Absolutely, it is important to work with your SAN vendor through the whole process to make sure that everything is configured properly on the SAN and that you've got everything you need since there is a lot more to a SAN than just some HBAs and some disk. They know their product better than anyone and it is important for them to be a part of the whole process.
Just make sure that the people you are dealing with at your SAN vendor have specific knowledge about running Exchange on the SAN because as Al said, it does have some nuances.
Phil
On 9/22/05, Al Mulnick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
LOL. I'm laughing because a company I used to get paid by thought that's how long it would take as well (I spec'd the project, and budgeted 7 weeks of lab for the environment and was being overly aggressive for that; another story.) How long was the actual? Don't know becuase of the politics surrounding the implementation, the engineering was influenced by outsided entities that munged it all up and it's still not quite done. At one point I offered to host 4K user density Exchange clusters on iPaq devices clustered with a bluetooth piconet. Shame they didn't take me up on that ;)I can say that a general principal for Exchange sizing is to focus on the attaining the desired performance level first and the space second. Exchange is highly disk dependent for performance especially as you scale up in db size and user density.As for sizing, you also generally want to work with restoration times (restoration of data, service, etc) and work backwards to derive your density that you need to achieve and then play that back to the disk subsystem and layout. Exchange is spindle hungry for most SAN implementations, very similar to other two-phase commit database applications. There are some nuances to be aware of, but basically the same concept applies.Lawana is absolutely correct in how to get the proper configuration and how important it is. Some SAN vendors I've dealt with include that evaluation and supported configuration service in the maintenance. Something to check on. I have ALWAYS gone back to the SAN vendor to get the thumbs up on the configuration prior to even testing. Saves a lot of time that way.My 0.035 anyway.ajm
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Phil Renouf
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 11:21 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [ActiveDir] OT: SAN Assessment
As someone else mentioned, when sizing a SAN for Exchange you are more concerned about performance than the size of the storage. That means that although you need to make sure you have enough disk space, more important is ensuring that the number of disks you get will meet the performance needs of your Exchange solution.To get that performance number can be fairly involved and deals with getting performance data from your existing Exchange installation (if you have one), or doing some calculations based on assumptions if you don't have Exchange. Anyone who is experienced with sizing Exchange solutions on a SAN will have the knowledge to help you out with those assumptions. It will likely also involved doing validation of the performance you expect to get from the SAN once it is in place. This is important because you may find ways to improve performance even more by tweaking some configuration on the server or SAN, but more importantly you may find performance bottle necks that you can fix prior to going to production.Depending on the size of your Exchange environment and how complex it is that performance testing could go on for 4-6 weeks. Longer if it is an incredibly complex environment (Geo-clusters etc.)Phil
On 9/22/05, Lawana Gibson <[EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote:Good mornin',
We have a SAN environment within our library. We're running a FC4500
with 1.2 TB of disk space. I have seven servers connected to the SAN
and a PowerVault 136T Tape Library. We had Dell (we're a Dell shop)
come in and assess our environment; we made the decision on how much
disk space we needed, etc. So basically they took our specifications
and produced a system (hardware, mgmt software, HBA). We had them
install a "turn key" system so all we had to do was start moving data
over to the disks (or LUNS). BUT....you have to be very careful and
make sure they are giving you the most current equipment; they are not
selling you mgmt software that will not work with your server
environment....basically make sure they know your network. Make sure
your sales/technical accountant is aware of when your equipment comes
in, who they sent to install the equipment, etc. Have them/make them
document everything! I have horror stories related to our SAN
installation, but once I finally complained loud enough (and we
threatened not to pay them) they sent someone out to reconfigure our
system. We are now in the phase of upgrading our SAN environment...as a
matter of fact I'm meeting with them next week. If I had one thing to
warn you or suggest...make sure YOU are aware of what you're getting as
far as software, HBAs and drivers, SAN management software, etc.
Because if you don't know, you could be stuck with a monster on your
hands.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Devan Pala
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 10:04 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [ActiveDir] OT: SAN Assessment
Hi,
We're in the process of planning to migrate from Notes to Exchange and
one
the dependenices of this migration is a SAN environment.
Has anyone utilized the services of any independent consulting bodies to
carry out a SAN assessment. Essentially, helping in the process of
determining requirements and laying out a path to successful deployment
with
considerations for high availability, scalability and future
considerations.
Thanks,
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