Overview Robert's Rules of Exchange is a series of blog posts in which we take a fictitious company, describe their existing Exchange implementation, and then walk you through the de...
Updated Jul 01, 2019
Version 2.0
Blog Post
@Neal - good comments, thanks for that. And this is as good a forum as any for posting questions directly related to the post that generates those questions. I can't provide consulting services or be a help desk in the comments, but I can certainly discuss the topics of the post!
Keep in mind here that while I am a proponent of DAS and JBOD for Exchange data storage (when you have enough copies in your DAG to be within the support boundaries), I am in no way advocating that this means the death of the SAN. SANs will still be useful in many situations - file shares, database storage for SQL Server or Oracle, etc. My discussion above is strictly centered around Exchange database storage in a DAG with multiple copies.
Backups are another discussion, and one that WILL drive your storage discussion as well. Some of our partners in the storage provider space do have interesting backup solutions. I have customers on Exchange 2010 using NetApp SANs and using their backup solution, which does provide some nice capabilities. I also have customers that are looking seriously at Exchange Native Data Protection - no "traditional" tape-based backups. You have to drill into the requirements of the customer and look at what you need to do for "backup and restore" capabilities. DPM and other software VSS solutions (we have partners in thsi space as well) provide some great capabilities for JBOD-based Exchange data.
Bottom line is that just like with any space where there are multiple vendors, none of these solutions is right for every customer. It all comes back to the requirements. Always start as simple as possible, and add the complexities that are necessary to meet the requirements at hand.
Keep in mind here that while I am a proponent of DAS and JBOD for Exchange data storage (when you have enough copies in your DAG to be within the support boundaries), I am in no way advocating that this means the death of the SAN. SANs will still be useful in many situations - file shares, database storage for SQL Server or Oracle, etc. My discussion above is strictly centered around Exchange database storage in a DAG with multiple copies.
Backups are another discussion, and one that WILL drive your storage discussion as well. Some of our partners in the storage provider space do have interesting backup solutions. I have customers on Exchange 2010 using NetApp SANs and using their backup solution, which does provide some nice capabilities. I also have customers that are looking seriously at Exchange Native Data Protection - no "traditional" tape-based backups. You have to drill into the requirements of the customer and look at what you need to do for "backup and restore" capabilities. DPM and other software VSS solutions (we have partners in thsi space as well) provide some great capabilities for JBOD-based Exchange data.
Bottom line is that just like with any space where there are multiple vendors, none of these solutions is right for every customer. It all comes back to the requirements. Always start as simple as possible, and add the complexities that are necessary to meet the requirements at hand.