Compaq ProLiant 1600 Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 on the Compaq ProLiant 1600 - Page 6

Several steps are necessary to perform a successful simulation. The Load Simulator setup and initialization process comes first. Load Simulator creates the test topology by generating the user directory entries. Next, the test store is initialized and populated with the test messages and folder items. The tests are typically run for up to 8 hours depending upon the user load simulated and amount of time required to reach a steady state for measurement purposes. During a test run, users log on to the Exchange Server and begin processing various messaging tasks. Task response time data is logged to the LSPERF.LOG file and client messages and error logging are stored in the LOADSIM.OUT file. To produce test scores, the LSLOG utility is used to parse the LSPERF.LOG file and calculate the response time score. By default, 95th- and 50th-percentile response time scores are calculated. Ninety-fifth-percentile response time scores for the MAPI/RPC protocol should be less than 1000 ms, according to Microsoft. Also, the Exchange Server IS Send Queue and the MTA Work Queue (other message and delivery queues should also be considered, depending on the protocol) must consistently return to near zero during the steadystate period for which test measurements are taken. Queues that continue to grow and fail to return to near zero indicate that the server is not sustaining the required workload. There should be no errors logged by the LoadSim clients during the test. When these conditions are met, a successful test run has been completed. For more information on LoadSim Medium canonical profiles, please refer to the LoadSim documentation at: http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/library/loadsim55x86.exe. Balancing Scalability and Availability While server performance and capacity are key criteria in selecting a messaging deployment platform, one must also consider price and performance. Several competing hardware vendors offer platforms capable of supporting heavy user loads. They also provide these systems at a price significantly higher than Compaq's price. Compaq delivers leading performance on industrystandard platforms with the lowest total cost of ownership. For many corporations, messaging and collaboration have recently become mission critical. Unscheduled downtime for any server can result in a significant loss of productivity. To limit exposure to downtime, Exchange Server 5.5 and Compaq ProLiant Clusters provide high availability through Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS). When MSCS is deployed on Compaq ProLiant Clusters, enterprise-messaging customers can achieve scalability without sacrificing the reliability that is required in an enterprise environment. Another critical concern is backup and disaster recovery. Compaq provides industry-leading tape array and library hardware solutions integrated with applications such as Computer Associates' Cheyenne ArcServe. These solutions will help meet the requirements of enterprise customers deploying messaging and collaboration applications. ECG1090898