MCITP: Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007 Messaging Design and Deployment: Study Guide

Chapter 11. Planning the Exchange Server 2007 Storage Group Deployment

• Planning storage group quantities and layout

• Planning the number of the databases to use

• Planning the maximum database size

• Planning the disk volume size and configuration

• Planning for I/O requirements

• Planning for recovery storage groups

Planning the Storage Group Quantities and Layout

The very heart of the Exchange Mailbox server is the database. Exchange 2007 uses the extensible storage engine (ESE) or Jet database, the same engine used by previous versions of Exchange. However, there have been notable improvements in both performance and features.

First let's briefly discuss what types of files we need to place and how they interact in Exchange Server 2007. A storage group is a segregation of data and processes in Exchange. Each database in a storage group shares a common set of transaction logs. In Exchange, transaction logs provide a record of the physical changes that are made to the database. The three types of files in a storage group are the following:

Transaction logs.

These logs provide a record of the changes made to the database. In case of a failure, the changes can be reapplied to the database.

System files.

These include the checkpoint file and the temporary database for the storage group.

• The checkpoint file marks which transaction logs have been applied to each of the databases in the storage group. The checkpoint ...