Scott is right on the money. Microsoft does not recommend nor support Exchange on NAS. Sure, I'd like to sugarcoat it for Scott and other Toasterites, but I can't so why spin-doctor it. We're working on it. More to Scott's point on the Exchange database sucking, well, that's the primary reason why Exchange on Filers is a growth industry. I usually try to break it down this way:

Performance: Filers excel but let's just say this is a wash.

Simple: While we all read or write Toasters in search of solutions, we can all make a pretty good case on filer simplicity and TCO (particularly in the Exchange environment).

Reliable: And this is the key point. Neither a fibre SAN nor Network Appliance will prevent an Exchange corruption. You will get hit with a corruption. I don't believe the filer invites the trouble. I believe the trouble will find you, regardless. The question then becomes how do I recover from this inevitability. That's why SnapManager for Exchange has carved out a substantial market - for both NetApp AND Microsoft.

Believe it or not, Microsoft works their asses off to make Exchange a solid product. Sure, you get corruptions and they tend to be stealthy and nasty but Microsoft has made a fairly easy to use messaging platform and that ain't easy to do! What usually makes Admins break out into a nice flop-sweat is the fact that your CEO probably couldn't name the last time the Oracle or SQL servers experienced a corruption, but they could probably name down to the and minute the last time they couldn't use e-mail. SnapManager keeps the phone from ringing, keeps the flop-sweats to a minimum. (Being an ex-Admin, it's one of things we ponder when standing in front of a server at 2:00 a.m. waiting for the consistency check to finish.) Actually, some of my better customers were the ones that took a pass the first time around but called back in the midst of another outage. SnapManager actually provides Exchange Admins a solid tool to deploy Exchange environments. It's the perfect safety n! et.

Let's face it, no one is out there pitching slow, complicated and unpredictable. We are addressing the somewhat unpredictable nature of Exchange by allowing you to recover your stors in minutes vs. <fill in your personal experience from your last Exchange outage>.

Your points are well-taken. NetApp will support and is probably your best source of support when it comes to Exchange on filers. Hopefully, this will keep your site in the "supportable" category.

-----Original Message----- From: Waters, G Scott DSTI [mailto:scott.waters@SBCCOM.APGEA.ARMY.MIL] Sent: Monday, June 04, 2001 8:12 AM To: 'Rafi Mimon'; 'toasters@mathworks.com' Subject: RE: Exchange 5.5 on Filer

You need to rephrase that statement ... Microsoft does not recommend or support Exchange 5.5 or 2K on any NAS.

We are in the process of upgrading our entire Exchange site. We currently run very old multi-processor servers and serve about 400 - 500 users on each machine.

I was tasked to recommend an upgrade path ... after hearing Microsoft's recommendations and taking into account that we are Microsoft Premier Support customer, I recommended a SAN solution. My recommendations were ignored and as the Exchange Admin, I am now being forced to implement a NAS solution.

I have nothing against the Filer or NetApp. The product is wonderful. I do however, realize that the Exchange database sucks and when you talk to it through the Windows "redirector" you are asking for trouble.

The decision should be based on how comfortable you are with Exchange and the Filer and also if you are willing to run Exchange in an unsupported mode (from Microsoft - NetApp has some arrangement with IBM Global for Exchange support if you need it after putting your system into an unsupported mode). I talked to several references and they all had nothing but good things to say. I'll have some personal stories to share in the next month or two.

In all the meetings and arguing that lead up to the decision there was one statement that just floored me. It was at a meeting where I am defending my position to use SAN technology and not NAS. Someone in the meeting turns to me and says "I can't believe you are going to let Microsoft dictate your hardware requirements". I was floored and replied "a.) As the author of the software in question, I figured they would have the best knowledge on where to run it and more importantly b.) we (as an organization) let Microsoft dictate the software that we run (we only run Microsoft products, we can only develop in Microsoft languages, etc) so I figured if we follow like lambs in one case ... why not the other??"

Remember, before you flame, I am in no way slamming the NetApp or the Filer in general ... I was just trying to keep the site "supportable".

Scott Waters US Army HQ Soldier and Biological Chemical Command (USAHQSBCCOM) scott.waters@sbccom.apgea.army.mil

-----Original Message----- From: Rafi Mimon [mailto:rmimon@vyyo.co.il] Sent: Monday, June 04, 2001 9:12 AM To: toasters@mathworks.com Subject: Exchange 5.5 on Filer

Hello all, I'm thinking of using the Filer with Exchange 5.5. I have one F740 with ONTAP 6.0.2R1. Microsoft does not recommend to use any NAS system for the exchange database files, so I would like to hear from you guys, did you encountered any problems? should I connect the Exchange server and the Filer Back to back or to the LANs backbone?

Rafi Mimon VYYO.LTD. E-mail :rmimon@vyyo.co.il

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