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Executive summary
This performance brief summarizes scalability testing of Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 on HP ProLiant blade servers. The test scenario was a proof-of-concept for a customer deployment of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 in an Internet Service Provider (ISP) environment, using Internet protocols (POP3, IMAP4 and Outlook Web Access) for client access.
Overall Exchange scalability was limited by the RPC operations on the backend mailbox server. This is why it was important to use the four socket quad-core HP blade server (16 processors) which was capable of providing the necessary performance to support peak demands when the 8 processor server was unable to keep up with the workload.
When the 8 processor mailbox server did not have enough processing power to keep up with the workload, inbound message flow would queue to dangerous levels on the Hub and Edge servers. In addition, RPC operations for Content Indexing and Exchange Mailbox Assistants on the backend mailbox server would get reduced substantially in competition with other higher priority RPC operations – to the point that their services would be badly out of date and unusable.
Target audience: The information contained in this white paper is intended for solutions architects, engineers, and project managers involved in the planning and design of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 solutions. The reader should be familiar with Exchange Server 2007 terminology and best practices.
Test description
This white paper describes testing performed in HP test labs during February 2008. The scalability testing involved deploying user mailboxes on Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 running on HP blade servers. The servers were as follows:
• HP BladeSystem c7000 Enclosure
• 2 HP ProLiant BL460c as Edge servers
• 2 HP ProLiant BL460c as Client Access Servers (CAS) for POP3/IMAP4
• 2 HP ProLiant BL460c as Client Access Servers (CAS) for Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access (OWA)
• 2 HP ProLiant BL460c as Hub Transport servers with HP StorageWorks SB40c storage blade for disk queues
• 2 Mailbox servers: one four-socket dual-core server node and the other a four-socket HP ProLiant BL680c G5 quad-core (16 processors) server node in active/passive Single Copy Cluster (SCC). The server model was an Intel® Xeon® E7340 at 2.4 GHz.
• HP StorageWorks 8100 Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA8100) with 300GB 15K disks for database storage
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