Designing a Bulletproof Exchange 2007 Architecture J. Peter Bruzzese Co-Founder of ClipTraining MCSE/MCT/ MCITP: Messaging for Exchange 2007

Who is J. Peter Bruzzese? MCSE, MCT, MCITP: Messaging 2K7

The Purpose of this Discussion What does designing a bulletproof architecture mean? –Includes best practices –Understanding features –Security –Centralization and Consolidation –Virtualization ESX vs Hyper-V

Agenda for this Discussion Why Exchange 2007 Is Better Architecture Active Directory Preparation Evaluate and Plan Your Server Deployment Managed Content Settings, Journal and Transport Rules Reviewing High Availability Options Reviewing Disaster Recovery Solutions Planning for Unified Messaging Security Concerns Scalability for Mission Critical Exchange

Pre-Exchange Very Limited Primary limitations: –I/O footprint –Non Paged Pool Memory –Database size –Disaster Recovery Scenarios –32-Bit Architecture is the limiting factor

Exchange 2007 Dramatically Increases Opportunities Primary Influences : –64-Bit Architecture –More available memory –Less I/O footprint through redesign and architectural options with memory and storage –Revised Exchange Service Architecture –Built-in D/R options for easier management and less complex infrastructures

Active Directory Preparation Behind the scenes: Schema and Configuration –Method: Install Exchange and it happens automatically Run switches like /PrepareAD to manually handle the preparations Physically: Remove any preconfigured site links if possible. Let the Knowledge Consistency Checker (KCC) handle the creation of your replication topology.

What are Server Roles? Common practice to deploy servers in dedicated roles on Exchange Server 2000/2003 –Installs all code –Larger footprint, unnecessary services & features installed, less secure Exchange Server 2007 formally defines server roles –Installs only required code, smaller footprint, more secure and management interfaces change based on server role

Server Roles One server can have more than one role installed Cant co-exist: Cluster Mailbox and Edge roles Required roles in an Org: Mailbox, CAS, Hub Transport –Single server deployments: install all three required roles Optional: Edge Transport, Unified Messaging Edge Hub Transport Server Client Access Server Mailbox Unified Messaging

Roles: Mailbox Server Hosts user mailboxes and public folders Provides MAPI access to Outlook clients –Outlook MAPI clients DO NOT connect to CAS server Co-exists with Hub Transport, Client Access Server, and Unified Messaging roles Clustered Mailbox Server does not co-exist with any other role MAILBOX SERVER

Roles: Client Access Server (CAS) Equivalent of 2003/2000 Front-End servers Provides clients access using OWA, Exchange ActiveSync, Outlook Anywhere, and POP3/IMAP4 Distributes Offline Address Book (OAB) provides Availability services and AutoDiscover connection info for Outlook 2007 clients CLIENT ACCESS SERVER MAILBOX SERVER OWA / IMAP4 / POP3 OUTLOOK ANYWHERE ACTIVESYNC

Roles: Hub Transport Server Routes mail within Exchange Organization to/from Mailbox servers, other Hub Transport servers, and to Edge Transport servers / smarthosts Can be configured to route external mail outside Org –Edge Transport server not a *requirement* Uses Site and Site Link info in AD to route internal messages MAILBOX SERVER HUB TRANSPORT

Roles: Edge Transport Server Managed SMTP Gateway Typically sits in perimeter networks Not member of AD Routes mail in/out of Exchange Organization Applies messaging hygiene (anti-spam/anti- virus) filtering agents and organizational policies Edge HUB TRANSPORT SERVER

Roles: Unified Messaging Concept: Universal Inbox – , voic , fax Outlook Voice Access –Access mailbox, address book, calendar over the phone AutoAttendant

Managed Content Settings Managed Content Settings are applied to content in a particular folder or entire mailbox Messages can be expired based on when theyre delivered to the mailbox or when moved to a particular folder. Specifies Retention Settings (expire messages, take action) and Journaling actions for that content

