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Exchange 2003 Scale-Out Performance On A Dell Poweredge High Availability Cluster

Exchange 2003 Scale-Out Performance on a Dell PowerEdge High Availability Cluster
Product Group - Enterprise

Dell White Paper
By
Arrian Mehis
Ananda Sankaran
Scott Stanford


Contents
Executive Summary 3
Introduction 4
FE 400 Cluster Architecture: Modular and Scalable Building Blocks 5
The Microsoft Exchange Server Benchmark Simulation and MMB3 Environment 11
Exchange Server 2003 Virtual Server: Scaling and Performance 15
Conclusion 22
Appendix A 23
The Test Environment 23


Section 1
Executive Summary

Dell PowerEdge™ clusters built with industry standard components such as Dell PowerEdge servers, Dell/EMC storage and Windows® Server 2003, Enterprise Edition provide scaleable high availability by minimizing downtime through application failovers. The MAPI Messaging Benchmark Version 3 (MMB3) is an industry standard benchmark which simulates enterprise level messaging workloads in the Exchange 2003 Server environment. The MMB3 workload places demands on processor, memory, network, and disk subsystem. The LoadSim 2003 tool configured with (MMB3) profile was used to simulate MAPI based workloads on a Dell cluster running Exchange 2003 Server in a 3+1 active/passive configuration. This paper discusses Dell PowerEdge Cluster FE400 architecture, the LoadSim 2003 and MMB3 test environment, and some key findings from tests that show how Dell PowerEdge Cluster clusters scale well while running enterprise level applications like Exchange 2003.
Key points:
• Dell High Availability Clusters use industry standard components
• Dell High Availability Clusters are designed and tested to ensure that single points of failure do not exist
• Dell High Availability Clusters are natural building blocks for scalable enterprise computing initiatives
• Dell High Availability Clusters provide scalability and enhance reliability for key mission critical applications like Microsoft Exchange 2003 Server
Section 2
Introduction

Scaleable hardware...