Hi,

One of my client has decided to go with NetApp Flexpods for implementing Exchange 2013 in their environment.

It has also been decided that these servers will boot from SAN and Exchange 2013 will also be installed on SAN. 

We are planning to Install Win 2012 R2 for OS and E2k13 CU8. Few questions:

1) Is it supported to boot Windows Server 2012 R2 from SAN, Specially if that server is going to used for E2k13

2) Is it supported to Install Exchange 2013 CU8 on SAN

I researched about this and understood that this is supported from Windows OS perspective. I am more concerned about the whole configuration falling within support boundary of Exchange 2013. I found an article which talks about the complexity involved in troubleshooting and indicates that its mainly SAN vendor who would be troubleshooting if running into any issues.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/305547- This article is not yet applicable to 2012 R2. Its applicable only till 2008 R2.

http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/datacenter/the-pros-cons-of-booting-from-san.html - Pro & Cons of booting from SAN

The booting from SAN for Exchange servers concerns me a lot as i have never seen any implementation in Exchange 2003, 2007 & 2010 doing this in my 10 years of experience. I have supported about 10 different enterprise exchange deployments and never saw this. So this is an unknown territory for me, hence looking for some best practices, articles and guidance around this if its supported by Microsoft Exchange team to run Windows and Exchange from SAN.

Thanks

Siva

Hello,

Please see the Supported storage architectures in the following article:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee832792%28v=exchg.150%29.aspx

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