Hp COMPAQ PROLIANT 4000, COMPAQ PROLIANT 1500, COMPAQ PROLIANT 1600, COMPAQ PROLIANT 2000, COMPAQ PROLIANT 4500 Performance of Microsoft Exchange Server 4.0 on Compaq ProLiant Servers

WHITE PAPER

.

June 1996 Prepared By

Os Development Compaq Computer

Corporation

CONTENTS

Test Configuration.......... 3

Introduction .........................3

LoadSim ..............................3

Performance Monitor.............8

Configuration of Test Facility . 8

Performance

Results..........................10

Introduction ........................10

Processor Subsystem...........10

Disk Subsystem...................18

System Memory...................19

Conclusions and

Recommendations...............21

444A/0696

.

Performance of Microsoft Exchange

.

Server 4.0 on Compaq ProLiant Servers

.

Electronic messaging is consistently becoming more pervasive in the business world. As

.

people must process increasing amounts of information, there is a need for powerful

.

software and hardware products to satisfy the requirements imposed.

.

To fill the need for a powerful messaging software product, Microsoft has created

.

Microsoft Exchange Server 4.0. This product has been the focal point of extensive

.

development and testing efforts involving the commitments of both Microsoft and its

.

partners. During this time, Compaq and Microsoft have worked together to optimize

.

Microsoft Exchange Server on Compaq System products.

.

Microsoft Exchange Server is enormously complex, with many features and capabilities.

.

One important part of understanding the product is understanding its performance. For

.

system administrators and potential purchasers of both Microsoft Exchange Server and

.

Compaq products, this aspect of Microsoft Exchange Server is crucial to understand so

.

the proper decisions can be made.

.

This white paper covers various performance aspects of Microsoft Exchange Server 4.0

.

on Compaq ProLiant Servers, specifically the ProLiant 4500 and the ProLiant 5000.

.

Fundamentally, this paper should provide the reader with an expectation of how

.

Microsoft Exchange Server will perform on a Compaq ProLiant under various user

.

loads. Furthermore, the paper should uncover other useful information pertaining to

.

Microsoft Exchange Server configuration and performance tuning, as well as CPU,

.

RAM, and disk utilization on Compaq ProLiant servers. Ultimately, this paper should

.

help the potential purchaser make good decisions about which Compaq products to

.

purchase in order to satisfy the requirements of his or her business needs.

.

1

WHITE PAPER (cont.)

.

NOTICE

.

The information in this publication is subject to change without notice.

.

444A/0696

.

COMPAQ COMPUTER CORPORATION SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR TECHNICAL

.

OR EDITORIAL ERRORS OR OMISSIONS CONTAINED HEREIN, NOR FOR

.

INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE

.

FURNISHING, PERFORMANCE, OR USE OF THIS MATERIAL.

.

This publication does not constitute an endorsement of the product or products that were tested.

.

The configuration or configurations tested or described may or may not be the only available

.

solution. This test is not a determination of product quality or correctness, nor does it ensure

.

compliance with any federal, state or local requirements. Compaq does not warrant products other

.

than its own strictly as stated in Compaq product warranties.

.

Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their

.

respective companies.

.

Compaq, ProLiant, and NetFlex, registered United States Patent and Trademark Office.

.

Other product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their

.

respective companies.

.

Microsoft, and Windows NT, are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Microsoft

.

Corporation.

.

Performance of Microsoft Exchange Server 4.0

.

on Compaq ProLiant Servers

.

First Edition (June 1996)

.

2

WHITE PAPER (cont.)

.

TEST CONFIGURATION

.

Introduction

.

444A/0696

.

Before diving right into the performance results, it is important to take a few minutes and review

.

the tools and configuration used to arrive at these results.

.

There are two main tools used to prepare the data for this white paper:

.

• Microsoft Exchange Server LoadSim

.

• Microsoft Windows NT Performance Monitor

.

