EXC03 Best Practices for Exchange 2003 Site and Server Consolidation

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EXC03Best Practices for Exchange 2003 Site and
Server Consolidation

• Missy Koslosky (Quest Software) missy_at_mvps.org
• Devin L. Ganger (3Sharp LLC) deving_at_3sharp.com
• (e)Mail Insecurity http//blogs.3sharp.com/blog/d
  eving/

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Download the most up-to-date version of these
slides athttp//www.3sharp.com/files/deving/exc0
3.ppt
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Why Should I Consolidate?

• Money
• I can save !
• HW (spares)
• SW (licenses)
• Reduce personnel maintenance
• Control
• Centralized administration
• Simplify operations

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Just the Facts, Maam
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Two Ways to Do It

• Server Consolidation
• More mailboxes per mailbox server
• Fewer servers in other roles
• Site Consolidation
• More mailboxes in regional data centers
• Reduce supporting infrastructure

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Sherlock Holmes and theCase of the Disappearing
Servers
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The Death of theLocal Exchange Server
Central Office
WAN
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But what about those pesky users?

• Outlook 2003 Cached Mode
• Hides network issues
• Provides network resilience
• Gives best offline/online experience
• Uses Offline Address Book
• Integrates Performance Reporting
• Improves Synchronization (SP2!)
• Outlook Web Access
• Improves performance
• Gives good enough experience on most browsers
• Gives Outlook experience on IE
• Still more overhead than MAPI

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What To ExpectWhen Youre Consolidating

• Increased per-server capacity
• CPU and RAM
• Disks and controllers
• Redundancy
• Adjusted staffing
• Operations
• SLA management
• Disaster Recovery
• Centralized operations fewer servers
• Consistency and testing

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Questions to ask yourself

• 1. Should I consider site consolidation?
• Do I have enough bandwidth?
• Do I have organizational boundaries?
• Do I have resource constraints?
• What is my communication hierarchy?
• Can I upgrade to Outlook 2003?

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Questions to ask yourself

• 2. What are my user profiles?
• How many messages sent, received, modified, etc?
• What Outlook versions are in use?
• What other clients and protocols are in use?
• How often do they require online access?

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Questions to ask yourself

• 3. How does this affect my DR planning?
• Do I understand my backup/restore process?
• Do my people have the skills?
• What are my effective SLAs?
• What additional tasks can Helpdesk/Desktop
  Support handle?

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Two Words on Client Usage Profiles

• Yours will be different than mine
• Calculate using your available bandwidth
• Microsoft provides a great reference
• Client Network Traffic with Exchange Server 2003
• http//www.microsoft.com/exchange/techinfo/outlook
  /CliNetTraf.asp

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Everything You Need to Know About Native-Mode
Consolidation!

• Launch and follow ExDeploy
• Deploy new servers
• Move mailboxes
• Move public folder replicas
• Change connector bridgeheads
• Remove old servers

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Everything You Need to Know About Mixed-Mode
Consolidation!

• Deploy/upgrade ADC
• Launch and follow ExDeploy
• Move mailboxes
• Move public folders
• Move connectors
• Remove old servers

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.okay, maybe thats not everything

• Native-mode site consolidation
• NO change of Exchange LegacyDN
• Note If KMS is installed need to manually change
  LegacyDN
• Mixed Mode Site-Consolidation before Exchange
  2003 SP1
• Could NOT move mailboxes between sites
• Required a change to LegacyDN
• Broke Exchange 5.5

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Exchange 2003 SP1 and Site Consolidation

• New tools enable site consolidation in mixed
  mode
• Step-by-step guidance using ExDeploy
• Tools to move mailboxes and fix client experience
• ESM improvements for moving mailboxes
• Exprofre updates client profiles after a move
• Core store updates fix rules after a move
• Exdeploy tool moves DLs/Contacts to new sites
• PFMigrate moves PF replicas

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DemoExchange Deployment Tools (ExDeploy)
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Exchange 2003 SP1 and Site Consolidation

• Non-Features
• Tools to automate removal of servers/sites
• Tools to move or remove additional features at
  remote sites
• Foreign connectors
• KMS
• OAB Generator
• Conferencing Server
• Instant Messaging

