Games hardware vendors play

What ESRP is and isn’t

• ESRP is intended to guide sizing and configuration for Exchange deployments, but it’s not a formal benchmark program with rigorous, external validation for every vendor’s SKU.
• Vendors may publish validated configurations that align with ESRP guidelines, but real-world deployments can differ due to model revisions, firmware/driver changes, or custom SKUs.

Common pain points you might be seeing

• SKU drift: New server/storage SKUs released after ESRP validation aren’t always reflected in ESRP, leading to gaps between documented configurations and what customers actually receive.
• Firmware/driver gaps: Even if the baseline hardware is ESRP-listed, after-sale firmware and driver updates can change performance and compatibility characteristics.
• Storage tier mismatches: Vendors may propose storage configurations (e.g., HDD/SSD mix, NVMe caching) that ESRP didn’t anticipate or validate, causing divergence in performance or reliability.
• Network and PCI topology: ESRP docs sometimes omit nuanced interconnect details, yet real deployments require specific NICs, HBAs, or PCIe slot layouts that affect latency and IOPS.
• Support and warranty scope: The published ESRP configuration doesn’t always align with what the vendor supports, especially for customer-applied changes or field upgrades.

What you can do to mitigate

• Verify against current hardware: When planning, cross-check ESRP recommendations with the exact SKU/firmware revisions you’re considering. If possible, request the vendor to provide a clean bill of materials (BOM) and firmware baseline.
• Demand field-validated specifics: Ask for real-world benchmarks or case studies that match your Exchange version, mailbox density, backup/DR requirements, and HA/DR topology.
• Version discipline: Keep a change log of any hardware or firmware updates during deployment and test critical ESRP-stated assumptions after each change.
• Independent validation: Consider third-party validation or internal performance testing (e.g., simulating your mailbox mix, I/O patterns, and reboot/maintenance cycles) before large-scale rollout.
• Align with Exchange requirements: Ensure choices align with Exchange 2019/2022 requirements (or your specific version) around CPU, memory, storage IOPS/latency targets, and database availability group (DAG) considerations.

If you want, I can:

• Summarize the key ESRP validation criteria and common gaps to watch for.
• Help craft a due-diligence checklist for evaluating vendor configurations before purchase.
• Draft a set of questions to push back on vendors so you get more transparent, test-backed details.