Conference chefs::ms-exchange

1001.0. "Real Internal Exchange Information" by OGOPW1::tunsrv2-tunnel.imc.das.dec.com::michaelw ([email protected]) Sun Apr 13 1997 08:02

Where's the hardcore material?

Like a step-by-step for going into a new planning-and-design at a customer and how to
- gather network link types
- collect utilization stats
- collect usage patterns
- map geographic locations / links

(yeah, we get all that from the books / white papers, etc...)

then try to decide the hard stuff...
  one book says 64Kb to be in the site, 
  another says 128Kb, 
  another says 64Kb to 512Kb...
  disclaimered by "It depends" + "it's an iterative design process, anyway"
  (so whose going to tell the customer that bad news about splitting apart or joining together    
 sites?)

Iterative design + implied warning not to do it wrong in first place... catch 22 isn't it?

CI what?

You won't see any mention of CIRs or MIRs in any Microsoft materials probably...

so none mention CIRs or MIRs for Frame Relay links (i.e. when is 64Kb NOT 64Kb?).... or at what 
point Site connector RPC communications would fail on you from a choking lack of bandwidth...  
what's the failure threshold? failure behavior?  X.400 is the "tolerant" connector, apparently, 
and can avoid translation by preserving native MDBEF format between Exchange servers on links that 
you can't promise nice available bandwidth from.

none say what Exchange will do when link utilization is at 90% on a WAN link where you're servers 
are in a single site.  Some servers are separated across this WAN link and suddenly Exchange 
server RPCs are going unanswered due to link congestion...
Does it crash and burn?  Does it simply retry until successful?  Does it fill your event logs with 
errors or shut down, fault on you?  Or maybe the backhoe just rips the T1 feed out of the 
company's front lawn, and it's out for two days.  What behavior have you then, the site is cleft 
in twain for a period of time.  Anyone lived through this?


Where's the GOOD stuff hiding?

[email protected]

Tal.