We will soon be purchasing a new server to host our Exchange servers, moving up from Exchange 5.5 to 2003 at the same time. What are some good more-than-minimum specs I should go for in a server that will be dedicated to Exchange and our DNS controller? And what is an effective spam filtering product that has a quick learning curve and is fairly maintenance-free? I am considering the Symantec products right now.....we have around 30 mailboxes, and would like to handle it on the server, since desktop-based filters are not working for us. Thanks!
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Exchange 2003 specs & spam filters
- Thread starter INArtCtr
- Start date
We have many clients where we've installed dual P4 boxes with 2-4GB RAM and plenty o' space.
Antispam? Use SP2 with the SenderID features enabled, and Outlook 2003 on the clients. GFI Mail Essentials works great for a lot of things. I like the Syamantec SMSE 4.6 package, just not the spam features.
Pat Richard, MCSE(2) MCSA:Messaging, CNA(2)
Antispam? Use SP2 with the SenderID features enabled, and Outlook 2003 on the clients. GFI Mail Essentials works great for a lot of things. I like the Syamantec SMSE 4.6 package, just not the spam features.
Pat Richard, MCSE(2) MCSA:Messaging, CNA(2)
- Thread starter
- #4
Run away....
You'll HATE it. Get more disks than that. Get a split 6 disk box as 2 RAID arrays if it is a Dell. Otherwise as man disks as possible. You need redundancy on volumes for the Store, the Logs and the OS. All separate if poss. If you really have to, stick logs and OS on same controller but sep volumes.
You'll HATE it. Get more disks than that. Get a split 6 disk box as 2 RAID arrays if it is a Dell. Otherwise as man disks as possible. You need redundancy on volumes for the Store, the Logs and the OS. All separate if poss. If you really have to, stick logs and OS on same controller but sep volumes.
IMHO, I don't think that the Xeon chips are worth the price. Others will dissagree with me. We have a Dell PowerEdge 800. Running a Single 2.8 GHz Pentium chip and 2 Gig's Ram. SATA RAID 5 with about 455 gig storage and are running McAfee GroupShield as well as having proper settings for spam filtering that are in Exchange 2003. We have about 250 users. Server has never given us a lick of problems.
- Thread starter
- #7
Zelandakh -- Thanks -- any thoughts on how much the additional drives should add to the price? We are a not-for-profit and are paying for this box with a grant, so our budget for it, a pro to set it up and the anti-spam is capped at around $5K. Will the main difference in the additional drives be speed, stability, ??
We are coming from an NT machine with 1GB RAM and and a single 18G HD that is our DNS, PDC, Exchange AND shared documents for 25 people on 2 volumes (Store and docs on one, OS and Logs on the other), so any improvement is great -- I do want to get the most bang for our buck and make this machine last for a few years, though.
Single processor if you need to shave money. Extra disks are about $200 each from memory. Get as many disks as possible - that's what Exchange wants. 2GB RAM will serve up to 200 people (trust me). If you don't overload the box with services, a single P4 3Ghz Xeon will be ok.
Don't buy before you post here. Config of volumes should be done AFTER you post here. Setup from an external? Always recommended. Especially something like this.
But post here - this is what we do.
Don't buy before you post here. Config of volumes should be done AFTER you post here. Setup from an external? Always recommended. Especially something like this.
But post here - this is what we do.
irbk, 400 GB for 30 people? Holy smokes... what are your folks storing in their mailboxes? 
For 30 users with normal habits, I'd say 2 x 15k 73GB in RAID 1 would be adequate space for storage, and if you're on a budget 2 x 15k 36 GB in RAID 1 for OS/program files and logs. If you can move logs to their own RAID 1 all the better.
If you have 30 people living with 18 gigs of space right now, I think this would be plenty. Don't skimp on RAM (min 2 GB) and like Zelandakh said, single proc would be fine for your size organization.
Oh, and if you're paying a pro to set this up, pay him a couple hundred bucks to spec the server for you while you're at it! That way he'll have nothing to complain about!
For 30 users with normal habits, I'd say 2 x 15k 73GB in RAID 1 would be adequate space for storage, and if you're on a budget 2 x 15k 36 GB in RAID 1 for OS/program files and logs. If you can move logs to their own RAID 1 all the better.
If you have 30 people living with 18 gigs of space right now, I think this would be plenty. Don't skimp on RAM (min 2 GB) and like Zelandakh said, single proc would be fine for your size organization.
Oh, and if you're paying a pro to set this up, pay him a couple hundred bucks to spec the server for you while you're at it! That way he'll have nothing to complain about!
How do you plan on doing backups ? Have you thought of a backup device ? Have you also thought about a file level anti-virus ? AS for email anti-virus/spam protection, I use Sybari Antigen with Advanced Spam Manager ( They are owned by MS now (purchased by MS a few months ago). It uses 5 different virus/spam definitions in the standard package but you can add more.
I believe you misunderstood my post. In MY environment (about 250 mailboxes) we have a total availalbe storage of about 430 gig. I also stated that my exchange box, minus software, was about $1,500. Not recomending 400 gig for 30 users, just stating that for $1,500 plus software (I know Server 2003 runs about $600 but it's been a while since I bought exchange enterprise), if I can get a server that can support 250 users, he should be able to get a box to support 30 users with no issues.
- Thread starter
- #14
No matter what we end up with, it will have an internal tape drive for backup - we already use CA Brightstore with a 20/40GB internal tape drive on another server -- we would get a larger capacity drive, obviously. We also use CA's InoculateIT for antivirus, and it has worked extremely well. CA has a fantastic donation/discount program for charities, so that is why we use them, but so far no problems.
I have been running all the specs and quotes past our pro - so I think we'll be ok. Just wanted to get as much feedback as possible!
I have been running all the specs and quotes past our pro - so I think we'll be ok. Just wanted to get as much feedback as possible!
ok, let's say you spec 500MB per person. You then need another 500MB per person for defrag. Plus 25% for free space as a minimum. So you need 37.5GB for the store volume as a minimum.
And that is only at 500MB per person. I've got staff with 5GB each and I don't mean isolated people...
And that is only at 500MB per person. I've got staff with 5GB each and I don't mean isolated people...
- Thread starter
- #16
Wow, you're generous! I make people clean out their old stuff after 250MB....99% of the time it's either people don't realize they have to clean out their "Deleted Items" folder after deleting messages, or they just never bother and end up with 100 old messages along the lines of "cake in the kitchen at 2:00."
Of course, the 250MB limit is a function of our current lack of storage space, but I can't see a good reason to let them keep inner-office chat forever....Truly, it is a difference in our function. We are just not a strongly e-mail based operation. We have some people (our director, for example)who may get fewer than a dozen e-mails a day.
Of course, the 250MB limit is a function of our current lack of storage space, but I can't see a good reason to let them keep inner-office chat forever....Truly, it is a difference in our function. We are just not a strongly e-mail based operation. We have some people (our director, for example)who may get fewer than a dozen e-mails a day.
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