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Exchange 2007 Mailbox Server Role Storage Requirements Calculator updated to v 13.0

The_Exchange_Team's avatar
The_Exchange_Team
Platinum Contributor
Dec 20, 2007

It's been a while since we announced an update to Exchange 2007 Mailbox Server Role Storage Requirements Calculator.

Yesterday we have updated the calculator to version 13.0. Updates:

  • We have updated the log generation numbers per message profile to be in line with our updated guidance.
  • In v11.8, we decided to list the database cache per mailbox in the Storage Requirements results section.  However this lead to confusion because it was named "Memory Profile / Mailbox" which implied that you would only utilize the associated amount of memory with the message profile (i.e. 5MB with Heavy profile), however that is not always the case. For example, 1200 2GB Light message profile mailboxes only requires 5GB of RAM (1200 * 2MB + 2GB), however the design requires 13 databases, which with SP1 requires 6GB of RAM.  ESE will utilize 4GB of that RAM for the cache.  As a result, 4096MB / 1200 ≈ 3.5MB per mailbox. So to make this clear, we have changed this text to be "Database Cache / Mailbox" which indicates how much cache is available per mailbox.
  • In the scenario where you override the IOPS prediction formula for your mailbox tiers, we have adjusted the "Read:Write Ratio" input to allow you to enter any read percentage you would like, rather than restricting you to a few key ratios.
  • We updated the "Database Reads / Mailbox" calculation description.
  • We updated the Log Replication Requirements worksheet, simplifying the data displayed in the results section.
  • We have included new functionality for log replication requirements.  You now have the input options for entering your network link type and its associated latency.  These options are then used to recommend TCP/IP optimization settings for Windows Server 2003 when utilizing geographically dispersed clustering and/or standby continuous replication.  In addition, if the chosen network link cannot sustain the throughput requirements for log replication, we will recommend an appropriately sized network link and Windows Server 2003 TCP/IP optimization settings.

For full list of updates (per version), go here.

For the explanation of different tabs and how the calculator works, go here. Yup, we updated that too!

Finally, to get the new calculator - go here.

- Ross Smith IV

Updated Jul 01, 2019
Version 2.0
Exchange 2007
high availability
mailbox
storage
tools

20 Comments

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  • Deleted's avatar
    Deleted
    Jan 22, 2008
    Ross,

    Thank you for your reply.  I'll see if I can find the maximum number of users I can fit on a server while keeping the target database size at Microsoft-recommended levels.  That should solve my problem.
  • Deleted's avatar
    Deleted
    Jan 18, 2008
    Hey Sean,

    Yes the calculator is working correctly.  The calculator assumes that all users entered will be placed on a single server.  If you want a smaller number of users per server you will have to enter that number instead.
  • Deleted's avatar
    Deleted
    Jan 17, 2008
    I've been experimenting with this tool, and I can't get it to behave the way I believe it should.  For example, I specify 100,000 users and 'Yes' to 'Use Recommended Maximum Database Sizes?', but it results in 49 databases, each around 1.1 TB in size. Using a smaller mailbox count - like 30,000 results in 49 databases, each around 303 GB.  Does anybody know why I would get these results?  Is the calculator working as expected or as it is designed to do?  I downloaded v 13 for this exercise.  Thanks.
  • Deleted's avatar
    Deleted
    Dec 28, 2007
    Thank you, Ross, I'll go back and redo the numbers using simply those metrics.
  • Deleted's avatar
    Deleted
    Dec 23, 2007
    Great Tool,  Where can I find one for sizing the other roles - Edge, Hub, UM and CAS?
  • Deleted's avatar
    Deleted
    Dec 22, 2007
    Sorry, second time i post this...

    does anybody know if i still can download exchange 2k7 sp1 beta 2. Cause otherwise i can`t upgrade from sp1 beta 1 to rtm..
  • Deleted's avatar
    Deleted
    Dec 22, 2007
    Bday - Use Sent Items + Deleted Items (or similarly worded since I'm going from memory) and Received Items + Deleted Items metrics for determing your send/receive rate.  Also, I would limit your collection to 1 business week or less to ensure a more accurate data sampling.

    Ross
  • Deleted's avatar
    Deleted
    Dec 22, 2007
    Hi there. I used EPA to gather all of my org's figures for the E2K7 calculator (allong with the collectlogs.vbs script to get our hourly E2K3 transaction log rate). I could easily be interpreting its figures incorrectly. Such as should the metrics gathered for Sent Items, Forwarded Items, and Replied Items all be tallied up and read as one cumulative "Sent" total or is the sent items figure itself the actual total and replied/forwarded just extra fluff figures if one was curious about their environment?

    I've not been able to find clear documentation on this and haven't gotten an answer in the past when posing the question. Thank you.
  • Deleted's avatar
    Deleted
    Dec 22, 2007
    bday: Suppose you have 35sent/15received for the average user (which is highly, highly unlikely, unless most of your "users" are spam-bots). This would equate to the 10sent/40received dropdown selection, since the transaction log volume is dictated by the average of 50 messages/day, and not a ratio of sent-to-received. If you're skeptical of your message counts like I am, run the Exchange profile analyzer (EPA) to determine daily sent/received average per user; EPA will also provide you with the average message size. If you derived your ratio using a freeware message-tracking-log-parsing tool, don't be surprised to find inaccuracies. I've seen some free 3rd party tools grossly inflate the # of sent items because they aren't intelligent enough to ignore the same message that listed multiple times in the tracking log. EPA doesn't rely on tracking logs; rather, it will login and scan messages in each mailbox to generate daily statistics (though this might be a little skewed if you choose to scan an older timeframe, since users tend to delete more items over time).
  • Deleted's avatar
    Deleted
    Dec 21, 2007
    Great update, thank you! Any thoughts to giving us a dropdown options to select user profiles which send more mail than they receive? Thanks again.