Level 300 Exchange Server 2010 and Virtualization Scott Schnoll, Microsoft Corporation

Level 300 Agenda Virtualization Landscape Support Guidance Why Virtualize Exchange? Best Practices Tools & Resources

Level 300 Virtualization Landscape

Level 300 Virtualization Landscape Number of physical servers shipments used for virtualization will grow to 1.7M+ in 2012 at a CAGR of 15% IDC Server Virtualization Forecast * Data from IDC Server Virtualization Forecast

Level % OF THE MARKET 58% are <30% virtualized 75% expect to be >30% virtualized in 24 months 70% of organizations using >1 hypervisor Virtualization Landscape

Level 300 Why Virtualize Exchange? Take advantage of virtualization capabilities to optimize server utilization Consolidate under-utilized servers into a single virtualized hosts Lower costs by reducing space needs and power consumption Rapid provisioning of a mobile infrastructure Host in Datacenter VM 1 CAS & HUB Mailbox File & Print Server 2 Mailbox 3 CAS & HUB Management Server NLB DC Database Server UM DAG

Level 300 Support Guidance

Level 300 Exchange 2010 Support Guidance RTMSP1 Any hypervisor validated under Windows SVVP Storage used by an Exchange guest must be block level storage Virtual storage must be fixed size, SCSI pass-through, or iSCSI Virtual processor-to-logical processor ration no greater than 2:1 Exchange HA with hypervisor clustering or migration Unified Messaging role RTM Hyper-V or any hypervisor validated under Windows SVVP Physical storage for an Exchange guest must be block level storage Virtual storage must be fixed size, SCSI pass-through, or iSCSI Virtual processor-to-logical processor ration no greater than 2:1

Level 300 Unsupported Configurations Differencing/delta disks Hypervisor-based Snapshots Processor over-subscription of root greater than 2 (virtual CPUs):1 (physical core) Apps running on the root VSS backup of root for passthrough disks or iSCSI disks connected to initiator in guest

Level 300 Basic Exchange Server Considerations

Level 300 Does Virtualization Make Sense for Your Exchange Infrastructure? No single answer for all customers Many reasons to virtualize If virtualizing, understand the goals that lead to virtualization and the trade-offs that come with virtualization

Level 300 Scale Up or Scale Out? Exchange architected for scale out Large mailboxes, low cost, DAS, redundant inexpensive servers, etc. Virtualization typically implies scale up (root hardware) Avoid “all eggs in one basket” Where possible, scale out Exchange servers across many root servers

Level 300 General Deployment Reminders Exchange isn’t virtualization-aware Virtualization isn’t free Hypervisor adds CPU overhead: ~12% in our tests Virtualization doesn’t provide resources where they don’t truly exist Size for required physical resources for each VM Make sure you can deliver those resources

Level 300 Capacity, Sizing and Performance

Level 300 Sizing Process Start with the physical server sizing process Calculator & TechNet guidance Account for virtualization overhead Determine VM placement Account for VM migration if planned Size root servers, storage, and network infrastructure

Level 300 Sizing Process Size Mailbox role first CPU ratios for other roles based on Mailbox role sizing Mailbox role performance is key to user experience High availability design significantly impacts sizing Don’t over-subscribe/over-allocate resources Size based on anticipated peak workload, don’t under provision physical resources Don’t forget network needs

Level 300 Sizing Process Root Server Sizing Includes space for the OS & required hypervisor components, plus storage for guest VMs Don’t forget about high availability of storage, if required (multi-path HBAs or iSCSI NICs, redundant paths, etc.) Network sizing is critical: number of interfaces and bandwidth Consider app connectivity, storage networking, heartbeats, especially when using CSV or migrating VMs CPU sizing should include root needs plus per-guest overhead Follow hypervisor vendor recommendations Memory sizing should not assume over-allocation Follow hypervisor vendor recommendations Provide memory for root plus sum of running VM requirements

Level 300 Sizing Process Scale up CPU on VMs as much as possible Don’t deploy 4 x 1 vCPU machines vs. 1 x 4 vCPU machine: take advantage of Exchange scalability Don’t over-subscribe CPUs unless consolidating with P2V or similar scenario Generally assume 1 logical CPU == 1 virtual CPU Don’t factor in hyperthreading

Level 300 Sizing Process Storage Validation in A Virtual World We now support running the Microsoft Exchange Server Jetstress 2010 tool in virtual guest instances which are deployed on one of the following hypervisors: Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 or later Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 or later VMware ESX 4.1 or later See for detailshttp://aka.ms/btus3r

Level 300 Server Deployment

Level 300 Locating Virtual Machines Ensure peak workload can run in standard VM locations OK to move temporarily for maintenance assuming high availability requirements are met and current workload can be serviced Exchange unaware of VM location relative to other VMs VM placement is important for high availability