Naturally, your results will vary depending upon your exact conditions. In other words, the results

.

shown probably won’t be exactly what you will see. However, the trends should be the same.

.

Additionally, the configuration of test loads selected for this paper are a good overall mix of

.

potential real world situations. If anything, the load is a bit on the heavy side, so it should

.

illustrate a worst case scenario for most Exchange users. In other words, most likely your user

.

load won’t be heavier than the loads used in these tests, and as a result your performance should

.

be at least as good as, if not better than, the performance shown here.

.

LoadSim

.

The main tool used in generating the performance data contained in this paper is the Microsoft

.

Exchange Server User Load Simulation utility - called LoadSim.

.

As its name implies, LoadSim is a tool for simulating a client user load on an Exchange Server.

.

Its purpose is to enable a single Windows NT machine - called a LoadSim client - to simulate

.

multiple Microsoft Exchange client users.

.

For more information on the details of Loadsim operation and configuration, refer to the

.

Microsoft white paper entitled, “LoadSim: Microsoft Exchange Server Load Simulation Tool for

.

Microsoft Exchange 4.0”. This paper is included with the LoadSim utility, and they can both be

.

found on the Microsoft Exchange Server CD in the \SUPPORT\LOADSIM directory.

.

The operation of LoadSim users is governed by a LoadSim profile, which is stored on disk as a

.

.SIM file. This profile controls things like how long a LoadSim ‘day’ is, how many email

.

messages to send in a day’s time, how many times to open and read existing email, whether to use

.

distribution lists, whether to use public folders, etc.

.

3

WHITE PAPER (cont.)

.

Default User Profiles

.

There are three pre-configured LoadSim profiles which are built into LoadSim: Light, Medium,

.

and Heavy.

444A/0696

.

DEFAULT LOADSIM USER PROFILES

.

LoadSim USER ATTRIBUTE ATTRIBUTE DETAIL LIGHT MEDIUM HEAVY

.

TEST DURATION Length of a day (hours) 8 8 8

.

READING MAIL New mail (times/day) 12 12 12

.

AFTER READING MAIL % of Reply 5% 7% 15%

.

DISTRIBUTION LISTS Minimum size 4 4 4

.

ATTACHMENTS % to Run/Load Mail Attachment (if one exists) 25% 25% 25%

.

INBOX SIZE Inbox Size Limit (# messages) 20 125 250

.

SENDING MAIL New mail (times/day) 2 4 6

.

NEW MAIL MESSAGE CONTENT

.

Text-only, no attachment

.

NEW MAIL MESSAGE CONTENT

.

1K mail body, with attachment

.

4

Existing mail (times/day) 5 15 20

% of Reply All 3% 5% 7% % of Forward 5% 7% 7% % of Move 20% 20% 20% % of Copy 0% 0% 0% % of Delete 40% 40% 40% % of Do nothing 27% 21% 11%

Maximum size 50 50 50 Average size 10 10 10 Cover 100% of users (no overlap) Yes Yes Yes

Save a copy in Sent Mail Folder? Yes Yes Yes Number of random recipients 3 3 3 % of time to add a Distribution List 30% 30% 30% Message Priority Normal Normal Normal Delivery Receipt? No No No Read Receipt? No No No 1K body (ups1K.msg) 90% 64% 50%

2K body (ups2K.msg) 0% 17% 10% 4K body (ups4K.msg) 0% 4% 5% 10K attachment (ups10Kat.msg) 10% 5% 10%

Embedded bitmap object (upsBMobj.msg) 0% 2% 5% Word attachment (upsWDatt.msg) 0% 2% 5%

WHITE PAPER (cont.)

.

LoadSim USER ATTRIBUTE ATTRIBUTE DETAIL LIGHT MEDIUM HEAVY

.

444A/0696

.

SCHEDULE+ CHANGES Changes per day 1 5 10

.

PUBLIC FOLDERS Folder activity None None None

.

CALCULATED DAILY LOAD

.

(based on these defaults)

.

CALCULATED DAILY LOAD

.

