SBS vs. Exchange hardware recommendations

[derf238]

Both Microsoft and conventional wisdom (much aquired here) dictate that Exchange should be installed with logs and databases on separate drive sets.
I see no such mention when researching hardware recommendations for Small Business Server.
I'm thinking about using SBS for 15 user location if I can use the Exchange function econamically. It is only an option based on hardware cost. Other wise I'll use a smaller server with 2003 standard and they'll keep pop3 email from the ISP.

Any input is appreciated
Thanks

 

[mrdenny]

One thing that needs to be considdered when deciding how much hardware to buy, and how to setup disk configs for Exchange (or sql, or pretty much anything) is how much usage will it get. The drive config for a 15 person exchange server will be much different than the drive config for a 1000 person exchange server. With the larger installation it becomes much more important to have the database and logs on different drives. With a 15 person install, not so much. If the company doesn't plan on growing much then placing them on the same drive will probably be ok. If the company plans on growing to 100 people, then they might want to invest to the additional hardware now, so they don't have to deal with purchasing another server later.

Denny

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

 

[dkediger]

Exchange in the SBS environment can be done succesfully with a single "drive set" environment. With 15 users, there shouldn't be much demand. In my opinion, invest in a proper backup and recovery system for Exchange in this scenario though - don't rely on the included NT Backup.

A *good* hardware RAID 5 will cover most of the hardware failures. If the controller is flexible enough and the case has the room, you can dedicate separate physical disks to get the log/IS seperation.

I think you're ahead, depending on company growth/integration plans, to invest heavily in a good, quality server setup and go the SBS route than you are sticking with traditional Server/Exchange. I would seriously look at a bottom price point of $5000 for the appropriate server hardware for SBS. Anything less I would really scrutinize carefully. $7500 for a good SBS server config has been my experience.