Hi, I need to deploy Exchange servers 2010 SP2, at Remote Sites and don't know what hardware specs should I suggest to the customer. I checked http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd346700.aspxand here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd346699 but it has no minimum requirements. The design is like this: MAIN SITE 2 HUB/CAS with WNLB 3 MAILBOX with DAG 1 ARCHIVING 1 UM for integration with LYNC 2010 This site has been deployed. Although I suggested that all Branch Offices connect to the main Office to get/send their emails, the customer also asked to make a proposal with Branch Office Exchange for remote sites with 25-35 mailboxes. One of the solutions that I am suggesting is this: BRANCH OFFICE 2 HUB/CAS/MAILBOX servers with DAG and hardware Load Balancer since DAG and WNLB cannot be installed together. Since the deployment is up to 35 mailboxes, what would be a minimum AND supported solution to offer? As you can imagine the SUPPORTED section, is a must for the customer, but the urls provided do not offer a MINIMUM - VIRTUAL - COLLOCATED suggestion. Thanks in advance, Argi

I did a little search and found a calculator simpler than the Exchange 2010 Mailbox Server Role Requirements Calculator and this is the DPM2010 Storage Calculator for Exchange 2010. I entered the following values: Exchange Configuration Help DPM Inputs Help Exchange Server Version Exchange 2010 ESEUTIL Checksum Logs Only High Availability Model DAG ESEUTIL Checksum Rate 50 MBps Backup Failure Tolerance 2 days Exchange Mailbox Server Configuration Help DPM Storage Data Overhead Factor 10% Number of Mailbox Nodes in the DAG 2 Total Number of Mailboxes in this installation 35 DPM Configuration Help Total Number of Databases on each node 2 Incremental Backup Frequency Every 12 hours Number of copies of each database (1 Active + All Passive DBs) 2 Express Full Frequency Daily Number of copies that will be protected in this site 2 Retention Range 5 Days Number of servers in Mailbox Server Role that will be protected 2 Number of Exchange DBs / LUN 1 DPM Server Hardware Capacity Help DPM Server Network Bandwidth 100 Mbps Exchange Mailbox Server Hardware Capability Help Aggregate DPM Write Throughput (Backup I/O Throughput) 100 MBps Exchange Server Network bandwidth 100 Mbps Aggregate DPM Read Throughput (Restore I/O Throughput) 100 MBps Exchange Read Throughput per LUN Dedicated to Backup 20 MBps Exchange Write Throughput per LUN Dedicated to Restore 50 MBps Exchange Mailbox Server Data Configuration Help Size of a mailbox Database 50 GB Average Number of Transaction Logs Generated / DB / Day 6000

I did a little search and found a calculator simpler than the Exchange 2010 Mailbox Server Role Requirements Calculator and this is the DPM2010 Storage Calculator for Exchange 2010. I entered the following values: Exchange Configuration Help DPM Inputs Help Exchange Server Version Exchange 2010 ESEUTIL Checksum Logs Only High Availability Model DAG ESEUTIL Checksum Rate 50 MBps Backup Failure Tolerance 2 days Exchange Mailbox Server Configuration Help DPM Storage Data Overhead Factor 10% Number of Mailbox Nodes in the DAG 2 Total Number of Mailboxes in this installation 35 DPM Configuration Help Total Number of Databases on each node 2 Incremental Backup Frequency Every 12 hours Number of copies of each database (1 Active + All Passive DBs) 2 Express Full Frequency Daily Number of copies that will be protected in this site 2 Retention Range 5 Days Number of servers in Mailbox Server Role that will be protected 2 Number of Exchange DBs / LUN 1 DPM Server Hardware Capacity Help DPM Server Network Bandwidth 100 Mbps Exchange Mailbox Server Hardware Capability Help Aggregate DPM Write Throughput (Backup I/O Throughput) 100 MBps Exchange Server Network bandwidth 100 Mbps Aggregate DPM Read Throughput (Restore I/O Throughput) 100 MBps Exchange Read Throughput per LUN Dedicated to Backup 20 MBps Exchange Write Throughput per LUN Dedicated to Restore 50 MBps Exchange Mailbox Server Data Configuration Help Size of a mailbox Database 50 GB Average Number of Transaction Logs Generated / DB / Day 6000

