RE: Am I in a corner?
Members of a DAG require that databases protected by the DAG must be consistently deployed. Sothey all must be on E: once you Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy (or perform the similar activity in the GUI). What method are you wanting to use to grow the partition? Regardless, the easiest thing would be to present a new mount point as G: (or something) and put the new DB there. In Exchange 2010 there is rarely reason to separate log and database volumes. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 1:49 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Am I in a corner? All, Current Setup: Exchange 2010 using DAG - all servers are Hyper-V guests, spread across 4 hosts. 4 - Mailbox servers Each server mounts 2 disks - SAN volumes, presented as iSCSI attached disks. E:\ all Database storage ( 6 -250GB databases) --- passive copies on other servers. F:\ all Log storage (6 databases) 4 - CAS/HT servers Concern: All Mailbox DBs were partitioned as mount points on the same disk or volume (E:\) being presented from the SAN. Issues: * I need to allow room for one of the databases to grow OR create a new DB and move some of the mailboxes. o I cannot grow a single DB partition without letting it convert to a dynamic disk which looks messy and I understand is not supported by Microsoft. Questions: 1. If I present a new disk for a new database, is there a good reason to keep the log on a separate disk(volume), thus having to present two new disks? The examples I see from Microsoft show the DB and log file on the same path. 2. I am thinking I need to eventually get all my DBs to their own disk. 3. What am I not knowing, that I should be thinking about? Thanks, Robert --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.commailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist
Re: Am I in a corner?
Really? Whats different? -- ME2 On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 11:58 AM, Michael B. Smith mich...@smithcons.comwrote: In Exchange 2010 there is rarely reason to separate log and database volumes. --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist
RE: Am I in a corner?
The overall i/o profile of Exchange is different than in prior releases of Exchange. Even slow disk can typically handle both DB and log on the same physical volume. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Micheal Espinola Jr [mailto:michealespin...@gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:06 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Re: Am I in a corner? Really? Whats different? -- ME2 On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 11:58 AM, Michael B. Smith mich...@smithcons.commailto:mich...@smithcons.com wrote: In Exchange 2010 there is rarely reason to separate log and database volumes. --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.commailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist
Re: Am I in a corner?
I'm really amazed by 2010. It's as if MS designed a product for high availability by actually thinking about it from the ground up. I just need to get better at Powershell. On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 3:08 PM, Michael B. Smith mich...@smithcons.comwrote: The overall i/o profile of Exchange is different than in prior releases of Exchange. Even slow disk can typically handle both DB and log on the same physical volume. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com *From:* Micheal Espinola Jr [mailto:michealespin...@gmail.com] *Sent:* Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:06 PM *To:* MS-Exchange Admin Issues *Subject:* Re: Am I in a corner? Really? Whats different? -- ME2 On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 11:58 AM, Michael B. Smith mich...@smithcons.com wrote: In Exchange 2010 there is rarely reason to separate log and database volumes. --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist
RE: Am I in a corner?
RE: What method are you wanting to use to grow the partition? If I grow the volume we are presenting from the SAN, The MB server (Server 2008 Data Center) is allowing me to Extend the particular partition, but it warns it will convert the entire Basic disk to a Dynamic disk. We did this in a test instance and visually it looks like the partition has two separate non-contiguous partitions on the disk. The whole disk is then considered Dynamic. Looks like it's taking two partitions and virtually treating them as one. Not sure what this would do to a large single file database. -Robert P.S. I think I am leaning towards presenting a new disk and keeping the logs on the same path. From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:mich...@smithcons.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 1:58 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? Members of a DAG require that databases protected by the DAG must be consistently deployed. Sothey all must be on E: once you Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy (or perform the similar activity in the GUI). What method are you wanting to use to grow the partition? Regardless, the easiest thing would be to present a new mount point as G: (or something) and put the new DB there. In Exchange 2010 there is rarely reason to separate log and database volumes. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 1:49 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Am I in a corner? All, Current Setup: Exchange 2010 using DAG - all servers are Hyper-V guests, spread across 4 hosts. 4 - Mailbox servers Each server mounts 2 disks - SAN volumes, presented as iSCSI attached disks. E:\ all Database storage ( 6 -250GB databases) --- passive copies on other servers. F:\ all Log storage (6 databases) 4 - CAS/HT servers Concern: All Mailbox DBs were partitioned as mount points on the same disk or volume (E:\) being presented from the SAN. Issues: * I need to allow room for one of the databases to grow OR create a new DB and move some of the mailboxes. o I cannot grow a single DB partition without letting it convert to a dynamic disk which looks messy and I understand is not supported by Microsoft. Questions: 1. If I present a new disk for a new database, is there a good reason to keep the log on a separate disk(volume), thus having to present two new disks? The examples I see from Microsoft show the DB and log file on the same path. 2. I am thinking I need to eventually get all my DBs to their own disk. 3. What am I not knowing, that I should be thinking about? Thanks, Robert --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.commailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.commailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist
RE: Am I in a corner?