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The Biggies for Site Consolidation

• Central site
• E2k3 SP1 on all mailbox servers used for moves
• E2k3 SP1 on at least 1 public folder server
• Active Directory Connector
• All ADCs upgraded to E2k3 Sp1
• 2 Way CAs to every site
• Exchange 5.5
• DS/IS hotfix 836489 on ALL 5.5 PF servers
• Outlook 2003
• Deploy in cached mode to slow remote sites before
  consolidation
• Bandwidth
• Enough bandwidth for full download for all
  Outlook 2003 cached mode clients (recommended)

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Outlook During Mixed Mode Consolidation

• Affected by cross-site moves (when LegacyDN
  changes)
• Update Outlook profile with Exprofre
• Designed for logon scripts
• Preserves OST
• DO NOT edit profile manually
• Rules
• All rules in moved mailboxes will continue to
  work
• Rules that touch moved mailboxes will only
  continue to work if they are on Exchange 2003
  SP1
• Need to re-request KMS Certificates

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Gotchas During the Move

• 5.5 PF/Mailbox ACL
• Run patched 5.5 DS/IS after moves updates 5.5
  ACLs
• Temporary NDRs after migration
• 5.5 replies to mail from moved 5.5 users will NDR
  for 12-24 hours
• Workaround 1 Force ADC/5.5 replication/cleanup
• Workaround 2 Reconfigure 5.5 routing for remote
  site through E2K/E2K3 bridgehead
• Public Folder migrations
• Move all content to the central site before
  mailbox moves
• Remote Domain consolidation
• Clients will be directed by DSProxy to DCs/GCs in
  Exchange sites.
• User accounts should be in same domain so
  delegate access certificate publishing works

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Resources

• Exchange documentation
• Solution Accelerator for Exchange Server 2003
  Migration and Consolidation
• http//go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid34985
• Planning an Exchange 2003 Deployment guide
• www.microsoft.com/exchange/library
• Exchange Tools downloads
• www.microsoft.com/exchange/downloads
• Site Consolidation Whitepapers available!
• www.microsoft.com/exchange/library
• How Microsoft Did It IT Showcase whitepapers
• http//www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/msit
  /exchange.mspx

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Resources reloaded
Free chats and webcasts http//www.microsoft.com/c
ommunities/chats/default.mspx http//www.microsof
t.com/usa/webcasts/default.asp Mailing
lists http//groups.yahoo.com/group/exchange-2003/
http//groups.yahoo.com/group/Exchange2000/ News
groups http//www.microsoft.com/technet/community/
newsgroups/server/exchange.mspx Community
Sites http//www.microsoft.com/communities/default
.mspx http//www.microsoft.com/communities/relate
d/default.mspx Local User Groups http//www.micro
soft.com/communities/usergroups/default.mspx
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BonusSite and Server Consolidation at Microsoft
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Server Consolidation
Exchange 5.5

• Redmond
• 35 4-proc servers
• Backup to tape
• Offline restore 8 hours
• 50MB mailbox size limit
• per user

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Consolidation Roadmap for Migration
Exchange 5.5
Exchange 2000
Exchange 2003

• Redmond
• 35 4-proc servers
• Backup to tape
• Offline restore 8 hours
• 800-1K users/server
• 50MB per user

• Redmond
• 10 8-proc servers SAN
• Backup to disk
• Online restore 1-2 hours/database
• 3K-3.5K users/server
• 100MB per user
• Worldwide
• 117 physical sites
• Exchange server and DC in each site

• Worldwide Consolidation
• 6 physical sites
• Exchange 2003 and Outlook 2003
• DC in every site

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Site Consolidation
Old World Exchange servers are close to the
users

• 114 mailbox servers

• 90,000 e-mail server accounts

• 76 sites worldwide

• 75K end users
• Availability 99.9

• 6M e-mail messages per day internally

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Site Consolidation at Microsoft
7 Sites Final Exchange Server Consolidation
New World Consolidated servers, clustered
SANS Enabler - Office System 2003 and Exchange
Server 2003

• 38 mailbox servers

• 90,000 e-mail server accounts

• 7 sites worldwide

• 75K end users
• Availability 99.99

• 6M e-mail messages per day internally