Le Gia Vinh’s Blog

This entry presents my experience on expanding the logical disks of a Microsoft Exchange server.

Our Exchange server is a Microsoft Windows 2000 advanced box. The Exchange database files reside on 4 logical disks, let say I,K,M,N, coming from LUNs Compaq-HP HSG80 with fabric for redundancy via Fibre channel connections.

LUNs all are configured with RAID10 for redundancy and performance.

In this entry, I demonstrate the update of one logical disk I (I:), tasks of upgrading storage on other logical disks are the same.

I: is configured as a logical disk coming from a LUN with RAID10 on HSG80.

I: is name disk on Windows, under HSG80 its name is D10, and comes from stripe S10, that composes of M10, M11, M12, where M10, M11, M12 are there mirrors. M10, M11,M12 each composes of two SCSI Ultra320 10K 72GB. So size of S10 (D10) is 72×3GB, that is approximately 200GB under Windows.

Here are the configuration of the mirrors M10, M11, M12:

M10 <– (DISK10000, DISK20000)

M11 <– (DISK30000, DISK40000)

M12 <– (DISK50000, DISK60000)

The reason for this storage upgrade is by the time, the exchange server databases grow up and soon we run out of space on I, K, M, N. So we need to upgrade the size of I,K,M,N from 200GB to 400GB. The storage had been proceeded by following steps (tasks on Windows Exchange server will be mentioned short, not in details)

• Back up all Exchange database files: this can be done by cold-backup,ie, copy all Exchange data files to other location either inside the Exchange server or on the external storage.
• Stop Exchange services on Windows 2000 server.
• Shut down the HSG80 fabric with commands:

SHUTDOWN OTHER_CONTROLLER
SHUTDOWN THIS_CONTROLLER

• Replace 6 SCSI 72 disks of I by 12 SCSI 146GB disks.
• Turn on SAN HSG80
• Reconfigure D10, by deleting it, then recontruct D10 with new disks, all command are following

DELETE D10

DELETE S10

DELETE M10

DELETE M11

DELETE M12

INIT DISK10000

INIT DISK20000

INIT DISK30000

INIT DISK40000

…

INIT DISK60000

ADD MIRROR M10 DISK10000 DISK20000

INIT M10

ADD MIRROR M11 DISK20000 DISK40000

INIT M11

ADD MIRROR M12 DISK50000 DISK60000

INIT M12

ADD STRIPE S10 M10 M11 M12

INIT S10

ADD UNIT D10 S12

Now we have new D10 (new LUN ID) with size is 400GB.

We can do LUN masking from the SAN by using SET, like the follwing

SET D10 DISABLE_ACCESS_PATH=ALL ENABLE_ACCESS_PATH=(MSG1_1A1, MSG1_1A2, MSG1_2A1,MSG1_2A2)

where MSG1_1A1, …, MSG1_2A2 are access paths to the Exchange server.

We are done on SAN HSG80. The next steps are on Excahnge server:

Delete old logical disks because the new disks coming from new LUN IDs. Use Disk Management in Computer Management to rescan new logical disks. Set up, format them then copy back the exchange databases to the new disks. Restart Exchange services. That’s it.

The typical server manager in the IT industry hails from the DOS era, and thus still sees the world without windows and colors. Consider that most of the procedures associated with server administration are controlled by the command console, and there is no way to even attach a mouse. Microsoft has tried to recognize the nature of many server admins in its development of Windows Server 2008; as you install, you see a new option: Core Installation. The term “core” is used here to indicate clearly what this Server is all about: an installation of the core components that provide a minimal environment for running specific server roles.

Strictly speaking, the Core Installation does not make use of graphical elements from the Windows operating system. (There are exceptions, but few of them.) After registration, the administrator is confronted with merely a command console - there is no Start Button, no program lists, no Explorer and no Server Manager.

The obvious question is: What is the sense in such a platform? The answer is equally obvious: a server that only carries out certain administrative tasks simply does not need redundant components that will never be used. The leaner core installation means the server is more resistant to hackers, because there is less to attack. The performance of the server also increases, because it requires less working memory, and less hard disk space is used as well.

The  rest of this article is at this link.

Other articles: 

Windows Server 2008 Core - Installation and Initial Configuration

Windows Server 2008 Core Installation under Virtual Server can be read at this source.

Understanding Windows 2008 server core.