metrics defined in that profile.

Overview

Using Jetstress to verify performance



Key metrics

Before running the Jetstress tool, you need to know which Jetstress testing key metrics to capture and what thresholds to meet for each metric when running the tests. Table 29 lists the key metrics for Jetstress verification.

Key metrics for Jetstress verification Table 29.

Performance counters Target values

Achieved Exchange transactional IOPS

(I/O database reads/sec + I/O database writes/sec)


I/O database reads/sec N/A (for analysis purpose)

I/O database writes/sec N/A (for analysis purpose)

Total IOPS

(I/O database reads/sec + I/O database writes/sec + BDM reads/sec + I/O log replication reads/sec + I/O log writes/sec)

N/A (for analysis purpose)

I/O database reads average latency (ms) Less than 20 ms

I/O log reads average latency (ms) Less than 10 ms

Build test environment

To build the Jetstress test environment:

1. Install the guest OS on the virtual machines in your test environment for the Exchange Mailbox servers on your Hyper-V hosts and provision storage to these virtual machines.

Note: You do not need to install Exchange server 2013 on your virtual machines.

2. Install Jetstress on the virtual machines.

3. Populate the Jetstress databases according to your requirements.

4. Run the Jetstress tests and analyze the report.

Test results

We used Jetstress 2103 version 15.00.0658.004 to simulate an I/O profile of 0.101 IOPS per user. For detailed information about the Exchange 2013 mailbox IOPS profile definition, refer to the Microsoft TechNet topic Sizing Exchange 2013 Deployments.

We validated the building blocks using a two-hour performance test. Jetstress simulated 1,000 on a single Mailbox server to validate the performance under the worst (failover) situation, with all active databases mounted on a single Mailbox server. Compared to the normal working situation, in which two Mailbox servers host 1,000 users (500 users per server), the test situation doubles the pressure on the single Mailbox server’s disk subsystem.

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2013/05/06/ask-the-perf-guy-sizing-exchange-2013-deployments.aspx

http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2013/05/06/ask-the-perf-guy-sizing-exchange-2013-deployments.aspx



Table 30 shows the average I/O and the average latency on the Mailbox server. The performance of the Exchange organization exceeds the design target.

Jetstress verification Table 30.

Database I/O Target values Single Mailbox server (1,000 users)

Achieved transactional IOPS (I/O database reads/sec + I/O database writes/sec)


In this solution: 1,000 * 0.101 = 101

594

I/O database reads/sec N/A (for analysis purpose) 416

I/O database writes/sec N/A (for analysis purpose) 178

Total I/O (DB+Logs+BDM+Replication)/sec

N/A 717

I/O database reads average latency (ms)

Less than 20 ms 19.4

I/O log reads average latency (ms) Less than 10 ms 4.3

Chapter 6: Reference Documentation


Chapter 6 Reference Documentation


EMC documentation ................................................................................................. 69

Other documentation ............................................................................................... 69

Links ........................................................................................................................ 69



EMC documentation

The following documents, available from the EMC Online Support or EMC.com websites, provide additional and relevant information. If you do not have access to a document, contact your EMC representative.

EMC VNXe Series Using VNXe System with Microsoft Windows Hyper-V

EMC VNXe Series Using a VNXe System with Generic iSCSI Storage

EMC VNXe Installation Guide

EMC VNXe Series Configuration Worksheet

EMC FAST VP for Unified Storage Systems

VNX File and Unified Worksheet

VNX Monitoring and Reporting 1.0 User Guide


EMC Unisphere: Unified Storage Management Solution


EMC PowerPath and PowerPath/VE for Windows Installation and Administration Guide

EMC Storage Integrator for Windows Suite Product Guide

EMC Storage Integrator for Windows Suite Technical Notes

Other documentation

For documentation on Microsoft Exchange and Hyper-V, refer to the Microsoft website.

Links

Use the following links to obtain additional information on performing the tasks in this white paper.

Note: The links provided were working correctly at the time of publication.

Client Access Server

Deploy a Hyper-V Cluster


Exchange 2013 Prerequisites

Exchange 2013 Virtualization

Install the guest OS

Install the Hyper-V Role and Configure a Virtual Machine

https://support.emc.com/

http://www.emc.com/resource-library/resource-library.htm

http://www.microsoft.com/










Installing and Configuring MPIO

Load Balancing

Mailbox Server

Managing Database Availability Groups

Managing Mailbox Database Copies

Microsoft Multipath I/O (MPIO) Users Guide for Windows Server 2012

Monitoring Database Availability Groups

Network Load Balancing Deployment Guide

Pre-Stage the Cluster Name Object for a Database Availability Group

Prepare Active Directory and Domains

Server Health and Performance

Understanding MPIO Features and Components

Use Cluster Shared Volumes in a Windows Server 2012 Failover Cluster

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee619752(v=ws.10).aspx





http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30450


http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc754833(v=ws.10).aspx








Appendix A: Configuration Worksheet


Appendix A Configuration Worksheet

This appendix presents the following topic:

Configuration worksheet for Exchange 2013 ............................................................ 73



Configuration worksheet for Exchange 2013

Before configuring Exchange 2013 for this solution, you need to gather some customer-specific configuration information such as IP addresses, hostnames, and so on.

The following tables provide a worksheet that you can use to record the information. You can also print and use the worksheet as a customer leave behind document for future reference.

To confirm the customer information, cross-reference with the relevant array configuration worksheet: EMC VNXe Series Configuration Worksheet or VNX File and Unified Worksheets.

Common server information Table 31.

Server name Purpose Primary IP address

Domain Controller 01

Domain Controller 02

DNS Primary

DNS Secondary

DHCP

NTP

SMTP

SNMP

Mailbox server 01

Mailbox server 02

Client Access server 01

Client Access server 02

Exchange information Table 32.

Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) Purpose Primary IP address

Exchange DAG

Hyper-V server information Table 33.

Server name Purpose Primary IP address Private net (storage) addresses

Hyper-V Host 1

Hyper-V Host 2

Hyper-V Host 3



Server name Purpose Primary IP address Private net (storage) addresses

…

Array information Table 34.

Object Description

Array name

Array Type

Root password

Admin password

Management IP

SPA IP address

SPB IP address

iSCSI IP addresses on SPA

iSCSI IP addresses on SPB

VSPEX private cloud pool name

Exchange database pool 1 name

Exchange database pool 2 name

Network infrastructure information Table 35.

Name Purpose IP address Subnet mask Default gateway

Ethernet Switch 1

Ethernet Switch 2

…

VLAN information Table 36.

Name Network purpose VLAN ID Allowed subnets

Virtual machine networking management

iSCSI storage network

Live migration

Documents

EMC VSPEX for Virtualized Microsoft Exchange 2013 with Microsoft