Message Journaling Requirements: legal compliance Journaling happens at Transport Granular: per mailbox (previous versions = Store- based) Standard Journaling: per mailbox Store, per server Per-recipient or distribution list journaling: all messages to and from recipients and senders on a journaling-enabled mailbox Premium Journaling: rules-based, available in Enterprise Edition Only –Scope: internal/external/global

Transport Rules Apply messaging policies Transport Rule Agent runs on Hub Transport servers Edge Rules Agent runs on Edge Transport servers Together they provide a mechanism to apply policy- based rules to all messages –Inappropriate content –Confidential or sensitive information –Ethical Walls /Conflict of interest situations (e.g. brokers & analysts) –Redirecting messages –Applying disclaimers

High Availability Options Local Continuous Replication (LCR) Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR) Single Copy Cluster (SCC) With SP1 –Standby Continuous Replication (SCR) –Windows 2008 Support

Other DR Features Database Portability: Store from one server can be mounted on another server –Only restriction: Store needs to be from a server in the same Exchange Organization –After mounting Store on another server, modify user account settings: mov box –configurationonly –AutoDiscover automatically redirects Outlook 2007 clients

DR Features (cont.) Recovery Storage Group –Can be created and used using shell –Not visible in console –Recover Stores from Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2003 SP1 or later, Exchange 2000 SP3 or later Supports restores from VSS backups

Traditional Approach: Multi-Site Disaster Recovery One Way Data & Service Replication to DR Site Double The Servers (High $$$) (10) Infrastructure Servers (10) Mailbox Servers (10) Infrastructure Servers PRODUCTION SITE DR SITE * Source: Unisys

Planning for Unified Messaging Server? We encourage 4x Processor Cores and at least 2GB of RAM (show you why in next slide) What about your legacy PBX? –Consult the Telephony Advisor from Microsoft for supported VoIP Gateways, PBXs and IP-PBXs If you have a legacy PBX… try a VoIP Gateway the PBX is functional. If you are starting fresh… go with an IP-PBX

UM Metrics with 1/2/4 Cores

The View from Above

Security Concerns Permissions and Roles within Exchange Using Transport Rules Authentication options Anti-spam (for the Edge and Hub Transport servers) Anti-virus Hosted Solutions Microsoft Forefront

Bulletproof Design Thinking Centralize Consolidate Virtualize

Centralize Exchange Servers Only Deployed in Mission Critical Locations Fewer or No Remote Site Servers Increased Control and Security * Source: Unisys

Consolidate Fewer Servers Less Attack Surface Better Resource Usage Higher User Density Reduced Cost per User Green IT Underutilized Servers Higher Server Utilization * Source: Unisys

Virtualized Infrastructure Server CAS, HUB, GC Virtualized Infrastructure Server EDGE, ISA Virtualized MBX Servers Virtualize Fewest Physical Servers Least Attack Surface Optimized Resource Usage Highest User Density Lowest Cost per User Green IT * Source: Unisys

An Example of Bulletproof Design Exchange Server 2003 Previous Environment - 30K Users 62 servers …No redundancy…no DR Deployment Solution also includes: Disaster recovery (CCR) Collaboration (SharePoint ) Exchange Server 2007 (2) 24 dual core ES7000s New Approach - 42K users * Source: Unisys

ESX vs Hyper-V Many people ask which virtualization solution is better. Our friends at Unisys had the chance to perform benchmark testing in the Microsoft lab to find out. We thank them for allowing us to show their results here. Used LoadGen: simulation tool used to measure the impact of MAPI, OWA, IMAP, POP and SMTP clients on Exchange. * Source: Unisys

VMware Testing Information VMware ESX 3.5 Microsoft Windows 2008 Microsoft Exchange 2007 Microsoft LoadGen 8 Virtual Machines 24,000 through 56,000 Heavy Users (MAPI) * Source: Unisys

VMware Test Information 17 load generator systems and 1 master to drive the tests Heavy Action profile: Outlook 2007 MAPI-Connected 250 MB mailbox size Test duration 8 hours Simulated 8 hour day Tasks per User per Day = 132 No Distribution Lists No Contacts No External Recipients * Source: Unisys

