I have a 100% virtualized environment (VMware ESX 4) that I deal with, and we are ready to migrate from local disks to a new FAS2020. There is no direct FC connectivity int he FAS2020, it was built out for iSCSI and NFS.
The Exchange installation is small, 2 servers (Mailbox and CAS/Hub) for about 550 mailboxes. The plan is for this configuration to grow to 1000 users within the next 12 months, and that may be done on the single Mailbox server or with a 2nd added.
What I'm looking to find out is the recommendation on how to handle the mailbox stores (DBs/logs) on the FAS2020, some options I've come up with some scnearios:
- Databases/Logs in the same virtual disk with Mailbox role (either VMFS or NFS connected)
- Mailbox role in it's own virtual disk (VMFS or NFS connected), Database and Logs in separate virtual disks (either VMFS or NFS connected)
- Mailbox role in it's own virtual disk (VMFS or NFS connected), Database and Logs in it's own LUN's attached via iSCSI inside the VM
-Am I missing any options?
What do you folks think is best overall? If I want to try and gain deduplication benefits from the filer, does that change the best choice?
