Its not so much how many users a box can support but how many users you are willing to have without email when it fails and how long you are wiling to sit there while restoring the server. 3000 users @2MB is only 60GB. Assuming you have an LTO tape drive (100GB native + compression at ?:1) then you could probably get 6000 users on a server and back it up to one tape, which makes running a full backup every night a lot easier. Our test suggest a restore time of around 800 to 1000 MB / Min so restore times aren't to long either.
As for how much CPU and RAM you need it is really a guess as you can sit in the lab for ages doing LoadSim tests, and still get it wrong in the real world due to changing patterns of usage with the new features. Our test's with the latest LoadSim version on a system with dual CPU 700Mhz PIII with 1GB of ram suggested it was the disks for the stores that where limiting the system when trying to simulate 3000 users, and not the log drive even when running 4 storage groups Log files onto 1 dedicated mirrored pair (1). Regards Stewart Jump (1) I know its not recommended but it does mean the log pair is on a different SCSI bus to the Store drives and the performance doesn't seem to suffer until you run a backup during a LoadSim run (2) (2) This why you need to do your own tests as the "Rules" can be bent and still get a decent configuration. -----Original Message----- From: Pfefferkorn, Pete (PFEFFEPE) [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 19 February 2002 19:13 To: Exchange Discussions Subject: Exchange 2,000 scalability question. Well, First let me apologize for the vagueness of this question. Just starting to read up on Exchange 2000. I've been asked by management to spec out the possibility of deploying Exchange 2,000 to all users on our campus (40,000 users). I'm reading Tony Redmond's book on Exchange 2000 and it mentions on page 21 that on 5.5 maximum user community was in reality about 3,000 per server for a 8 way. I know that really depends on the server setup, user load, etc. Our Dell 8650's with 2-550mhz processors and 2 gig of memory is handling about 3,000 users per server with 20 meg quotas per mailbox. They are active accounts (light to medium), so the 3,000 seems to match up since our system CPU utilization averaging about 80-90% during peak times. On the same page it states that Exchange 2000 states about 10,000 for a single node cluster. I'm wondering if anyone had opinions on this issue. What is different about Exchange 2000 that allows for more users per system. Is this do to coding changes in the store.exe or is it based on multiple stores per server? Given we can get about 3,000 users per Exchange 5.5, I'm wondering what the actual limit would be for Exchange 2000 per server. Pete Pfefferkorn Senior Systems Engineer/Mail Administrator University of Cincinnati 51 Goodman Street Cincinnati, OH 45221 Phone - (513) 556-9076 Fax - (513) 556-2042 _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This e-mail (and any attachments) is confidential and may contain personal views which are not the views of the BBC unless specifically stated. If you have received it in error, please delete it from your system, do not use, copy or disclose the information in any way nor act in reliance on it and notify the sender immediately. Please note that the BBC monitors e-mails sent or received. Further communication will signify your consent to this. _________________________________________________________________ List posting FAQ: http://www.swinc.com/resource/exch_faq.htm Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp To unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Exchange List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