I did a little search and found a calculator simpler than the Exchange 2010 Mailbox Server Role Requirements Calculator and this is the DPM2010 Storage Calculator for Exchange 2010. I entered the following values: Exchange Configuration Help DPM Inputs Help Exchange Server Version Exchange 2010 ESEUTIL Checksum Logs Only High Availability Model DAG ESEUTIL Checksum Rate 50 MBps Backup Failure Tolerance 2 days Exchange Mailbox Server Configuration Help DPM Storage Data Overhead Factor 10% Number of Mailbox Nodes in the DAG 2 Total Number of Mailboxes in this installation 35 DPM Configuration Help Total Number of Databases on each node 2 Incremental Backup Frequency Every 12 hours Number of copies of each database (1 Active + All Passive DBs) 2 Express Full Frequency Daily Number of copies that will be protected in this site 2 Retention Range 5 Days Number of servers in Mailbox Server Role that will be protected 2 Number of Exchange DBs / LUN 1 DPM Server Hardware Capacity Help DPM Server Network Bandwidth 100 Mbps Exchange Mailbox Server Hardware Capability Help Aggregate DPM Write Throughput (Backup I/O Throughput) 100 MBps Exchange Server Network bandwidth 100 Mbps Aggregate DPM Read Throughput (Restore I/O Throughput) 100 MBps Exchange Read Throughput per LUN Dedicated to Backup 20 MBps Exchange Write Throughput per LUN Dedicated to Restore 50 MBps Exchange Mailbox Server Data Configuration Help Size of a mailbox Database 50 GB Average Number of Transaction Logs Generated / DB / Day 6000

and got a result like this DPM Cost Variables Number of DPM Servers 1 Number of Processor Cores / DPM Server 4 Recommended RAM Configuration / DPM Server 8 GB Server Architecture 64 bit Total Storage Capacity Needed 1 TB Number of DPM Enterprise agent Licenses 4 Number of DPM server Licenses 1 Time Variables Time Taken by Express Full Backup / DB -- -- 23 Min Time Taken by Incremental Backup / DB -- -- 20 Min Time to perform Initial Replication -- 2 Hrs 53 Min Time to Recover one DB -- 1 Hrs 8 Min Time to Recover one Exchange Server -- 2 Hrs 16 Min

DPM Backup Results Pane Storage: DPM Storage Requirements Help Storage: Number of Servers & Total Storage Required Help Mailbox Server Node Exchange DB Replica size Recovery Point Volume Size Total Storage / DB Number of Exchange Nodes protected by DPM at this site 2 Recommended Number of DPM servers 1 Mailbox Server -1 DB1 74 GB 90 GB 165 GB Total Replica Volume Size ,15 TB Mailbox Server -2 DB2 74 GB 90 GB 165 GB Total Recovery Point Volume Size ,18 TB -- -- 0 0 0 Total Storage Required ,32 TB Storage: Space Required for DPM Databases Total Storage required for DPM SQL DB 1 GB Total Storage required for DPM diagnostic log files ,1 GB Server Hardware: DPM Server Configuration Help Number of Exchange Nodes protected by a DPM server 2 Recommended Number of Processor Cores / DPM Server 4 Recommended RAM Configuration / DPM Server 8 GB Server Architecture 64 bit Replica Volume Size ,15 TB Recovery Point Volume Size ,18 TB Total Storage Required per DPM Server for backups ,32 TB Storage: Space Required for DPM Storage required for DPM install bits 1 GB Stoarge required for SQL install bits 2, GB Storage required for DPM Config DB 1,5 GB Storage required for DPM diagnostic log files ,1 GB Recommended Page File size 14, GB Total Storage Required on the DPM server 25 GB Is there anyone more experienced that thinks that something needs to be changed?

