Exchange 2007 Installation

[Netwacky87]

Hi All!

 

Planning to do a whole server overwhoal this summer...!

 

Currently on a server 2000 network and planning to upgrade to 2008 and upgrading the exchange from 2000 to 2007...

 

One question though, when installing 2007 (SP1) onto a 2003 box, it warns that im running 32bit and its not recommended!....Why?..

 

Why should i have to install a 64bit OS and 64bit Exchange, ive read that MS dont support it in 32bit...and is highly not recommended on a 32bit server!,

 

 

Any advice welcome!

 

 

Mart

[FN-GM]

Because Exchange 2007 is 64 bit so a 64 bit OS would be best.

[rh91uk]

 

Why should i have to install a 64bit OS and 64bit Exchange, ive read that MS dont support it in 32bit...and is highly not recommended on a 32bit server!,

 

 

 

That's exactly what I thought first off but now come to think about it - that's the way things are going at the moment so why not? I can see the advantages of going 64bit also.

 

What processor does your server have? you might just need to just install server2k3 r2 x64

[MrEprise]

Here's a good reason why Exchange 2007 needs to be 64-bit - our school consists of roughly 1500 users (staff & students combined) all with their own exchange mailboxes. Where we could originally get away with using Exchange 2003 on a server with about 2-3 gigabytes of RAM, with the same 1500 users, Exchange 2007 requires a whopping 16GB of RAM.

 

Said Exchange 2007 setup would be falling over daily if it were running in a 32-bit enviroment*.

 

 

 

*I'm well aware that 32-Bit Exchange 2007 is an evaluation-only version, so don't point that out. However, you can still use the 32-bit management tools with the 64-bit version, so glad that I found that one out.

[PiqueABoo]

Exchange 2007 requires a whopping 16GB of RAM

 

Interesting, does it all work OK then? I ask because MS have repeatedly recommended a maximum 8GB for a "multi-role" E2K7 server and reckon you should be scaling-out (add another box) rather than doing that.

[FN-GM]

You could use a 32 bit version with Server 2003 or Server 2008 Enterprise edition. That version uses more than 4gb ram. Just thought i would be awkward

[Netwacky87]

Well, we've been running it on a testbed with 32bit, windows 2003...with..wait for it.....384MB RAM...lol

 

It runs but slowly...

 

 

We're looking to put it on a HP ML110...Quad core...prob get 4GB RAM....(and looks like it will have to be 2003 x64)

 

Thanks for your help chaps!

[SteveMC]

Exchange tends to use as much RAM as you make available, - I think it'd try to fit your entire information store in RAM if it could! (SQL Server's another service that likes to do this, so don't mix the two, as they'll just fight!)

 

The 32-bit edition is solely for evaluation purposes, although as mentioned elsewhere, you can install the management tools on a 32-bit server to manage a 64-bit one. In fact, that's probably a good idea, as they can run somewhat sluggishly on the main Exchange server itself.

 

Stephen

[MrEprise]

Interesting, does it all work OK then? I ask because MS have repeatedly recommended a maximum 8GB for a "multi-role" E2K7 server and reckon you should be scaling-out (add another box) rather than doing that.

 

Surprisingly, yes it does. We do have two boxes (in SCR configuration) both with 16GB of RAM and after a month cannot complain one bit.

 

The 16GB was recommended to us by a local company who installed our setup. They originally started installing Exchange 2007 servers for other clients with the recommended 8GB of RAM, then found it to be a little bit sluggish at peak times. After a lot of testing, they found that Exchange ran happier at 16GB.