Level 300 Locating Virtual Machines Don’t co-locate DAG components on physical hosts This is a bad design that will compromise availability Host in Datacenter VM 1 Exchange 2010 CAS & HUB Exchange 2010 MBX File & Print Server 2 DC 1 3 Exchange 2010 CAS & HUB Management Server NLB Exchange 2010 MBX DC 2 Database Server Exchange 2010 UM DAG

Level 300 Storage Decisions General Storage Considerations Exchange performance and health dependent on availability and performance of storage Many options for presentation of storage to VMs: VHD, FC, iSCSI, FCoE, DAS Optimize for performance and general design goals, but look for options that provide large mailboxes at a low cost Exchange storage should be on spindles separate from guest OS VHD physical storage

Level 300 Storage Decisions Exchange Storage Requirements Exchange storage must be block-level (Network attached storage (NAS)) volumes not supported Exchange storage must be fixed VHD, SCSI passthrough or iSCSI Preference is to use SCSI passthrough for transport queues, databases, and log files FC/SCSI HBAs must be configured in Root OS with LUNs presented to VMs as passthrough or VHD

Level 300 Storage Decisions iSCSI Storage Considerations Standard best practices for iSCSI connected storage apply (dedicated NIC, jumbo frames, offload, etc…) iSCSI initiator in the guest is supported but best performance will require guest VM network support

Level 300 High Availability & VM Migration

Level 300 High Availability And Disaster Recovery Exchange Team Definitions High Availability: Automatic failover of application services which doesn’t compromise the integrity of application data Selection of “active” data set occurs within the application automatically Disaster Recovery: Manual switchover of application services with high retention of data integrity Selection of “active” data set occurs manually outside the application

Level 300 Exchange 2010 High Availability Database Availability Group (DAG) A group of up to 16 Exchange Server 2010 Mailbox servers that provide automatic database-level recovery Uses continuous replication and Windows Failover Clustering Can be extended across multiple datacenters Provides automatic recovery from database, server and network failures Automatic failover protection and manual switchover control provided at the mailbox database level Support for lagged copies (point in time copies) up to 14 days

Level 300 Host Based Failover Clustering Hypervisor-based High Availability Not an Exchange-aware Solution Only protects against server hardware or network failure No HA in the event of storage failure or data corruption Requires a shared-storage deployment

Level 300 VM Migration Considerations Minimize outage during migration operations Consider CSV rather than pass-through LUNs for all Mailbox VM storage Consider relaxing cluster heartbeat timeouts Cluster nodes considered down after 5 seconds by default Be aware of additional network interface requirements for VM migration technologies – size network appropriately Disable migration technologies that save state and migrate: always migrate live or completely shut down

Level 300 Supported Configure for Shutdown

Level 300 Supported Live Migration

Level 300 Not Supported Quick Migration

Level 300 Coexistence With Other Workloads

Level 300 Private Cloud Considerations Isolate Exchange within private cloud Be prepared to apply different resource management polices to Exchange VMs vs. other workloads that are less mission critical Use private cloud as pre-built infrastructure, not dynamic resources Based on deployment sizing, understand overall resource requirements and allocate accordingly from pool of cloud resources

Level 300 Resource Allocation & Balancing Memory and CPU Tuning Disable hypervisor-based auto tuning features like dynamic memory or storage tuning/rebalancing Exchange Mailbox role IOPS heavily dependent on ESE cache, dynamic memory can negatively impact Size for calculated resource requirements – no reliance on dynamic tuning should be needed

Level 300 Tools & Resources

Level 300 Server Virtualization Validation Program List of validated 3rd party virtualization solutions Matrix includes: vendor, product & version, OS architecture, processor architecture and max supported processors & memory

Level 300 Exchange 2010 Solutions (on Hyper- V) HP configurations HP BladeSystem Matrix and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010: Exchange Server 2010: HP LeftHand P4000 SAN for 5,000 users: Exchange Server 2010: StorageWorks EVA8400 using CA-EVA and CLX-EVA for 20,000 users:

Level 300 Exchange 2010 Solutions (on Hyper- V) Dell configurations Dell servers running in single site for 500 users: Dell M610 servers with Dell Equalogic storage for 9,000 users: Dell R910 servers with EMC CLARiion storage for 20,000 users:

Level 300 Exchange 2010 Solutions (on Hyper- V) Unisys and EMC configurations Unisys ES7000 servers for 15,000 users: EMC unified storage and Cisco unified computing system for 32,000 users:

Level 300 QUESTIONS? After the session please fill out the questionnaire. Questionnaires will be sent to you by and will be available in the profile section of the NT Conference website Thank you!