Getting the most out of Exchange Server 2010: Performance and Scalability

Jeff MealiffeSenior Development LeadMicrosoft CorporationSession Code: UNC309

Agenda

High-level product direction for scaleGuidelines and ratiosRole specific detailsVirtualization considerationsToolkit for planning and sizing

Product Direction For Scale

Scale Out vs. Scale Up

Scale out is a strategic choice made by the product groupScale out provides the following at low cost:

Large mailboxesHigh availabilityRich feature set

Scaling up increases risk that an outage or failure affects more usersScaling up usually costs more, and can force feature decisions due to hardware choices

Consider all factors in the equation, particularly storage

Scale Up Options

Multiple Role Servers (“brick” deployments)Likely the best option for big hardware (> 2 socket) – best hardware utilization overallBe aware of recommendations for max processor & memory

VirtualizationEvaluate whether potential added complexity & monitoring challenges make this a win

Single roleProduct not engineered for single role high scale (> 2 socket)

Extreme caution necessary – validate carefully in a test lab

Supported vs. Recommended

Supported usually means well testedSupport statements define strict boundariesRecommendations define the “best case” or the state that we want our customers to achieveUnderstand risks of going outside of recommendations or support boundaries

Guidelines & Ratios

Processor Core ScalabilitySingle Role Servers

Recommend a 2-socket platform4-core processors = 8 total cores6-core processors = 12 total cores

Expect diminishing returns moving to 16+ cores on >= 4 socket platformKnown issues updating memory across cores

Not Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA)-aware or optimized for scale around data localityCode can take longer to execute; transaction costs rise

Multiple Role ServersRecommend 24 cores maximum for high-scale “Enterprise Multiple Role Server”Multiple processes from different roles help us scale better

HyperthreadingDisable on production Exchange serversCauses monitoring and capacity planning challenges

Role Ratio Guidelines

Processor core ratiosCAS : Mailbox

= 3 : 4HUB : Mailbox

= 1 : 7 (no A/V on Hub)= 1 : 5 (with A/V Hub)

GC : Mailbox= 1 : 4 (32-bit GC)= 1 : 8 (64-bit GC)

Processor and Memory ConfigRecommended Configuration

Role Maximum Processor Cores Optimal Memory

Hub & Edge Transport 12 cores 1GB per core(or 8GB minimum)

Client Access Server 12 cores 2GB per core(or 8GB minimum)

Mailbox 12 cores 4GB plus 3-30MB per mailbox

Unified Messaging 12 cores 2GB per core(or 4GB minimum)

Multiple Role Server 24 cores 8GB plus 3-30MB per mailbox

Network Load Balancing

Exchange 2010 requires load balanced CAS for internal connections

Consider HA needsSize for connection count spikes

Windows Network Load Balancing (NLB)Not recommended above 8 nodes

Hardware Load BalancerRecommended for larger environmentsMultiple Role Server High Availability (HA) scenarios

Role Specific Details

Mailbox RoleGeneral guidance

I/O reduced by 70% from Exchange Server 2007Improved performance for SATA (Tier 2 class) disks

Two socket platform still optimalStorage performance improvements prioritized over processor scale improvements – larger TCO advantage

High availability improvements affect sizingSizing must account for failure scenarios

Use 4 – 12 total cores for Mailbox16 core not expected to scale well but ok to deploy – consider TCO4GB RAM w/3-30MB per mailbox recommended depending on profile

Size and prepare disks correctlyUse Exchange Storage Calculator

Mailbox RoleMemory sizing

Design servers with large quantities of memory

Deep checkpoint depth + 32KB pages allow E2010 to benefit from larger memory configurations than E2K7More database cache results in less IOPS/mailbox

Mailbox Role Cache Memory Sizing

Messages Sent+Received per mailbox per day (~75KB average message size)

Database cache per mailbox (MB)

50 3100 6150 9200 12250 15300 18350 21400 24450 27500 30

Mailbox RoleHigh availability sizing

Size for active users on DAG nodes, assuming the possibility of double failuresDo not overcommit resources

Spread node failure across all available nodes not one or twoDistribute database (DB) copies across nodes in a matrix

Improved DB seed/log shipping performance across WANLog Shipping compression/encryption (opt in)New log shipping architecture (Transport Control Protocol (TCP) socket based as opposed to Server Message Block (SMB), connection/DB)Improved high latency capability

Use multiple 1GB networks or 10GB networkImproves LAN re-seed/log replication queue drain performanceEspecially with large servers and/or large databases

Client Access Server RoleConnection scalability changes

Exchange 2007(1 connection == 1 session, 64K RPC Context handle limit)

