Mailbox Databases Flashcards
(93 cards)
What is the maximum Mailbox Database size?
16 TB
However, this is not recommended, it is merely the theoretical maximum that it can support.
A smaller size is recommended to avoid issues with backup, restore, repair, recovery, and performance.
What is the recommended maximum mailbox database size?
200 GB for non-replicated databases
2 TB for replicated databases.
What is JBOD?
Just a Bunch of Disks
An arrangement of a single physical disk, or multiple disks which are not using RAID, and have no physical redundancy or parity.
When using JBOD, you need to use application-level replication for redundancy,
What is DAG?
Database Availability Group
The mechanism of high availability for Exchange 2016.
When does Microsoft recommend using JBOD?
Microsoft recommends JBOD for Exchange deployments that use DAG, for the database and log volumes (but not the OS volume).
When is NTFS vs. ReFS recommended?
Use NTFS for the OS volume, and the Exchange application volume (which is typically the same volume). ReFS is not compatible.
Volumes storing databases and transaction log files may use either NTFS or ReFS, but ReFS is recommended because of the benefits.
What are the benefits of ReFS?
It’s more resilient.
- Enhanced data verification and auto-correction
- more resilient to file system corruption.
- This is particularly true with volumes hosting large files. (and Exchange DB files are usually large.)
How should ReFS be configured for Exchange?
You should disable integrity streams on Exchange DB and Log volumes, for performance reasons.
This does not disable the benefits of ReFS, and it avoids a serious performance hit.
The GUI can format as ReFS, but does NOT HAVE an option to disable integrity streams, so you must use PowerShell.
Provide an example PowerShell command for formatting a newly added disk meant to store an Exchange database.
(Answer has line breaks inserted for readability.)
Get-Disk 5 | Initialize-Disk -PartitionStyle GPT -PassThru | New-Partition -UseMaximumSize | Format-Volume -FileSystem REFS -NewFileSystemLabel Volume1 -SetIntegrityStreams $false
What is Auto Reseed?
A feature of Exchange 2016 DAGs that automatically detects and recovers from storage failure scenarios.
When a disk fails in a DAG and the Auto Reseed process is triggered, what happens?
Auto Reseed will bring the DAG into a fully healthy state by:
- automatically mounting a disk from a pool of spares (that were preconfigured),
- formatting that disk for use,
- and reseeding the database copies onto the new disk.
What are the storage layout requirements for Auto Reseed?
• JBOD, not RAID
• Multiple databases per volume.
– Number of DBs should equal number of copies of each DB. (4 member DAG should have 4 DBs per volume.)
• Mount points, not drive letters
What will trigger Auto Reseed?
- MSExchange Replication Service checks for database copies that are FailedAndSuspended
- If all database copies on a volume are FailedAndSuspended for 15 minutes, then the Auto Reseed recovery workflow is started.
What configurations are recommended when virtualizing an Exchange server?
- Max of 2:1 ratio of vCPU to logical CPU (1:1 preferred)
- Size the server using MS’s sizing calculator, which adds overhead for virtualization
- Fixed memory allocation (no Dynamic Memory)
- Full storage allocation (no Thin Provisioning)
What common virtualization features are not supported with Exchange?
- Any “hot” migration or failover mechanism that doesn’t start the VM on a new host as a cold boot, except for Hyper-V Live Migration
- Any replication-based disaster recovery solution (MS recommends using DAGs for replication)
- Any use of VM snapshots to “roll back” an Exchange VM to a previous state.
What is Jetstress?
A Microsoft tool that simulates Exchange 2013 and Exchange 2016 disk I/O load on a server to verify the performance and stability of your disk subsystem before putting your server into a production environment.
Jetstress validates that the storage you configure meets the requirements Exchange will have.
When should Jetstress be run?
- On a server before installing Exchange.
- If using RAID volumes, test when volume is both healthy and degraded (because there’s no point to RAID if the volume becomes unusable when degraded)
- If using shared infrastructure (e.g. virtualization), test during peak load times
How does Jetstress work?
Simulates disk I/O load for a given number of users that you specify
and in doing so, it tests:
- Disk hardware
- Storage firmware
- Storage controllers
- File system
How large can a DAG be?
A DAG can consist of up to 16 mailbox servers, plus a FSW server.
What is a FSW?
File Share Witness
Every DAG has one FSW.
A non-DAG member of the DAG, running Windows Server.
It serves as a tie-breaker during quorum voting for DAGs with an even number of members.
How many databases can an Exchange 2016 Standard edition server host?
A maximum of 5 databases
How many databases can an Exchange 2016 Enterprise edition server host?
A maximum of 100 databases
What are the OS and software versioning requirements for DAG members?
DAG Members must:
- All run the same version of Windows Server
- All run the same major version of Exchange:
○ A mix of different CU versions is ok.
○ A mix of Standard and Enterprise editions is ok.
○ But cannot mix different major versions, such as 2013 and 2016.
What is a Database Switchover?
An administrator (human) -initiated move of active database copy.
The database copy that was previously the “active copy” is dismounted and becomes a passive copy.
Then, another copy that had previously been passive is mounted and becomes the active copy.