The Notorious 3 GB.

If you're like me you don't want Exchange to merely run you want it to SING!!.

Exchange can make better use of your server memory, with just a few tweaks. The store.exe process is mainly responsible for our ability to do this, since it will grab as much memory as it can possibly get. This doesn’t mean there's some kind of problem or a memory leak, but it’s a normal and routine operation.

The good news is that if you have more than 1GB of RAM you can make Exchange’s use of memory more efficient. You can use, the famous /3GB switch. Caution: this setting is not recommended for all servers in the Exchange configuration. You should be aware that this setting is not recommended on front-end servers, dedicated bridgeheads or when you have Exchange installed on a Domain Controller, which seems like a bad idea to me.

Add the switches /3GB and /USERVA=3030 to boot.ini. The /3GB switch modifies the way virtual address space is created so that 3 gigabytes are available for user mode applications;

Configure the HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\HeapDeCommitFreeBlockThreshold registry value to 0x00040000. The HeapDecommitFreeBlockThreshold registry key specifies the number of contiguous bytes above which the memory is decomitted rather than retained for reuse, thus avoiding virtual memory fragmentation.

Verify that the HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\SystemPages registry value is set to 0.

If you have a server with more than 2 GB of memory, it may help to increase the size of the Store Database Cache (aka ESE buffer).

-this post was adopted from the MS-2400 Exchange course and and MSExchange.org article.

Exchange 2003 class Notes and Thoughts

Highlights from firt morning:

Installing Exchange 2003 -

Forest Prep First (Best if run on the FISMO)
Domain Prep Second (Best if run on DC of domain)
Make sure you have permission to run the CD on the machine
Install runs from the CD, pretty simple.
You need to decide on the Exchange Organization name before you do the install, because once you establish this you have to burn the thing down to change it.

- Misc - Check out Microsoft Automated Deployment Services - More Later...

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Notes from Exchange Class
The JDP Technical Reference Guide is a great tool.
Exchange Clustering...
Active/Active vs Active/Passive
Things to think about
The Quorum
Use Move Group NOT failover this will keep it from failing back to the node that you are servicing.
NODES should be on separate UPSs
Page 31 - Permissions required to install and configure exchange virtual server
Cluster Administrator is the name of the tool that you use to mangage Cluster resources.
Exchange System Manager
Look at queues
Track Messages
Not for creating and managing users
2400 tools lots of good stuff.
exchange all tools
for example to clean up the "bad email" folder.
http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000990039809/