Yes, but the separation of transaction logs and databases in older versions of Exchange was more about recovering from failures than i/o profiles. What changed in Exchange 2010 is DAG replicas. That being said, I still maintain logs and databases on separate spindles in my environment (I have 75,000 mailboxes, 3 replica DAG) because I maintain my AP-3 replica off-site for BC purposes. That replica could, potentially, end up running for an extended period of time as the only copy of the data... in which case I really would want the protection provided by isolating transaction logs and databases on separate spindles. -jim James Rupprecht Senior Systems Specialist Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Administrator University of Kansas Information Technology From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:mich...@smithcons.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 2:08 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? The overall i/o profile of Exchange is different than in prior releases of Exchange. Even slow disk can typically handle both DB and log on the same physical volume. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Micheal Espinola Jr [mailto:michealespin...@gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:06 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Re: Am I in a corner? Really? Whats different? -- ME2 On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 11:58 AM, Michael B. Smith mich...@smithcons.com wrote: In Exchange 2010 there is rarely reason to separate log and database volumes. --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist
RE: Am I in a corner?
Dude, then you are doing it wrong. :) First, you increase the size of the slice on the SAN - how you do that on the SAN is dependent on the SAN. Once you've done that, viewing the disk from Computer Management - Disk Management should show you the volume with Unallocated Space. Then, you can extend the partition WITHOUT a conversion to dynamic disk. The switch to dynamic disk actually means you are creating a software RAID-0. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:16 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? RE: What method are you wanting to use to grow the partition? If I grow the volume we are presenting from the SAN, The MB server (Server 2008 Data Center) is allowing me to Extend the particular partition, but it warns it will convert the entire Basic disk to a Dynamic disk. We did this in a test instance and visually it looks like the partition has two separate non-contiguous partitions on the disk. The whole disk is then considered Dynamic. Looks like it's taking two partitions and virtually treating them as one. Not sure what this would do to a large single file database. -Robert P.S. I think I am leaning towards presenting a new disk and keeping the logs on the same path. From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:mich...@smithcons.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 1:58 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? Members of a DAG require that databases protected by the DAG must be consistently deployed. Sothey all must be on E: once you Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy (or perform the similar activity in the GUI). What method are you wanting to use to grow the partition? Regardless, the easiest thing would be to present a new mount point as G: (or something) and put the new DB there. In Exchange 2010 there is rarely reason to separate log and database volumes. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 1:49 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Am I in a corner? All, Current Setup: Exchange 2010 using DAG - all servers are Hyper-V guests, spread across 4 hosts. 4 - Mailbox servers Each server mounts 2 disks - SAN volumes, presented as iSCSI attached disks. E:\ all Database storage ( 6 -250GB databases) --- passive copies on other servers. F:\ all Log storage (6 databases) 4 - CAS/HT servers Concern: All Mailbox DBs were partitioned as mount points on the same disk or volume (E:\) being presented from the SAN. Issues: * I need to allow room for one of the databases to grow OR create a new DB and move some of the mailboxes. o I cannot grow a single DB partition without letting it convert to a dynamic disk which looks messy and I understand is not supported by Microsoft. Questions: 1. If I present a new disk for a new database, is there a good reason to keep the log on a separate disk(volume), thus having to present two new disks? The examples I see from Microsoft show the DB and log file on the same path. 2. I am thinking I need to eventually get all my DBs to their own disk. 3. What am I not knowing, that I should be thinking about? Thanks, Robert --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.commailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.commailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.commailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist
RE: Am I in a corner?
