QLogic 10000 Series Optimizing MS Exchange - Manual

SN0430948-00 Rev.B 11/13 1
White Paper
Optimizing MS Exchange with the
QLogic 10000 Series Adapter
FabricCache Technology Processes Exchange
Transactions Up to Five Times Faster
FabricCache technology makes caching I/O data from
Exchange entirely transparent to the host, which improves
reliability and reduces complexity.
KEY FINDINGS
•
The performance of Microsoft ® Exchange Server ® is driven by the IOPS
capability of the underlying storage solution. The QLogic ® FabricCache ™
10000 Series 8Gb Fibre Channel Adapter multiplies the capabilities
of existing storage technology by integrating Fibre Channel storage
network connectivity, flash caching, and embedded processing. QLogic
10000 Series’ FabricCache technology makes caching I/O data from
Exchange entirely transparent to the host, which improves reliability and
reduces complexity.
MICROSOFT EXCHANGE EVOLUTION AND ARCHITECTURE
The beating heart of the Exchange Server is the Microsoft Extensible
Storage Engine (ESE) API, also known as Joint Engine Technology (JET)
Blue. ESE is an indexed sequential access method (ISAM) data storage
technology that also makes up the core of Microsoft Active Directory
® . ESE
provides transacted data update and retrieval capabilities, as well as a
crash recovery mechanism to maintain data consistency even in the event
of a system crash. Transactions in ESE are highly concurrent, making ESE
suitable for server applications such as Exchange.
The I/O Gap
ESE and Exchange have benefited greatly as processor and memory
performance keep pace with the promises of Moore’s Law. Storage
technology has unfortunately lagged well behind the trend. This gap leaves
Exchange starved for IOPS, which is the most critical factor in transactional
performance. Microsoft heralded several new design features to help cope
with this IOPS shortfall. Among them is the advent of database availability
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Few applications describe “mission critical” like the enterprise e-mail
engine. An estimated 918 million users start their day by checking
e-mail messages, appointment calendars, and task lists. The always-
on, always-connected global worker is never too far from this vital
link.
The increased demands on the Microsoft Exchange Server make
it critical to optimize the server’s I/O performance in the SAN. The
QLogic 10000 Series 8Gb Fibre Channel Adapter meets that need for
high performance. By integrating a unique I/O caching architecture
with Fibre Channel connectivity, the 10000 Series Adapter
significantly increases the performance of transactional I/O (IOPS)
and I/O read latency for large Exchange data volumes. This combined
approach of enterprise server I/O with server-based I/O caching using
flash memory delivers dramatic and smoothly scalable application
performance.
This document is intended for IT leadership, Exchange administrators,
and all those accountable for the performance of the Exchange
messaging infrastructure.