Hyper-V Testing Information Hyper-V Microsoft Windows 2008 Microsoft Exchange 2007 Microsoft LoadGen 4 Virtual Machines 12,500 Average Users per VM 50,000 Users Total * Source: Unisys

VMWare Processor Utilization * Shows average for all 8 VMs during the steady state (after initial user logons) * Source: Unisys

VMWare Disk IO IOPS/User = 0.16 IOPS/User remained the same for all tests (24k through 56k users) Avg. Disk sec/Read was.006 with 24k users and.008 with 56k users Avg. Disk sec/Write was.001 for 24k through 56k users * Source: Unisys

ESX Host Processor Utilization * Source: Unisys

Hyper-V Testing Results MAPI Tests Single VM – 15% average CPU utilization on 1 Mailbox VM Two VMs – 28% average CPU utilization on each of 2 Mailbox VMs Three VMs – 49% average CPU utilization on each of 3 Mailbox VMs Four VMs – 60% average CPU utilization on each of 4 Mailbox VMs No problems with disk latency – 6 to 8 ms No problem with LoadGen task latencies

Hyper-V Cluster Testing CCR Cluster Tests Single active / passive VM –30% CPU utilization on VM on active node –26% CPU Utilization on Passive VM Two active / passive VMs –55% CPU utilization per VM on active node –32% CPU Utilization on Passive VM No problems with disk latency (6 - 8 ms for EDB files) No Copy Queues (1 - 2 per SG) * Source: Unisys

Page 40 Setup Parameters Hardware –ES7000/one Dual Core with 8 sockets and 48 GB RAM –Four HBA´s with 2 Gbit connection each –HP EVA 8000 with 80 spindles for the test –LoadGen Clients virtualized on HP Servers Setup Parameters LoadGen –50 MB initial mailbox size (Storage Contraints) –8 hour working day –No dynamic DL´s –No external mailflow Testing Results MTC Munich * Source: Unisys

Page 41 Setup Hyper-V –4 logical cores and 20 GB RAM per VM –Pass through discs –One LUN for every 2,000 users Setup Parameters Exchange 2007 –Two Mailbox servers, each configured as HUB/CAS/MBX –Clean Active Directory setup on VM´s Testing Results MTC Munich * Source: Unisys

Page 42 Testing Results Test run with 10,000 average users per VM –CPU and RPC Latency spike during logon –System proceeded to normal state after 15 minutes –Average CPU utilization around 18% per VM –Average 8 Messages/Sec, 480/Min, 28,800/Hr Test run with 10,000 heavy users per VM –CPU and RPC Latency spike during logon –System proceeded to normal state after 15 minutes –Average CPU utilization around 26% –Average 13 Messages/Sec, 780/Min, 46,800/Hr MTC Munich * Source: Unisys

Page 43 Testing Results Test with 10,000 very heavy users per VM –Average CPU utilization around 35% per VM –Average 17 Messages/Sec, 1,020/Min, 61,200/Hr –Average RPC Latency ~ 8 ms –5 Megabyte traffic per second on NIC´s MTC Munich * Source: Unisys

VMWare or Hyper-V? Depends: –If you matured into the virtualization space believing in a certain solution –VMWare has Vmotion (although Hyper-V has Live Migration coming in Server R2) However, I believe the preceding slides show that Performance is not necessarily a factor in the decision.

High Availability and Virtualization Microsoft says: –We dont recommend you use hypervisor- provided clustering No Live Migration No Vmotion –We DO recommend CCR for high availability – us/library/cc aspxhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en- us/library/cc aspx

Summary Designing a Bulletproof Exchange Architecture involves the following: –Knowing Best Practices –Understanding Features –Knowing Your Options –Centralizing, Consolidating and Virtualization –Virtualization Saves You A Great Deal… Virtualization combined with Disaster Recovery may save your company.

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