VMware Cloud Community
tractng
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Datastore for Exchange

We are in the processing of adding a new storage array (will retire current production storage once new storage is complete).

Background:

vCenter/ESXi 6.5

We have a few Exchange servers on premise (Exchange 2010).  The requirement for Exchange is to be on "iSCSI" protocol (lets not go into debate between NFS/iSCSI).

Traditionally Exchange server with a database would be curved out in 3 drives.  The previous system admin extended that to 3 datastores (since some disks were faster, which he dedicated the faster drives for the database).

On the new storage array (all drives are NVMe, equal speed).  So in my case, I am thinking of having just one datastore.  For each Exchange server, I just assign (move) 3 individual drives to the same datastore) .  I will be using VMotion to move the Exchange servers over to the new storage.  Does this sound correct?

Current Exchange layout

OS drive (datastore called Exch OS)

Logs drive (datastore called Exch logs)

Database drive  (datastore called Exch DB)

Thanks,

TT

7 Replies
a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

I think that an all flash storage array should be able to handle the workload. However, depending on the storage array, it may be worth considering to create multiple LUNs (datastores). Often storage arrays work with a LUN ownership, where one of the controllers in e.g. a dual controller array owns a LUN, i.e. processes the workload. Such storage systems may benefit from having multiple LUNs with LUN ownership distributed across the controllers.

André

Reply
0 Kudos
IRIX201110141
Champion
Champion

Andre is absolutely right.

Some additional thoughts

- Never put all eggs in one basket. Yes a VMFS can break

- A LUN may be add different features for different requirements eg. Compression , Dedup, Replication, Caching, Dynamic RAID levels/protection

- SCSI Reservations

- Only one queue

- LUNs snapshots and restore a BIG LUN can be difficult compared to a number of smaller LUNs

In vSphere vCenter you can create a Datastore Cluster which contains "similar" LUNS (from performance perspective) to make life (management) a little bit easier.

About drive letters and disks management within the GuestOS you should always following the Vendor best practices and in reality i dont see how its related to SAN hardware. Creating several different vDisks for OS, Data, Logs is normal.

Regards,
Joerg

Reply
0 Kudos
scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Here’s a full set of best practices: https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/solutions/business-critical-apps/e...


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Although I am a VMware employee I contribute to VMware Communities voluntarily (ie. not in any official capacity)
VMware Training & Certification blog
Reply
0 Kudos
tractng
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thanks guys.  I will probably have the same layout as the previous setup and VMotion each VM's storage to their respective datastores.

Reply
0 Kudos
tractng
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Last question regarding this.  The LUNS are currently in the block size below.  On my new storage do I set the LUNS the same blocks size and do a VMotion over (probably the least issues going this route)?  I am aware that MS Exchange recommends to be on 64K block size with the database.

Current Exchange layout

OS drive (datastore called Exch OS)  8K block size

Logs drive (datastore called Exch logs) 32K block size

Database drive  (datastore called Exch DB) 32K block size

Thanks again.

TT

Reply
0 Kudos
a_p_
Leadership
Leadership

Unless I'm mistaken, storage system usually store data in larger sizes (e.g 256k), and Microsoft's best practices for Exchange is about the cluster size when you format an NTFS partition.


André

tractng
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

A.P.

I believe you are correct on after reading on the Exchange cluster size.

Reply
0 Kudos