I would disagree with your statement regarding separation of transaction logs and databases in older versions of Exchange. I refer you to: http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2010/03/29/3409629.aspx http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2011/01/07/robert-s-rules-of-exchange-storage-planning-and-testing. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=e3303d34-af6c-4108-861b-dc05f9cf3e76displaylang=en for more information. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com -Original Message- From: Rupprecht, James R [mailto:jimruppre...@ku.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:21 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? Yes, but the separation of transaction logs and databases in older versions of Exchange was more about recovering from failures than i/o profiles. What changed in Exchange 2010 is DAG replicas. That being said, I still maintain logs and databases on separate spindles in my environment (I have 75,000 mailboxes, 3 replica DAG) because I maintain my AP-3 replica off-site for BC purposes. That replica could, potentially, end up running for an extended period of time as the only copy of the data... in which case I really would want the protection provided by isolating transaction logs and databases on separate spindles. -jim James Rupprecht Senior Systems Specialist Microsoft Exchange Active Directory Administrator University of Kansas Information Technology From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:mich...@smithcons.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 2:08 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? The overall i/o profile of Exchange is different than in prior releases of Exchange. Even slow disk can typically handle both DB and log on the same physical volume. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Micheal Espinola Jr [mailto:michealespin...@gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:06 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Re: Am I in a corner? Really? Whats different? -- ME2 On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 11:58 AM, Michael B. Smith mich...@smithcons.com wrote: In Exchange 2010 there is rarely reason to separate log and database volumes. --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist
RE: Am I in a corner?
The steps as you mention is exactly what we have been attempting... the gotcha I think, is there are other partitions already on the slice, that fall between the piece we want to grow and the unallocated space. It is the data in the middle, I think that causes the need to convert to dynamic. I'd love to be wrong, but that is what we are seeing. If there was only ONE partition, and it next to the unallocated space, I think I could grow it just fine. Our example: We want to grow DB02 Basic DISK 3 = |ExDBMount|DB01|DB02|DB03|DB03|DB04 |DB05 |Unallocated Space| Again, I'm feeling we just need to get these DBs onto their own disks. Thank you all, Robert From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:mich...@smithcons.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 2:22 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? Dude, then you are doing it wrong. :) First, you increase the size of the slice on the SAN - how you do that on the SAN is dependent on the SAN. Once you've done that, viewing the disk from Computer Management - Disk Management should show you the volume with Unallocated Space. Then, you can extend the partition WITHOUT a conversion to dynamic disk. The switch to dynamic disk actually means you are creating a software RAID-0. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:16 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? RE: What method are you wanting to use to grow the partition? If I grow the volume we are presenting from the SAN, The MB server (Server 2008 Data Center) is allowing me to Extend the particular partition, but it warns it will convert the entire Basic disk to a Dynamic disk. We did this in a test instance and visually it looks like the partition has two separate non-contiguous partitions on the disk. The whole disk is then considered Dynamic. Looks like it's taking two partitions and virtually treating them as one. Not sure what this would do to a large single file database. -Robert P.S. I think I am leaning towards presenting a new disk and keeping the logs on the same path. From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:mich...@smithcons.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 1:58 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? Members of a DAG require that databases protected by the DAG must be consistently deployed. Sothey all must be on E: once you Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy (or perform the similar activity in the GUI). What method are you wanting to use to grow the partition? Regardless, the easiest thing would be to present a new mount point as G: (or something) and put the new DB there. In Exchange 2010 there is rarely reason to separate log and database volumes. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 1:49 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Am I in a corner? All, Current Setup: Exchange 2010 using DAG - all servers are Hyper-V guests, spread across 4 hosts. 4 - Mailbox servers Each server mounts 2 disks - SAN volumes, presented as iSCSI attached disks. E:\ all Database storage ( 6 -250GB databases) --- passive copies on other servers. F:\ all Log storage (6 databases) 4 - CAS/HT servers Concern: All Mailbox DBs were partitioned as mount points on the same disk or volume (E:\) being presented from the SAN. Issues: * I need to allow room for one of the databases to grow OR create a new DB and move some of the mailboxes. o I cannot grow a single DB partition without letting it convert to a dynamic disk which looks messy and I understand is not supported by Microsoft. Questions: 1. If I present a new disk for a new database, is there a good reason to keep the log on a separate disk(volume), thus having to present two new disks? The examples I see from Microsoft show the DB and log file on the same path. 2. I am thinking I need to eventually get all my DBs to their own disk. 3. What am I not knowing, that I should be thinking about? Thanks, Robert --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.commailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.commailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.commailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http
RE: Am I in a corner?