DPM Backup Results Pane Storage: DPM Storage Requirements Help Storage: Number of Servers & Total Storage Required Help Mailbox Server Node Exchange DB Replica size Recovery Point Volume Size Total Storage / DB Number of Exchange Nodes protected by DPM at this site 2 Recommended Number of DPM servers 1 Mailbox Server -1 DB1 74 GB 90 GB 165 GB Total Replica Volume Size ,15 TB Mailbox Server -2 DB2 74 GB 90 GB 165 GB Total Recovery Point Volume Size ,18 TB -- -- 0 0 0 Total Storage Required ,32 TB Storage: Space Required for DPM Databases Total Storage required for DPM SQL DB 1 GB Total Storage required for DPM diagnostic log files ,1 GB Server Hardware: DPM Server Configuration Help Number of Exchange Nodes protected by a DPM server 2 Recommended Number of Processor Cores / DPM Server 4 Recommended RAM Configuration / DPM Server 8 GB Server Architecture 64 bit Replica Volume Size ,15 TB Recovery Point Volume Size ,18 TB Total Storage Required per DPM Server for backups ,32 TB Storage: Space Required for DPM Storage required for DPM install bits 1 GB Stoarge required for SQL install bits 2, GB Storage required for DPM Config DB 1,5 GB Storage required for DPM diagnostic log files ,1 GB Recommended Page File size 14, GB Total Storage Required on the DPM server 25 GB Is there anyone more experienced that thinks that something needs to be changed?

DPM Backup Results Pane Storage: DPM Storage Requirements Help Storage: Number of Servers & Total Storage Required Help Mailbox Server Node Exchange DB Replica size Recovery Point Volume Size Total Storage / DB Number of Exchange Nodes protected by DPM at this site 2 Recommended Number of DPM servers 1 Mailbox Server -1 DB1 74 GB 90 GB 165 GB Total Replica Volume Size ,15 TB Mailbox Server -2 DB2 74 GB 90 GB 165 GB Total Recovery Point Volume Size ,18 TB -- -- 0 0 0 Total Storage Required ,32 TB Storage: Space Required for DPM Databases Total Storage required for DPM SQL DB 1 GB Total Storage required for DPM diagnostic log files ,1 GB Server Hardware: DPM Server Configuration Help Number of Exchange Nodes protected by a DPM server 2 Recommended Number of Processor Cores / DPM Server 4 Recommended RAM Configuration / DPM Server 8 GB Server Architecture 64 bit Replica Volume Size ,15 TB Recovery Point Volume Size ,18 TB Total Storage Required per DPM Server for backups ,32 TB Storage: Space Required for DPM Storage required for DPM install bits 1 GB Stoarge required for SQL install bits 2, GB Storage required for DPM Config DB 1,5 GB Storage required for DPM diagnostic log files ,1 GB Recommended Page File size 14, GB Total Storage Required on the DPM server 25 GB Is there anyone more experienced that thinks that something needs to be changed?

Hi, If there is only 35 mailboxes in the branch office, you no need to deploy DAG. If this is important, I suggest you contact Micorsoft consultant to work with your, because they have more experience on this. smart

Hi, If there is only 35 mailboxes in the branch office, you no need to deploy DAG. If this is important, I suggest you contact Micorsoft consultant to work with your, because they have more experience on this. smart

Hi, If there is only 35 mailboxes in the branch office, you no need to deploy DAG. If this is important, I suggest you contact Micorsoft consultant to work with your, because they have more experience on this. smart

I have suggested some more options but this is the one that has HA and this the reason I explained this one in more details. Other suggestions were: Deployment of two HUB/CAS servers and one Mailbox server Full HA* dag with main mailbox servers (as long as network link is up) Deployment of one HUB/CAS server and two Mailbox servers No HA since one H/C Deployment of one HUB/CAS server and one Mailbox server No HA, dag with main mailbox servers (as long as network link is up) Deployment of one HUB/CAS/Mailbox server Deployment of two HUB/CAS/Mailbox servers with Virtual Load Balancing appliance

I have suggested some more options but this is the one that has HA and this the reason I explained this one in more details. Other suggestions were: Deployment of two HUB/CAS servers and one Mailbox server Full HA* dag with main mailbox servers (as long as network link is up) Deployment of one HUB/CAS server and two Mailbox servers No HA since one H/C Deployment of one HUB/CAS server and one Mailbox server No HA, dag with main mailbox servers (as long as network link is up) Deployment of one HUB/CAS/Mailbox server Deployment of two HUB/CAS/Mailbox servers with Virtual Load Balancing appliance

