EV Sizing

[Sortid]

Hi,

Just wondering if there are limitations on how much data one EV server should host in its Vault Store. 

We are about to upgrade from EV2007 SP6 to EV9, we have 32TB of archived email data in one Vault Store in 38 partitions hosted on one EV server.  We are looking to future proof for the next 3 years so are planning for maybe double what we currently have.  I expect when I move user archives into a SIS-enabled Vault Store in EV9 that the 32TB will reduce by a fair amount. 

We are going to upgrade to Exchange 2010 as well where we will have 2 Exchange servers (reducing from 5 x Exch2003 servers now) and are planning for 10,000 users (currently have 7000).

Is this EV server size consistent with what other people have out there?  When should you consider adding a second EV server? 

Thanks.

[GertjanA]

Hello Sortid.

SIS works AS OF the version that has it.

In your situation, you will only get SIS as soon as you upgrade to V8 and configure it.

Old data will not get SISsed.

32TB data in 1 store? wauw. how do you backup? replicate?

I would definitely install a 2nd ev-server targeting the 2nd new exchange server, and create seperate stores for it. If on E2010, and using DAG's, you run the risk of a failover occurring and having 1 evserver targeting all users. Should be possible (depending on underlying hardware ofcourse), but divide is better.

I think you're best bet is to speak with a consultant, (Symantec or partner) to help design the configuration.

[Liam_Finn1]

One option, if you have the budget, is to migrate your data to Centera. This will offload the SIS of the Data to the Cenetra Device. Also as part of the move the Centera will sis the contents of the archive because Centera performs SIS when data is written to the device

Also when using Centera the amount of data stored in the partition no longer matters because the only limits you will meet in the Centera is the storage which is highly scalable. We are running a Centera with 90TB of storage. All our archives are put into one Pool (this is the Centera version of a vault) We do roll over our archives yearly but all this does is create new databases and indexes for each year the storage location stays the same for both file and email and you never have to change that

[Sortid]

Thanks for your responses.

GertjanA: I will be creating a new vault store under v8/9 and will be migrating all archives into it.  This will give me SIS across all archives.  Backups are becoming an issue as we backup the most recent 3 or so partitions nightly and the others once - since we don't delete from vaults, the information stays static.  So we backup the open partition and the previous ones to allow for collections.  Replication is to a DR site, using robocopy which is backed up weekly.  This is more legacy then anything - we've had EV for about 5 years, and our data over the last year or two has exploded from about 3TB to where we are now, and I am now looking to redesign how we do DR and HA.

I'm open to the idea of either clustering or building blocks and will engage Symantec about this. 

Scanner: Centera is something we haven't looked at.  Are you saying you no longer have to open new partitions as Centera acts like one big one?  What's performance like?  I have found that while the closed partitions can go onto SATA, the open partion must be fibre channel 15k disks as it will not archive an exchange server in one run.

[Sortid]

I have asked Symantec to provide consulting services but they no longer do this - they engage third party companies.  This worries me a lot - haven't had great success with this method and quite often you know more then they do about the product.  I don't understand why a company of Symantec's size with enterprise interests would do this.  Anyway, see what happens I guess. 

[Mohawk_Marvin]

There are alot of great 3rd party partners of Symantec, I would say that... I work for one

most of them will have Case studies on their websites, and you could get a few of them to "pitch" their solution at you and pick the one you feel meets your expectations.