F5 solution for Microsoft Exchange

What’s new in Exchange Server 2010? All clients need BIG-IP Elevation of Client Access Server (CAS) role All client connections, regardless of protocol, are with CAS servers CAS servers rely on ADC for high-availability Microsoft recommends hardware load balancing for every Exchange 2010 deployment ADC recommended over NLB Includes multi-role Exchange server installations Includes installations with Microsoft clustering services HWLB for highest availability Database Availability Group (DAG) is now an org level object. Resilience achieved through multiple copies of the DAG across the organization. The DAG replication time savings is based on TMOS 10.1 testing done with TCP optimizations and adaptive compression with replication from a source store out to a replica. Here are the actual test times: 25:33-21:35 = 3:58 | 3:58/25:33 = 16% less time 25:33-13:26 = 12:07 | 12:07/25:33 = 47% less time  This 47% less time is where the 2X acceleration factor comes from. When any confusion arises around “X times” improvement versus “X%” improvement, fall back to the times. Reading out the times clears up the ambiguity. DAG optimization features are not in the primary slide at this time. Technical white paper on the MS internal Exchange design: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff829232.aspx

The F5 Solution for Exchange Server 2010 High-availability and superior user response Site resilience Pre-authentication of users in network perimeter SPAM filtering and web client security Availability Performance Security Configuration Intelligent load balancing Server and site level health monitoring SSL offload Cross-site resilience Server optimization Caching and compression for Web clients Reduced bandwidth use Bi-directional proxy Protection against application layer attacks SPAM filter AuthN/AuthZ from the perimeter Application template for error-free, fast configuration DevCentral online user community Integration with systems management These 4 solution characteristics map directly back to clear business value: Make more money and spend less. Layer-7 attacks: (Cross-site scripting, parameter tampering, brute force attacks, and other known or unknown threats)

F5 Solution for Exchange Server 2010 B Load balancing message is that it’s smart load-balancing. Need types described in these notes. Spam filter message: We were first in market and if you can filter 70% of spam based on known offenders, why not leverage that functionality before ma Enhance availability and scale up through load balancing Client to CAS and Edge farms Recommended for multi-role Exchange servers, deployments with more than 8 CAS servers and “brick” deployments with clustering services. Accelerate TPC optimization Caching 154 of 160 OWA objects Compression of attachments with up to 90% faster file downloads Off-load SSL (25% savings of server CPU utilization) Reduce SSL connections by RPC over HTTP Exchange Database Availability Group (DAG) replication time savings Secure Pre/post logon checks for Web clients Remove 70% of spam before it reaches Exchange il gets to any of your Exchange servers or spam filters at all? Increases capacity (reduces load) on all messaging elements. D

Multi-datacenter considerations Multiple datacenters provides additional options for redundancy and load-balancing Load-balancing and Failover across locations DNS management Secure, accelerated application data synchronization Seamless integration with systems management tools Key enabling functionality BIG-IP LTM – GTM communication iSessions iControl F5 PRO-Enabled Management Pack iSessions: Any two BIG‑IP devices can be deployed symmetrically to enable data to be optimized, encrypted, and optionally tunneled. iSessions can be combined with symmetric data de-duplication, CIFS acceleration, or other functionalities to create a traditional WAN optimization deployment such as hub and spoke, fully meshed, bridged, one-armed, or WCCP. Only BIG‑IP devices offer the flexibility to combine WAN and LAN application delivery services in a unified solution. http://www.f5.com/pdf/white-papers/big-ip-v10-wp.pdf

Summary Highest availability through intelligent, hardware-based load-balancing of client connections to CAS servers Dramatically increased server processing power through off-loading of SSL, caching, compression and client connection isolation. F5 enables cross-site availability and resilience Pre-authenticate users in the perimeter network F5 devices can be controlled using PowerShell and Management Packs

Exchange related resources F5 Solution page for Exchange Server http://www.f5.com/solutions/microsoft/exchange F5 Deployment Guide for Exchange Server 2010 http://www.f5.com/pdf/deployment-guides/f5-exchange-2010-dg.pdf Technical white paper by Microsoft on their internal deployment Load-balancing requirements from TechNet http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff625247.aspx F5 developer/IT admin user community http://devcentral.f5.com/microsoft