So every server sees every other server's partition on the slice? Yeah, that's not the way I would do it. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:39 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? The steps as you mention is exactly what we have been attempting... the gotcha I think, is there are other partitions already on the slice, that fall between the piece we want to grow and the unallocated space. It is the data in the middle, I think that causes the need to convert to dynamic. I'd love to be wrong, but that is what we are seeing. If there was only ONE partition, and it next to the unallocated space, I think I could grow it just fine. Our example: We want to grow DB02 Basic DISK 3 = |ExDBMount|DB01|DB02|DB03|DB03|DB04 |DB05 |Unallocated Space| Again, I'm feeling we just need to get these DBs onto their own disks. Thank you all, Robert From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:mich...@smithcons.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 2:22 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? Dude, then you are doing it wrong. :) First, you increase the size of the slice on the SAN - how you do that on the SAN is dependent on the SAN. Once you've done that, viewing the disk from Computer Management - Disk Management should show you the volume with Unallocated Space. Then, you can extend the partition WITHOUT a conversion to dynamic disk. The switch to dynamic disk actually means you are creating a software RAID-0. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:16 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? RE: What method are you wanting to use to grow the partition? If I grow the volume we are presenting from the SAN, The MB server (Server 2008 Data Center) is allowing me to Extend the particular partition, but it warns it will convert the entire Basic disk to a Dynamic disk. We did this in a test instance and visually it looks like the partition has two separate non-contiguous partitions on the disk. The whole disk is then considered Dynamic. Looks like it's taking two partitions and virtually treating them as one. Not sure what this would do to a large single file database. -Robert P.S. I think I am leaning towards presenting a new disk and keeping the logs on the same path. From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:mich...@smithcons.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 1:58 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? Members of a DAG require that databases protected by the DAG must be consistently deployed. Sothey all must be on E: once you Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy (or perform the similar activity in the GUI). What method are you wanting to use to grow the partition? Regardless, the easiest thing would be to present a new mount point as G: (or something) and put the new DB there. In Exchange 2010 there is rarely reason to separate log and database volumes. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 1:49 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Am I in a corner? All, Current Setup: Exchange 2010 using DAG - all servers are Hyper-V guests, spread across 4 hosts. 4 - Mailbox servers Each server mounts 2 disks - SAN volumes, presented as iSCSI attached disks. E:\ all Database storage ( 6 -250GB databases) --- passive copies on other servers. F:\ all Log storage (6 databases) 4 - CAS/HT servers Concern: All Mailbox DBs were partitioned as mount points on the same disk or volume (E:\) being presented from the SAN. Issues: * I need to allow room for one of the databases to grow OR create a new DB and move some of the mailboxes. o I cannot grow a single DB partition without letting it convert to a dynamic disk which looks messy and I understand is not supported by Microsoft. Questions: 1. If I present a new disk for a new database, is there a good reason to keep the log on a separate disk(volume), thus having to present two new disks? The examples I see from Microsoft show the DB and log file on the same path. 2. I am thinking I need to eventually get all my DBs to their own disk. 3. What am I not knowing, that I should be thinking about? Thanks, Robert --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.commailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.commailto:listmana
RE: Am I in a corner?
