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Brown University Exchange 2003

Brown University Exchange 2003. Molly Baird Manager, Windows-Novell Services. Brown definitions. CIS: Computing and Information services Provides central IT services, central helpdesk, SMTP + email services, file + print, DNS, networking DCC: Departmental Computing Coordinator

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Brown University Exchange 2003

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  1. Brown University Exchange 2003 Molly Baird Manager, Windows-Novell Services

  2. Brown definitions • CIS: Computing and Information services Provides central IT services, central helpdesk, SMTP + email services, file + print, DNS, networking • DCC: Departmental Computing Coordinator Primary IT support person in Administrative and Academic departments. Focus on desktop and other client-side support issues

  3. Exchange: current statistics • Mailboxes: • 12,000 mailboxes migrated/added over 12 months • 83% migrated (95% students migrated) • Hardware: • Two 2-node clustered Exchange mailbox servers • Four load-balanced Exchange front-end servers (Outlook Web Access, IMAP, POP) • 250 Gig total storage across both clusters

  4. Brown’s central Active Directory

  5. Exchange: internal routing Server 1 Server 2 Clients

  6. Two kinds of databases comprise an Exchange “information store” Internet Content Store MAPI Store • Stores content available to MAPI clients • Direct access by IMAP, POP, Outlook Web Access clients On-the-fly conversion of content when accessed by alternate client

  7. MAPI: Messaging Application Protocol Interface • 2-way communication with Exchange information stores • Changes in calendar, tasks, contacts, message folders • Communicates with Global Catalog servers to retrieve Global Address List (GAL) • Communicate with free/busy public folder to update calendar free/busy time

  8. Exchange collaboration: calendaring • Shared auto-schedulable conference rooms and other resources • View free/busy time of colleagues • Configure permissions on calendar folder to permit others to see your personal calendar • Delegate access to manage calendars

  9. Exchange collaboration: public folders • Public Folders misnomer • Departmental public folders • Not replacement for file storage • Vacation calendars • Shared vendor contacts • Shared lists • Collections of project files

  10. Exchange collaboration: shared IDs • Old model: shared password to access email in shared mailbox • New model: managed by group access to shared mailbox • Elimination of shared-password access • Group access *can* be managed by DCCs if acceptable by shared mailbox sponsor • CIS not needed to update access to shared mailbox

  11. Brown’s central Active Directory

  12. Exchange: SMTP mail routing Worldwide SMTP servers Exchange servers Other departmental Email servers Brown SMTP servers

  13. Brown legacy: “spraying” email

  14. Exchange: sizing • Database size based on SLAs to recover single database based on current backup practices • Many small databases on each Exchange server • Corruption in single database affects only • 300 – 400 faculty/staff --or--- • 500 – 600 student mailboxes

  15. Exchange: maintenance • Need for maintenance indicated in server syslogs • Offline maintenance scheduled as needed • Test maintenance outcome on test/recovery Exchange server

  16. Exchange: recovery • Exchange is a transactional database • Database activity logged in transaction logs in real-time • Transactions later committed to database at a lower processor priority. • Single database recovery • Recover last full backup copy of database • Recovery and replay of successive incremental transaction-log backups online offline

  17. Exchange: costs • Permanent Staff costs • FTE hired for migration and maintenance (me!) • One-time Costs: • Migration: 1 ½ FTE staff split between administrative and technical duties for 6 months • License: Microsoft Core Campus CAL required • License: OS and Exchange software: $11,000 • HW: four front-end servers: $30,000 • HW: Staff cluster: $60,000 • HW: Student cluster: $60,000 • HW: SAN/storage for clusters: $70,000 • Provisioning changes: coincided with Provisioning overhaul • Total one-time cost: $231,000 • Total recurring cost: 1 FTE + MS Core CAL

  18. Exchange: 2000 – 2003 upgrade • Outage of less than 60 minutes across all servers over a span of four weeks • Performed by one full-time staff member • Additional “functionality testing” by full-time desktop services staff • Benefits: • improved Outlook Web Access client • improved recovery options • increased IIS security

  19. Exchange: growth • Add new back-end clusters and distribute mailboxes across new server(s) • Increase mailbox quota size

  20. Exchange: what limits growth • Current database sizes limited by aggressive SLAs • Backup methods aren’t sufficient for growing enterprise data needs • Eliminating “backup to tape” component will enable faster restores • “why can’t I have a 1 Gig mailbox like Gmail?” • Recovery of an entire server of 1-Gig mailboxes using today’s methods would take a month.

  21. Exchange @ Brown: questions? Molly_Baird@brown.edu 401-863-7218 http://cis.brown.edu/doc/email/

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