I have suggested some more options but this is the one that has HA and this the reason I explained this one in more details. Other suggestions were: Deployment of two HUB/CAS servers and one Mailbox server Full HA* dag with main mailbox servers (as long as network link is up) Deployment of one HUB/CAS server and two Mailbox servers No HA since one H/C Deployment of one HUB/CAS server and one Mailbox server No HA, dag with main mailbox servers (as long as network link is up) Deployment of one HUB/CAS/Mailbox server Deployment of two HUB/CAS/Mailbox servers with Virtual Load Balancing appliance

I think you've covered most if not all the possibilities. At some point, the customer will have to make a decision based on HA versus cost. If HA is non-negotiable for the branch office, you could have two CA/HT with WNLB and two MB with DAG. Or your last option in your post directly above. But that's a lot for 35 (max?) mailboxes. One factor that may facilitate the making of a decision is the nature of the work in the branch office. How vital is uptime for this office? What kind of SLA is desired? How reliable is the link to the main office? Is bandwidth likely to be sufficient - based on the activities of the branch office? Having branch office users access the main office for their mail would be the least expensive option while allowing the benefit of HA. Depending on the reliability of that link... Lastly, is that link also their link to the Internet? If so, and if it goes down, they could not send/receive mail anyway, even with a complete HA solution at the branch office. Just some ideas - that you may have already considered.Please mark as helpful if you find my contribution useful or as an answer if it does answer your question. That will encourage me - and others - to take time out to help you.

I think you've covered most if not all the possibilities. At some point, the customer will have to make a decision based on HA versus cost. If HA is non-negotiable for the branch office, you could have two CA/HT with WNLB and two MB with DAG. Or your last option in your post directly above. But that's a lot for 35 (max?) mailboxes. One factor that may facilitate the making of a decision is the nature of the work in the branch office. How vital is uptime for this office? What kind of SLA is desired? How reliable is the link to the main office? Is bandwidth likely to be sufficient - based on the activities of the branch office? Having branch office users access the main office for their mail would be the least expensive option while allowing the benefit of HA. Depending on the reliability of that link... Lastly, is that link also their link to the Internet? If so, and if it goes down, they could not send/receive mail anyway, even with a complete HA solution at the branch office. Just some ideas - that you may have already considered.Please mark as helpful if you find my contribution useful or as an answer if it does answer your question. That will encourage me - and others - to take time out to help you.

I think you've covered most if not all the possibilities. At some point, the customer will have to make a decision based on HA versus cost. If HA is non-negotiable for the branch office, you could have two CA/HT with WNLB and two MB with DAG. Or your last option in your post directly above. But that's a lot for 35 (max?) mailboxes. One factor that may facilitate the making of a decision is the nature of the work in the branch office. How vital is uptime for this office? What kind of SLA is desired? How reliable is the link to the main office? Is bandwidth likely to be sufficient - based on the activities of the branch office? Having branch office users access the main office for their mail would be the least expensive option while allowing the benefit of HA. Depending on the reliability of that link... Lastly, is that link also their link to the Internet? If so, and if it goes down, they could not send/receive mail anyway, even with a complete HA solution at the branch office. Just some ideas - that you may have already considered.Please mark as helpful if you find my contribution useful or as an answer if it does answer your question. That will encourage me - and others - to take time out to help you.

Thanks fro the ideas and the suggestions. I have thought about the things you mention and I plan on asking them at our next meeting. I just wanted to give them all possible scenarios and let them choose what they are more interested in deploying. As for the existance of Branch Offices, that didn't exist at my first deployment document given to the customer. The asked me if they could have something like that and I did the new proposal. The link is us you said, used for internet too so, yes, if that link is down they will not have the ability to send emails to outside world but they can still communicate among the office, so I guess that is the idea. What about the numbers to the tables above. Any objections on that one? Thanks for all the help