No, they don't all see the same slice But every server has a slice similarly setup on its own SAN. Some servers have the Active copy of a particular DB. Others, using a different slice (in a different location), are maintaining a passive copy. From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:mich...@smithcons.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 2:42 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? So every server sees every other server's partition on the slice? Yeah, that's not the way I would do it. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:39 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? The steps as you mention is exactly what we have been attempting... the gotcha I think, is there are other partitions already on the slice, that fall between the piece we want to grow and the unallocated space. It is the data in the middle, I think that causes the need to convert to dynamic. I'd love to be wrong, but that is what we are seeing. If there was only ONE partition, and it next to the unallocated space, I think I could grow it just fine. Our example: We want to grow DB02 Basic DISK 3 = |ExDBMount|DB01|DB02|DB03|DB03|DB04 |DB05 |Unallocated Space| Again, I'm feeling we just need to get these DBs onto their own disks. Thank you all, Robert From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:mich...@smithcons.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 2:22 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? Dude, then you are doing it wrong. :) First, you increase the size of the slice on the SAN - how you do that on the SAN is dependent on the SAN. Once you've done that, viewing the disk from Computer Management - Disk Management should show you the volume with Unallocated Space. Then, you can extend the partition WITHOUT a conversion to dynamic disk. The switch to dynamic disk actually means you are creating a software RAID-0. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:16 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? RE: What method are you wanting to use to grow the partition? If I grow the volume we are presenting from the SAN, The MB server (Server 2008 Data Center) is allowing me to Extend the particular partition, but it warns it will convert the entire Basic disk to a Dynamic disk. We did this in a test instance and visually it looks like the partition has two separate non-contiguous partitions on the disk. The whole disk is then considered Dynamic. Looks like it's taking two partitions and virtually treating them as one. Not sure what this would do to a large single file database. -Robert P.S. I think I am leaning towards presenting a new disk and keeping the logs on the same path. From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:mich...@smithcons.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 1:58 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? Members of a DAG require that databases protected by the DAG must be consistently deployed. Sothey all must be on E: once you Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy (or perform the similar activity in the GUI). What method are you wanting to use to grow the partition? Regardless, the easiest thing would be to present a new mount point as G: (or something) and put the new DB there. In Exchange 2010 there is rarely reason to separate log and database volumes. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 1:49 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Am I in a corner? All, Current Setup: Exchange 2010 using DAG - all servers are Hyper-V guests, spread across 4 hosts. 4 - Mailbox servers Each server mounts 2 disks - SAN volumes, presented as iSCSI attached disks. E:\ all Database storage ( 6 -250GB databases) --- passive copies on other servers. F:\ all Log storage (6 databases) 4 - CAS/HT servers Concern: All Mailbox DBs were partitioned as mount points on the same disk or volume (E:\) being presented from the SAN. Issues: * I need to allow room for one of the databases to grow OR create a new DB and move some of the mailboxes. o I cannot grow a single DB partition without letting it convert to a dynamic disk which looks messy and I understand is not supported by Microsoft. Questions: 1. If I present a new disk for a new database, is there a good reason to keep the log on a separate disk(volume), thus having to present two new disks? The examples I see from Microsoft show the DB and log file on the same path. 2. I am thinking I need to eventually get all my DBs to their own disk. 3. What am I not knowing, that I should be thinking about? Thanks, Robert
RE: Am I in a corner?