Outlook Clients MBX

64K connections / MBX server

Exchange 2010(1 connections != 1 session, 250K RPC Context handle limit on MBX)

MBXExchange CAS ArrayOutlook Clients

1 connection :1 client session

1 MBX session :1 client session

100 shared connections

1 CAS session :1 client session

Client Access Server RoleGeneral guidance

Hardware requirements have increased vs. Exchange 2007

“Pay to play” for additional features and services (RPC Client Access Service, Address Book Service, Remote Powershell, etc.)Possible to keep CAS count constant from 2007 to 2010, with hardware refresh

Use 4 to 12 coresRecommend larger of 8GB RAM or 2 GB RAM/coreCAS : Mailbox = 3 : 4 Cores

Hub Transport RoleGeneral guidance

Increased workload in Exchange 2010Additional CPU required when compared to Exchange 2007

Not significant enough to result in a core ratio change

Use 4-12 cores4-8 GB of RAM recommended

More than 8GB is not shown to improve TCO or scale

Use battery-backed write cache disk controllerDisk I/O can be a bottleneck on an un-tuned HubLog I/O becomes virtually free with a BBWC controller

Hub Transport RoleQueue database changes

ESE changes:ESE page size increased from 8KB to 32KBESE database page compressionIntrinsic long value record storageESE version store maintenance

DB cache size increased from 128MB to 1GBCheckpoint depth increased from 20MB to 512MBLogging buffer size increased from 512KB to 5MB

With transport dumpster changes and ESE improvements, transport IOPS requirements have been reduced by more than 50%

Unified Messaging RoleGeneral guidance

Use 8 core for Voice Mail PreviewCPU-intensive workload4 core recommended for other scenarios

4-8 GB of RAM recommendedMore than 8GB is not shown to improve TCO or scale

Not recommended combining with other rolesAudio quality can be affected

Ensure low latency to mailbox servers associated with UM-enabled accounts

Multiple Role Server General guidance

Mailbox, CAS, and Hub Transport roles onlyAvailable solution for high core configurationsHalf of cores for Mailbox, half for CAS+HubUse 8-24 cores

8GB RAM plus 3-30MB/mailbox recommended (follow mailbox database cache sizing guidance)

Multiple Role ServerDeployment scenarios

Simple unit of scale (brick) modelEach multi-role server represents a building blockServers with on-board SATA storage (10-16 disks) are optimal

Small organization/branch office – server consolidationMinimize the number of physical servers, operating system instances, and Exchange server instances to manage

Risk mitigation scenarios Policies that limit the amount of mailboxes per server

Virtualization Considerations

Support Guidelines

TechNet is the single source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794548.aspx

SVVP Support Policy Wizard is a great tool:http://www.windowsservercatalog.com/svvp.aspx?svvppage=svvpwizard.htm

Always confirm SPW results with our TechNet article

Check back for updatesClarifications published frequently

Supportability Quick ReferenceSupported

Root: Hyper-V or SVVPGuest:

Exchange 2010Windows 2008 SP2 or R2Mailbox, Client Access, Hub Transport, Edge rolesMeets basic Exchange system requirementsStorage is fixed VHD, SCSI pass through, or iSCSI

Not SupportedCombination of Exchange Mailbox HA and hypervisor-based clustering or migration technologiesSnapshots, differencing/delta disksVSS backup of root for passthrough disks or iSCSI disks connected to initiator in guestUnified Messaging roleVirtual/logical proc ratio greater than 2:1Applications running in root partition

Deployment Recommendations

Virtualization isn’t freeHypervisor adds processor overhead, must account for this when sizing - ~12% in our Exchange 2010 testsWorkload costs rise as well, though this is more difficult to characterize

Virtualization doesn’t change Exchange design requirements from an application perspective

Design for Performance, Reliability and Capacity (MBX/Hub/Edge)Design for Usage Profiles (CAS/MBX)Design for Message Profiles (Hub/Edge)

Exchange 2010 TestingTypical 16-core deployment

Goal: Examine Exchange performance on Hyper-V in a typical deployment scenarioTest configuration:

HP ProLiant BL680 G5, 4 x Quad-Core Intel Xeon E7340Root: 16 core host, Windows 2008 R2 (build 7100)Guests: 4 VMs (1 CAS, 1 Hub, 2 Mailbox), Exchange 2010 DF7 (582.10)Mailbox 1 on Windows 2008 RTM, Mailbox 2 on Windows 2008 R24,000 users per mailbox server

Loadgen, 75% Outlook 2007 Cached Heavy + 25% OWA (modified enterprise script) + 10% default EAS workload

Observations:Logical processor guest runtime higher with 2008 RTM guest vs. 2008 R2 (~13%)Acceptable performance across all roles

