Aside from understanding the importance of keeping your Exchange database files and transaction log files on separate disks, there are additional factors to consider when partitioning the hard drives of your servers running Exchange 2000.
To increase fault tolerance and provide for easier troubleshooting, consider the following recommendations when partitioning your hard disks:
- Partition your disks so that you can boot to a command prompt in an emergency. Partitioning your disks in this way increases your recovery options. For example, you may be able to boot to a command prompt and modify or replace any damaged boot files that may be preventing you from booting into Windows 2000.
- Partition your disks so that your Exchange application files, Exchange database files, and Exchange transaction log files are all on separate hard disks to increase performance and reduce the amount of data you need to recover.
If you partition your disks using these recommendations, each set of files is assigned a separate drive letter. Having each set of files represented by its own drive letter helps you keep track of which partitions you must back up in accordance with the disaster recovery method you select.
The following procedure and Table 3 provide general practices you can follow to help you increase fault tolerance.
Note The following procedure and corresponding table do not include advanced factors such as disk mirroring or disk striping.
Because the number of hard disks and storage groups on your Exchange server may be different than the number of hard disks and storage groups used in this example, apply the logic of this example as it relates to your own server configuration.
To create partitions for the hard disks of an Exchange 2000 server with six hard disks
- On a new server with hard disks that are not partitioned, boot to the command prompt using a boot disk that allows you to boot to MS-DOS (for example, a Windows 98 Startup floppy disk).
- On the first hard disk, Fixed Disk 1, run Fdisk from the command prompt, create a primary partition of 100 megabytes, and then set it to active (drive C).
- Also on Fixed Disk 1, create an extended partition on the remaining capacity of the hard disk. From the extended partition, create a logical drive (drive D).
- Quit Fdisk, and then restart the computer using the Windows Startup floppy disk.
- From a command prompt, format drive C using the /s switch. To use this switch, from the command prompt, type format C: /s.
- Restart the computer, and then install Windows 2000 Server (either by booting to Setup from the Windows 2000 CD, or by using Windows 2000 Setup floppy disks). During Setup, install Windows 2000 Server to drive D. Format drive D as NTFS.
- After booting into Windows, open the Disk Management snap-in and create an extended partition out of 100 percent of Fixed Disk 2. Format this partition as NTFS; this is the disk to which you will install Exchange 2000 (drive E).
- Create additional extended partitions on the remaining hard disks (Fixed Disk 3, Fixed Disk 4, Fixed Disk 5, and Fixed Disk 6) and formatting each disk as NTFS; these are the disks in which you will store your Exchange storage groups and transaction log files (drives F, G, H, and I).
Table 3 illustrates a possible partitioning scheme for a server running Exchange 2000 that has 6 hard disks, including two storage groups, each containing four databases.
Table 3 Exchange 2000 hard disk partitioning scheme
| Disk | Drive configuration |
| Fixed Disk 1 | |
| Drive C | (Fat16) - Windows 2000 boot files and MS-DOS boot files, with a boot option in Boot.ini to boot to a MS-DOS command prompt. |
| Drive D | (NTFS) - Windows 2000 operating system files and swap file. |
| Fixed Disk 2 | |
| Drive E | (NTFS) - Exchange 2000 files and additional server applications (such as anti-virus software and resource kits). |
| Fixed Disk 3 | |
| Drive F | (NTFS) - Transaction log files for storage group 1. |
| Fixed Disk 4 | |
| Drive G | (NTFS) - Database files for storage group 1. |
| Fixed Disk 5 | |
| Drive H | (NTFS) - Transaction log files for storage group 2. |
| Fixed Disk 6 | |
| Drive I | Database files for storage group 2. |
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Premium Edition
- Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Standard Edition
- Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server