I am trying to understand as well. Are you saying that you have all your Databases on the same LUN mapped via ISCSI to a single partition on the Exchange server, that's what it looks like by your diagram and description. The partition is what would be available per your LUN configuration from your SAN, size, type, etc to create volumes on. If you only have drive e and no other partitions after that then you should have no issue expanding the LUN, and then expanding the volume on the partition. (Multiple datastores on one partition/volume.) If when you open up Disk Manager you have multiple volumes on that partition then yes in that case when you add more space and try and expand Windows will only add to the last drive on that partition and not to the specific volume needing space. (One datastore per volume, multiple volumes on one partition) Just trying to get a picture here.. Greg Sweers CEO ACTS360.comhttp://www.acts360.com/ P.O. Box 1193 Brandon, FL 33509 813-657-0849 Office 813-758-6850 Cell 813-341-1270 Fax From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:57 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? No, they don't all see the same slice But every server has a slice similarly setup on its own SAN. Some servers have the Active copy of a particular DB. Others, using a different slice (in a different location), are maintaining a passive copy. From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:mich...@smithcons.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 2:42 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? So every server sees every other server's partition on the slice? Yeah, that's not the way I would do it. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:39 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? The steps as you mention is exactly what we have been attempting... the gotcha I think, is there are other partitions already on the slice, that fall between the piece we want to grow and the unallocated space. It is the data in the middle, I think that causes the need to convert to dynamic. I'd love to be wrong, but that is what we are seeing. If there was only ONE partition, and it next to the unallocated space, I think I could grow it just fine. Our example: We want to grow DB02 Basic DISK 3 = |ExDBMount|DB01|DB02|DB03|DB03|DB04 |DB05 |Unallocated Space| Again, I'm feeling we just need to get these DBs onto their own disks. Thank you all, Robert From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:mich...@smithcons.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 2:22 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? Dude, then you are doing it wrong. :) First, you increase the size of the slice on the SAN - how you do that on the SAN is dependent on the SAN. Once you've done that, viewing the disk from Computer Management - Disk Management should show you the volume with Unallocated Space. Then, you can extend the partition WITHOUT a conversion to dynamic disk. The switch to dynamic disk actually means you are creating a software RAID-0. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:16 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? RE: What method are you wanting to use to grow the partition? If I grow the volume we are presenting from the SAN, The MB server (Server 2008 Data Center) is allowing me to Extend the particular partition, but it warns it will convert the entire Basic disk to a Dynamic disk. We did this in a test instance and visually it looks like the partition has two separate non-contiguous partitions on the disk. The whole disk is then considered Dynamic. Looks like it's taking two partitions and virtually treating them as one. Not sure what this would do to a large single file database. -Robert P.S. I think I am leaning towards presenting a new disk and keeping the logs on the same path. From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:mich...@smithcons.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 1:58 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? Members of a DAG require that databases protected by the DAG must be consistently deployed. Sothey all must be on E: once you Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy (or perform the similar activity in the GUI). What method are you wanting to use to grow the partition? Regardless, the easiest thing would be to present a new mount point as G: (or something) and put the new DB there. In Exchange 2010 there is rarely reason to separate log and database volumes. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 1:49 PM To: MS
RE: Am I in a corner?
You are correct with the second observation. The other difficulty seems to be the terminology used by all the various systems... volumes, partitions, etc. seem to mean different things depending on the vendor, but maybe that's just me. :) Yes... in Disk Manager I have: [cid:image003.jpg@01CC2073.0BF671D0] I have a similar disk for the Logs for each DB. I need to grow the STLStaffDB01 Thanks again to all for input. Robert From: gswe...@acts360.com [mailto:gswe...@acts360.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:34 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? I am trying to understand as well. Are you saying that you have all your Databases on the same LUN mapped via ISCSI to a single partition on the Exchange server, that's what it looks like by your diagram and description. The partition is what would be available per your LUN configuration from your SAN, size, type, etc to create volumes on. If you only have drive e and no other partitions after that then you should have no issue expanding the LUN, and then expanding the volume on the partition. (Multiple datastores on one partition/volume.) If when you open up Disk Manager you have multiple volumes on that partition then yes in that case when you add more space and try and expand Windows will only add to the last drive on that partition and not to the specific volume needing space. (One datastore per volume, multiple volumes on one partition) Just trying to get a picture here.. Greg Sweers CEO ACTS360.comhttp://www.acts360.com/ P.O. Box 1193 Brandon, FL 33509 813-657-0849 Office 813-758-6850 Cell 813-341-1270 Fax From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:57 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? No, they don't all see the same slice But every server has a slice similarly setup on its own SAN. Some servers have the Active copy of a particular DB. Others, using a different slice (in a different location), are maintaining a passive copy. From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:mich...