Hub CPU 52.3%, CAS CPU 33.4%MBX CPU 53.3%, RPC Averaged Latency 6.5ms, RPC Operations/sec 1818

Points To Consider

Accuracy of Perfmon counters in a Guest OS might be a concern for monitoring

CPU cycles in a VM are relative to the CPU slices provided from the virtualization layerMay skew resultsInvestigating the impact on production monitoring

Comprehensive comparison of physical resources and application consumption is difficult to achieve

Application counters are only available in the Guest OSRoot OS only provides view of resources it owns and Hyper-V counters

Toolkit For Planning & Sizing

Capacity Planning Tools

ProfilingExchange Profile Analyzer 2010 (EPA)Performance Monitor (Perfmon)

SizingExchange Server 2010 Storage Calculator

ValidationJetstress 2010Exchange Load Generator 2010 “Loadgen”

Exchange Profile Analyzer 2010

Generates statistical profile of user actionsMessages sent and received/dayRule countsItem size and counts

InputsCrawls mailboxes with MAPI (previously DAV) OWA log analysis tool and “summarizer”

Accuracy somewhat dependent on how users manage their mailboxAvailability planned for Q3CY10Version that works with Exchange 2003 & 2007 available here: http://tinyurl.com/233by6

Storage Calculator 2010

Follows Product Group recommendations on:StorageMemoryMailbox sizing

Goal of the calculator is to output:I/O requirements Capacity requirements Logical user number (LUN) design

Available today via the Exchange team blog: http://msexchangeteam.com/

Jetstress 2010

Exchange I/O simulatorUses Jet (ESE) database engine

Analyzes server I/O performance for Exchange requirementsWhat can Jetstress be used for?

Storage performance validationStorage reliability testingEnd-to-end testing of storage components

What can’t Jetstress be used for?Validation of client experienceIntegration testing with third party software solutions

Availability of 2010 version planned for December 2009, will be announced on Exchange team blog: http://msexchangeteam.com/

Jetstress 2010What’s new

Updated with Exchange 2010 Mailbox I/O ProfileThis profile is not yet final and is subject to change between now and Exchange 2010 release

Database duplication is now multi-castDramatically reduces the time to prepare databases for testing

Now using MSExchange Database I/O counters for I/O measurement

Allows placing databases and logs on the same volumeLog replication I/O is simulated based on Exchange 2010 HA architectureBackground Database Maintenance (Checksum) is now simulated

Exchange Load Generator 2010

The only supported multi-protocol load generator for ExchangeReplaces Loadsim and ESP

Windows UI interface as well as a command-line interfaceBoth task-based and scripted simulation modesConsumed both internally at Microsoft and externallyExisting modules include: Outlook 2003/2007 (online and cached), Post Office Protocol (POP), Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), OWA, ActiveSync… others in developmentAvailability planned for December 2009, use beta until then:http://tinyurl.com/yhvpwbf (32-bit)http://tinyurl.com/yk5vfl7 (64-bit)

Exchange Load Generator 2010What’s new

Requires Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 2008 OS (SP2/R2)No longer requires Exchange Management ToolsActiveSync ModuleDynamic mail generator

No need for message files, available in 5 languages, supports attachments

NSPI connections

Tools Process Flow

Exchange Profile Analyzer

Performance Monitor

Exchange Load Generator

Exchange Storage Calculator

Exchange Jetstress

UserProfile

Mailflow & Other Stats

IOPS

UserProfile

Key Takeaways

Exchange continues to reduce I/O requirements, reducing overall system TCONew features in Exchange 2010 may require additional hardware resources, server count increases can be minimizedVirtualization is a great way to take advantage of underutilized hardwareTake advantage of the planning & testing toolset for successful deployments

Related Content

UNC301 – Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Upgrade and Coexistence with Exchange Server 2007 and 2003UNC307 – Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 High AvailabilityUNC314 – Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Storage ArchitectureUNC315 – Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Unified Messaging

UNC01-IS – Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Archiving Q&AUNC06-IS – Site Resilience in Microsoft Exchange Server 2010UNC03-IS – Microsoft Exchange Server Virtualisation: Does It Make Sense?

UNC Track Call to Action!Learn More!

Related Content at TechEd on “Related Content” SlideAttend in-person or consume post-event at TechEd Online

Check out learning/training resources at Microsoft TechNetExchange Server and Office Communications Server

Check out Exchange Server 2010 atVirtual Launch Experience (VLE) at thenewefficiency.com

Try It Out!Download the Exchange Server 2010 TrialTake a simple Web-based test drive of UC solutions through the 60-Day Virtual Experience

Complete an evaluation on CommNet and enter to win an Xbox 360 Elite!

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