(based on these defaults)

.

CALCULATED DAILY LOAD

.

(based on these defaults)

.

Table 1. Default LoadSim user profile definitions

.

5

Excel attachment (upsXLatt.msg) 0% 4% 5% Embedded Excel object (upsXLobj.msg) 0% 2% 10%

Update Free/Busy information? No No No Average Schedule File Size 22KB 22KB 22KB

TOTAL MAIL RECEIVED PER DAY 22.94 66.30 118.89

TOTAL MAIL SENT PER DAY 4.70 14.18 30.67

Mail sent as New mail 2.00 4.00 6.00 Mail sent as a Reply 1.05 3.76 13.03 Mail sent as a Reply to All 0.60 2.67 5.82 Mail sent as a Forward 1.05 3.76 5.82 AVERAGE # RECIPIENTS FOR EACH

MESSAGE

4.88 4.68 3.88

WHITE PAPER (cont.)

.

User Profile Definition for This Paper

.

The actual LoadSim user profile used in these tests is based on the Medium user profile. In the

.

following table, deviations from the standard Medium profile are in bold.

444A/0696

.

LOADSIM USER PROFILE FOR THIS PAPER

.

LoadSim USER ATTRIBUTE ATTRIBUTE DETAIL

.

TEST DURATION Length of a day (hours) 8

.

READING MAIL New mail (times/day) 12

.

AFTER READING MAIL % of Reply 7%

.

DISTRIBUTION LISTS Minimum size 4

.

ATTACHMENTS % to Run/Load Mail Attachment (if one exists) 25%

.

INBOX SIZE Inbox Size Limit (# messages) 125

.

SENDING MAIL New mail (times/day) 4

.

NEW MAIL MESSAGE

.

CONTENT

.

Text-only, no attachment 2K body (ups2K.msg) 17%

.

6

Existing mail (times/day) 15

% of Reply All 5% % of Forward 7% % of Move 20% % of Copy 0% % of Delete 40% % of Do nothing 21%

Maximum size 50

Average size 12

Cover 100% of users (no overlap) Yes

Save a copy in Sent Mail Folder? Yes Number of random recipients 3 % of time to add a Distribution List 30% Message Priority Normal Delivery Receipt? No Read Receipt? No 1K body (ups1K.msg) 64%

4K body (ups4K.msg) 4%

WHITE PAPER (cont.)

.

LoadSim USER ATTRIBUTE ATTRIBUTE DETAIL

.

NEW MAIL MESSAGE

.

CONTENT

.

444A/0696

.

1K mail body, with attachment Embedded bitmap object ( upsBMobj.msg) 2%

.

SCHEDULE+ CHANGES Changes per day 5

.

PUBLIC FOLDERS Public folder tasks? Yes

.

CALCULATED DAILY LOAD

.

(based on these defaults)

.

CALCULATED DAILY LOAD

.

(based on these defaults)

.

CALCULATED DAILY LOAD

.

(based on these defaults)

.

Table 2. LoadSim user profile definition for this paper

.

7

10K attachment (ups10Kat.msg) 5%

Word attachment (upsWDatt.msg) 2% Excel attachment (upsXLatt.msg) 4% Embedded Excel object (upsXLobj.msg) 2%

Update Free/Busy information? No Average Schedule File Size 22KB

Number of times/day to open public folders 5 % of time to open active folders 60% Read old item 4% Read new item 15% Change view 7% Delete item 3% Post items 5% Items to post 1 Reply 5% Reply to author 0% Forward item 0% Copy item 5% Move item 5% Modify item 5% % of time to do resolve-as-all 30% TOTAL MAIL RECEIVED PER DAY 76.76

TOTAL MAIL SENT PER DAY 15.11

Mail sent as New mail 4.00

Mail sent as a Reply 4.10 Mail sent as a Reply to All 2.91 Mail sent as a Forward 4.10 AVERAGE # RECIPIENTS FOR EACH MESSAGE 5.08