Disk upgrade plan - sanity check, plus another bonus question

2010-08-02 Thread Kurt Buff
All,

Win2k3 R2 SP2, patched, E2k3 SP2 patched.

C: - RIAD1 73gb OS only
E: - RAID1 73gb Exchange Logs only
F: - RAID1 300gb Exchange databases only

All SAS 10k drives in a Dell 2950 with 3gb RAM

E: and F: are filling up.

I've purchased two 600gb SAS 15k drives from Dell and plan the following:

o- Stop and set to manual the Exchange services.

o- Copy the logs from E: to F:

o- Change the the drive letter from F: to E:

o- Remove the drives for E: from their trays and replace them with the
600gb drives, and label the new RAID1 drive as F:

o- Move the databases from E: to F:, then start the Exchange services,
go home and have a glass of wine.


Am I missing anything? I want to make sure I don't have to make any
registry adjustments for the disk change, or something silly like
that.


Also, separate but slightly related question: Currently, all of the
mailboxes are in a single database, including the Message Journaling
mailbox. I plan to break this out into at least three separate
databases: 1 for Message Journaling, and two or more for individual's
mailboxes. All three of the company's servers (AU, UK and US) journal
to the US server.

Question: Once I put the MJ mailbox in its own database, will I have
to fiddle with things in ESM, or will all of the servers pick up the
change?


Thanks,

Kurt



Re: Disk upgrade plan - sanity check, plus another bonus question

2010-08-02 Thread Sean Martin
It's been awhile since I've had to do this, but isn't there a process for
replacing each drive in the mirror one at a time, extend the Virtual Disk,
and then use DiskPart to extend the volume in Windows?

I guess I would also question why the mirror holding your logs is filling
up? Are you running routine backups?

It appears the process you outlined should work.

I don't believe there are any changes required when you move the journaling
mailbox.

- Sean
On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 9:22 AM, Kurt Buff  wrote:

> All,
>
> Win2k3 R2 SP2, patched, E2k3 SP2 patched.
>
> C: - RIAD1 73gb OS only
> E: - RAID1 73gb Exchange Logs only
> F: - RAID1 300gb Exchange databases only
>
> All SAS 10k drives in a Dell 2950 with 3gb RAM
>
> E: and F: are filling up.
>
> I've purchased two 600gb SAS 15k drives from Dell and plan the following:
>
> o- Stop and set to manual the Exchange services.
>
> o- Copy the logs from E: to F:
>
> o- Change the the drive letter from F: to E:
>
> o- Remove the drives for E: from their trays and replace them with the
> 600gb drives, and label the new RAID1 drive as F:
>
> o- Move the databases from E: to F:, then start the Exchange services,
> go home and have a glass of wine.
>
>
> Am I missing anything? I want to make sure I don't have to make any
> registry adjustments for the disk change, or something silly like
> that.
>
>
> Also, separate but slightly related question: Currently, all of the
> mailboxes are in a single database, including the Message Journaling
> mailbox. I plan to break this out into at least three separate
> databases: 1 for Message Journaling, and two or more for individual's
> mailboxes. All three of the company's servers (AU, UK and US) journal
> to the US server.
>
> Question: Once I put the MJ mailbox in its own database, will I have
> to fiddle with things in ESM, or will all of the servers pick up the
> change?
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Kurt
>
>


Re: Disk upgrade plan - sanity check, plus another bonus question

2010-08-02 Thread Kurt Buff
On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 11:46, Sean Martin  wrote:
> It's been awhile since I've had to do this, but isn't there a process for
> replacing each drive in the mirror one at a time, extend the Virtual Disk,
> and then use DiskPart to extend the volume in Windows?
>
> I guess I would also question why the mirror holding your logs is filling
> up? Are you running routine backups?

There is, but I think it makes sense to replace the log drives, and
they are only 73gb. There is one .stm file on there, and it's growing,
albeit slowly, and it surely won't hurt to have that drive larger.
Doing it this way reduces the number of physical drive swaps
necessary.

> It appears the process you outlined should work.

That settle my mind a bit.

> I don't believe there are any changes required when you move the journaling
> mailbox.

Even better.

Thanks for that.

Kurt

> - Sean
> On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 9:22 AM, Kurt Buff  wrote:
>>
>> All,
>>
>> Win2k3 R2 SP2, patched, E2k3 SP2 patched.
>>
>> C: - RIAD1 73gb OS only
>> E: - RAID1 73gb Exchange Logs only
>> F: - RAID1 300gb Exchange databases only
>>
>> All SAS 10k drives in a Dell 2950 with 3gb RAM
>>
>> E: and F: are filling up.
>>
>> I've purchased two 600gb SAS 15k drives from Dell and plan the following:
>>
>> o- Stop and set to manual the Exchange services.
>>
>> o- Copy the logs from E: to F:
>>
>> o- Change the the drive letter from F: to E:
>>
>> o- Remove the drives for E: from their trays and replace them with the
>> 600gb drives, and label the new RAID1 drive as F:
>>
>> o- Move the databases from E: to F:, then start the Exchange services,
>> go home and have a glass of wine.
>>
>>
>> Am I missing anything? I want to make sure I don't have to make any
>> registry adjustments for the disk change, or something silly like
>> that.
>>
>>
>> Also, separate but slightly related question: Currently, all of the
>> mailboxes are in a single database, including the Message Journaling
>> mailbox. I plan to break this out into at least three separate
>> databases: 1 for Message Journaling, and two or more for individual's
>> mailboxes. All three of the company's servers (AU, UK and US) journal
>> to the US server.
>>
>> Question: Once I put the MJ mailbox in its own database, will I have
>> to fiddle with things in ESM, or will all of the servers pick up the
>> change?
>>
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Kurt
>>
>
>