@smithcons.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 2:42 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? So every server sees every other server's partition on the slice? Yeah, that's not the way I would do it. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:39 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? The steps as you mention is exactly what we have been attempting... the gotcha I think, is there are other partitions already on the slice, that fall between the piece we want to grow and the unallocated space. It is the data in the middle, I think that causes the need to convert to dynamic. I'd love to be wrong, but that is what we are seeing. If there was only ONE partition, and it next to the unallocated space, I think I could grow it just fine. Our example: We want to grow DB02 Basic DISK 3 = |ExDBMount|DB01|DB02|DB03|DB03|DB04 |DB05 |Unallocated Space| Again, I'm feeling we just need to get these DBs onto their own disks. Thank you all, Robert From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:mich...@smithcons.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 2:22 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? Dude, then you are doing it wrong. :) First, you increase the size of the slice on the SAN - how you do that on the SAN is dependent on the SAN. Once you've done that, viewing the disk from Computer Management - Disk Management should show you the volume with Unallocated Space. Then, you can extend the partition WITHOUT a conversion to dynamic disk. The switch to dynamic disk actually means you are creating a software RAID-0. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 3:16 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? RE: What method are you wanting to use to grow the partition? If I grow the volume we are presenting from the SAN, The MB server (Server 2008 Data Center) is allowing me to Extend the particular partition, but it warns it will convert the entire Basic disk to a Dynamic disk. We did this in a test instance and visually it looks like the partition has two separate non-contiguous partitions on the disk. The whole disk is then considered Dynamic. Looks like it's taking two partitions and virtually treating them as one. Not sure what this would do to a large single file database. -Robert P.S. I think I am leaning towards presenting a new disk and keeping the logs on the same path. From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:mich...@smithcons.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 1:58 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? Members of a DAG require that databases protected by the DAG
RE: Am I in a corner?
I'm with you Michael, Just add another mount point and be done with it. DB and logs, one each per mount point, on the same disk, drive, whatever. It makes it much easier to keep track of them.With having well over a hundred Dags in just about every configuration one could imagine in just one environment I can't say keep it simple enough. As for virtual mailbox servers, not sure I'd go down that road but you already have. In my opinion, virtual servers are not all they're cracked up to be, even in less demanding rolls such as DC's they're affecting the performance and reliability of the orgs for a host of reasons (hehe that's a pun son.). M From: Michael B. Smith [mailto:mich...@smithcons.com] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 11:58 AM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: RE: Am I in a corner? Members of a DAG require that databases protected by the DAG must be consistently deployed. So..they all must be on E: once you Add-MailboxDatabaseCopy (or perform the similar activity in the GUI). What method are you wanting to use to grow the partition? Regardless, the easiest thing would be to present a new mount point as G: (or something) and put the new DB there. In Exchange 2010 there is rarely reason to separate log and database volumes. Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Robert Peterson [mailto:robert.peter...@prin.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2011 1:49 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Am I in a corner? All, Current Setup: Exchange 2010 using DAG - all servers are Hyper-V guests, spread across 4 hosts. 4 - Mailbox servers Each server mounts 2 disks - SAN volumes, presented as iSCSI attached disks. E:\ all Database storage ( 6 -250GB databases) --- passive copies on other servers. F:\ all Log storage (6 databases) 4 - CAS/HT servers Concern: All Mailbox DBs were partitioned as mount points on the same disk or volume (E:\) being presented from the SAN. Issues: . I need to allow room for one of the databases to grow OR create a new DB and move some of the mailboxes. o I cannot grow a single DB partition without letting it convert to a dynamic disk which looks messy and I understand is not supported by Microsoft. Questions: 1. If I present a new disk for a new database, is there a good reason to keep the log on a separate disk(volume), thus having to present two new disks? The examples I see from Microsoft show the DB and log file on the same path. 2. I am thinking I need to eventually get all my DBs to their own disk. 3. What am I not knowing, that I should be thinking about? Thanks, Robert --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist
