The storage subsystem is one of the most critical elements on a Microsoft Exchange infra-structure, mainly because of the aggressive random I/O requirements of the Exchange Server 2003 database. The key to a healthy environment is proper configuration of the storage array, considering performance before capacity. One of the measures you can take is to realign the hard disk tracks with the Windows physical disk partitions, increasing performance up to 20 percent.
In my opinion, e-mail is still the internet killer-app. And according to Forbes.com, Exchange is the number one corporate e-mail server. Should you use Exchange clustering? Well, it depends on your business needs and how much are you willing to lose for the downtime. Should you use Active/Active clustering? NO!
Performance is not only about tuning but also about preventing problems. Or maybe it all boils down to getting the most bang for the buck. In part 1 of this article I covered the first 5 tips to achieve better performance with Exchange 2003. In this last part I’ll talk about 5 more tips to help you make a better Exchange design and optimize your environment.
We would like to welcome Microsoft MVP Rui J.M. Silva to our team of authors as he presents his first article to MSExchange.org readers. Everybody likes to keep their systems running smoothly and tuned for performance. For simpler scenarios with basic configuration you can probably use Exchange 2003 out-of-the box without ever having performance issues. But if you are responsible for a complex environment, then you have probably already felt the bitter taste of a system bottleneck. If you identify yourself with this description or if you are just a tweak fanatic, then this article is for you.
