You can move within a single CAS-array on the fly as long as the databases are using the CAS-array as their MAPI endpoint.
As you said, there is no right or wrong answer. I would PERSONALLY go ahead and set up all four and let them load-balance. My personal justification for that is at some point a client will call me and tell me they want it done and ask me why I didn't do it to start with because they TOLD ME that EVENTUALLY they'd want this configuration. :) Regards, Michael B. Smith Consultant and Exchange MVP http://TheEssentialExchange.com From: Paul Hutchings [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2011 3:56 PM To: MS-Exchange Admin Issues Subject: Exchange 2010 Automatic Mailbox Distribution Not sure if there is a right or wrong answer to this, so I guess I'd simply appreciate any input and feedback. I have a single 2010 CAS/HT/MBX server running 2010 SP1 RU 3v3 Standard Edition. It has a pair of LUNs allocated from our SAN, one for logs, one for databases. I have approx. 500 mailboxes which currently total around 300gb to migrate across (plus approx. 100gb public folder database). My plan is that all the databases will be equal in terms of quota/limits etc. with the odd user having an individual limit. I can obviously have up to 4 mailbox databases. Since I'm migrating users across, would it make sense to create all 4 databases up-front and let the load-balancing feature of the New-MoveRequest commandlet deal with distributing the load, or is there any benefit in creating only a couple of databases right now and giving myself the choice down the line of when/what sort of databases to create? Whilst the start point is single server, we're using Windows Enterprise and I have created a CAS array so the mailboxes are stamped from day-one, as at some point I'd be looking to add a second box and at the very least setup a DAG. My understanding is that once mailboxes are on 2010 I can move "on the fly" with little impact on the user so I'm not sure if it matters that much, but I'd still appreciate any guidance on best practise and pitfalls of one way vs. the other. Thanks, Paul ________________________________ MIRA Ltd Watling Street, Nuneaton, Warwickshire, CV10 0TU, England Registered in England and Wales No. 402570 VAT Registration GB 100 1464 84 The contents of this e-mail are confidential and are solely for the use of the intended recipient. If you receive this e-mail in error, please delete it and notify us either by e-mail, telephone or fax. You should not copy, forward or otherwise disclose the content of the e-mail as this is prohibited. --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe exchangelist
