Exchange & Outlook UPDATE, Exchange Edition--Get the 64-bit Advantage --January 12, 2006

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1. Commentary
- Get the 64-bit Advantage

2. Peer to Peer
- Featured Thread: Exchange Intelligent Message Filter Not Working
- Outlook Tip: Marking Sent Items as Read

3. New and Improved
- Enhance Your SharePoint Environment

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Editor's note: Share Your Exchange Discoveries and Get $100
Share your Exchange Server and Outlook discoveries, comments, or problems and solutions for use in the Exchange & Outlook Administrator print newsletter's Reader to Reader column. Email your contributions (500 words or less) to [email protected]. We edit submissions for style, grammar, and length. If we print your submission, you'll get $100.

==== 1. Commentary: Get the 64-bit Advantage ====
by Paul Robichaux, Exchange Editor, [email protected]

My column last week about how political concerns can affect messaging deployments generated a ton of mail. I'm still sorting through it; my apologies if you haven't received a response yet. (If you haven't written with your tips or tales of woe, you still have time!)

This week, I revisit the topic of 64-bit CPUs and what they mean to us from an Exchange Server standpoint. I've already written about Microsoft's announcement that Exchange 12 will run only on 64-bit versions of Windows (Windows Server 2003 at launch and Longhorn Server at some point in the future). I expected this announcement to generate a lot of discussion, and it has, but most people I've spoken with understand why Microsoft is making the leap to 64-bit, and most of them are both excited about the performance and scalability benefits and understanding of the fact that new hardware is required.

However, I want to talk more about something that's largely been overlooked in the discussion thus far: the performance improvements that come from using Windows 2003 x64 for Global Catalog (GC) servers and domain controllers (DCs) in your existing Exchange organization. Tony Redmond's statement from the Microsoft IT Forum 2005 show stating that HP had been able to achieve an 11:1 server consolidation for GCs by moving to one dual-Opteron GC sounded good, but I suspect that many administrators dismissed the news as not pertinent--after all, most of us don't have the large deployments that would seem to benefit most by the advent of x64 for Active Directory (AD) services. But it turns out that the performance benefits of x64 are applicable to smaller shops, too. The benefits fall into two main categories.

First, when you move to x64, you also move to multicore processors. That makes a huge difference right off the bat, and it's essentially free. If you replace an older dual-processor Xeon box with a dual-processor Opteron or Xeon box, you're essentially getting four processor cores; this has an obvious effect on how much work the server is able to do. You also get other architectural improvements now found in x64-capable servers (particularly faster bus speeds and better I/O systems). These make a big difference for applications such as file and print services, enabling a greater degree of consolidation. Microsoft field engineers tell me their customers are thrilled with the new ability to consolidate performance-intensive work such as Windows Terminal Server workloads onto a much smaller number of x64 servers.

Second, the x64 architecture allows much larger address spaces. The increase raises the possibility of being able to keep the entire AD directory information tree (DIT) in memory at once. The performance impact is obvious; even though the AD implementation of Joint Engine Technology (JET) is highly optimized for what it does, caching data in RAM is always faster than fetching it from disk. A midsized organization's DIT can easily grow beyond 1GB, at which time it can be difficult to keep the entire DIT in RAM if you have a conventional x86 architecture server.

The address space expansion possible with x64 also helps increase the number of kernel objects that can be held in the kernel's portion of the address space. As Terry Myerson points out on the Exchange team blog (http://blogs.technet.com/exchange/archive/2005/12/29/416613.aspx ), kernel address space currently places a non-negotiable limit on how many concurrent mailboxes you can support. I particularly liked his observation that (under some conditions) a Windows 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) box uses about 10 percent more kernel memory than the same computer running the Windows 2003 release to manufacturing (RTM) version. Increasing the address space available to the kernel helps both Exchange and Windows perform and scale better.

What does all this mean? To me, it's an argument in favor of moving to x64 for DCs as part of your regular upgrade cycle. This argument gets even stronger if you're in the process of migrating to Windows 2003 and likely buying new servers anyway. You'll get the immediate performance benefits of x64 now, and you'll have an architecture that will scale and perform well when you deploy Exchange 12.

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==== Events and Resources ====
(A complete Web and live events directory brought to you by Windows IT Pro: http://www.windowsitpro.com/events )

EBOOK: Find out how fax technology can benefit your bottom line and improve business processes
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WHITE PAPER: Evaluate the costs of losing information, learn what real-time information management means, and how to accomplish it in your business.
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ESSENTIAL GUIDE: Learn the essentials about how consolidation and selected technology updates build an infrastructure that can handle change effectively.
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Enabling Secure Collaboration in the Workplace
Join Microsoft and Sybari experts and learn how to help foster collaboration among employees and partners while reducing security risks and enforcing corporate compliance policies.
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WEB SEMINAR: Get the tools, tips, and training that you need to avoid a messaging meltdown when an outage strikes. View this seminar today:
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==== Featured White Paper ====

WHITE PAPER: Plan and implement reliable strategies to maintain highly available Exchange Server 2003 messaging systems.
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~~~~ Hot Spot ~~~~

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==== 2. Peer to Peer ====

What Do You Think? Don't forget to sound off in our Instant Poll. This month's question is "Which version of Exchange Server are you using?"
http://www.windowsitpro.com/MicrosoftExchangeOutlook

Featured Thread: Exchange Intelligent Message Filter Not Working
A forum user installed Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2), with the result that Exchange Intelligent Message Filter stopped working. If you can help, join the discussion at
http://forums.windowsitpro.com/web/forum/messageview.aspx?catid=40&threadid=45238&enterthread=y

Outlook Tip: Marking Sent Items as Read
by Sue Mosher, [email protected]

Q: In "Keeping Sent Mail, but Not in Sent Items," March 2003, InstantDoc ID 37533, you explain how to use Rules Wizard rules to make Outlook store sent items in a specific folder, without keeping a copy in the Sent Items folder. But Outlook displays such sent items as unread mail; how do I mark these items as read?

Find the answer (and links to more great tips) at
http://www.windowsitpro.com/MicrosoftExchangeOutlook/Article/ArticleID/47212/47212.html

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==== 3. New and Improved ====
by Blake Eno, [email protected]

Enhance Your SharePoint Environment
BrightWork announced BrightWork Reporter, a reporting tool that lets you report across multiple Microsoft SharePoint sites and lists. BrightWork Reporter is an extension of SharePoint that looks at every list and site you have on your SharePoint server, then lets you extract list item data from it, while simultaneously displaying the information in a report. This report can be printed, emailed, or exported to Microsoft Excel. BrightWork Reporter provides you with 14 configurable reports out of the box and also lets you create your own. A free 30-day trial is available. For pricing information, contact BrightWork at [email protected], 617-357-9000, or 425-462-4341.
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