XADM: Creating Partitions for an Exchange 2000 Server with Six Hard Disks (327860)

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Recommendations

To increase fault tolerance and make troubleshooting easier on your servers that are running Exchange 2000, consider the following recommendations when you partition your hard disks:

• Partition your disks so that your boot files and operating system files are on separate partitions. If you partition your disks in this way, you increase your recovery options. For example, you may be able to start to a command prompt, and then modify or replace any damaged boot files that may be preventing you from starting Microsoft Windows 2000.
• Partition your disks so that your Exchange 2000 application files, Exchange 2000 database files, and Exchange 2000 transaction log files are all on separate disks. This increases performance and reduces the data that you have to recover if you have to recover only one of your hard disks.

Creating Partitions for a Server with Six Hard Disks

If you use these recommendations to partition your disks, the following groups of files are all assigned separate drive letters:

• Boot files
• Operating system files
• Exchange 2000 application files
• Exchange 2000 database files
• Exchange 2000 database files
• Exchange 2000 log files

If each set of files is represented by its own drive letter, it is easier for you to keep track of which partitions you have to back up.

The following procedure and Table 1 provide general practices that you can follow to increase fault tolerance.

NOTE: The following procedure and corresponding table do not include advanced factors, such as disk mirroring or disk striping.

Because the number of hard disks and storage groups on your Exchange 2000 server may be different from the number of hard disks and storage groups used in this example, apply the logic of this example as it relates to your own server configuration.

To create partitions for an Exchange 2000 server with six hard disks:

1. On a new server with hard disks that are not partitioned, use a boot disk that you can use to start to MS-DOS (for example, a Microsoft Windows 98 Startup disk) to start to the command prompt.
2. On the first hard disk, Hard Disk 1, run the fdisk command from the command prompt, create a primary partition of 100 megabytes (MB), and then set it to Active (drive C).
3. Also on Hard Disk 1, create an extended partition with the remaining hard disk capacity. From the extended partition, create a logical drive (drive D).
4. Quit Fdisk, and then use the Windows 98 Startup disk to restart the computer.
5. At the command prompt, format drive C by using the /s switch. To use this switch, at the command prompt, type format C: /s.
6. Restart the computer, and then install Windows 2000 Server (either by starting to Setup from the Windows 2000 CD, or by using Windows 2000 Setup disks). During Setup, install Windows 2000 Server to drive D. Format drive D as NTFS file system (NTFS).
7. From Windows, open the Disk Management snap-in, and then create an extended partition out of 100 percent of Hard Disk 2. Format this partition as NTFS. You will install Exchange 2000 (drive E) to this disk.
8. Create additional extended partitions on the remaining hard disks (Hard Disk 3, Hard Disk 4, Hard Disk 5, and Hard Disk 6) and format each disk as NTFS. These are the disks on which you will store your Exchange 2000 storage groups and transaction log files (drives F, G, H, and I).

Table 1 illustrates a possible partitioning scheme for an Exchange 2000 server that has six hard disks, including two storage groups. Each storage group contains four databases.

Table 1 Exchange 2000 Hard Disk Partitioning Scheme

|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|  Disk          |  Drive               |  Configuration                 |
|----------------|----------------------|--------------------------------|
|  Hard Disk 1   |  Drive C (Fat 16)    | Windows 2000 boot files and    |
|                |                      | MS-DOS boot files, with a boot |
|                |                      | option in Boot.ini to boot to  |
|                |                      | an MS-DOS command prompt       |
|                |                      |                                |
|                |  Drive D (NTFS)      | Windows 2000 operating system  | 
|                |                      | files and paging file          |
|----------------|----------------------|--------------------------------|
|  Hard Disk 2   |  Drive E (NTFS)      | Exchange 2000 files and        |
|                |                      | additional server applications |
|                |                      | (such as antivirus software    |
|                |                      | and resource kits)             |
|----------------|----------------------|--------------------------------| 
|  Hard Disk 3   |  Drive F (NTFS)      | Transaction log files for      |
|                |                      | storage group 1.               |
|----------------|----------------------|--------------------------------|
|  Hard Disk 4   |  Drive G (NTFS)      | Database files for storage     |
|                |                      | group 1                        |
|----------------|----------------------|--------------------------------|
|  Hard Disk 5   |  Drive H (NTFS)      | Transaction log files for      |
|                |                      | storage group 2                |
|----------------|----------------------|--------------------------------|
|  Hard Disk 6   |  Drive I             | Database files for storage     |
|                |                      | group 2                        |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
				

For additional information about storage options for your Exchange 2000 servers, see the "Storage Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server" white paper. To view the "Storage Solutions for Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server" white paper, visit the following Microsoft Web site: